Off-road Teardrop Design/Build

[kokomoto]

That's a good looking trailer.

Thanks AZ! They did a great job on it.

I spent most of the day cleaning up the tubing with scotchbrite and acetone, and spraying almost 4 cans of etching primer on it. It really looks good now in OD green. Will take some more pics to post.

The 2x3 tubing sure looks stout. I hope it's not overkill.

[kokomoto]

Primered the trailer last Friday. Ready to be sanded and painted.

Primer 1

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Primer 2

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Primer 3

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[kokomoto]

Here's the trailer half of my homemade, diy, experimental, off-road coupler. More pics and a review to follow...

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[kokomoto]

Apparently, 2x3 steel tubing is a little over 4 lbs/ft and 2x2 is approximately 3.18 lbs/ft. I did a quick calculation and it seems that my frame weighs about 50 lbs more than if I had built it using 2x2. 63' of 2x3 weighs approximately 252 lbs. Not as bad as I thought. I'm not sure what the 3,500 lb axle with suspension and tires weigh.

I know, I should have figure that out while designing the frame, but I got in a hurry.

[KCStudly]

Point of reference: my frame is 9'-8" long at the cabin x 64 inches wide, sides and rear xmbr are 2x2x1/8; front xmbr and A-tongue are 2x2x3/16; two xmbr's are 1-1/2x1-1/2 x1/8 L. The suspension is rear YJ (or were they XJ?) Jeep leaf springs with all heavy duty Ruff Stuff Specialties brackets, hangers and shackles all gusseted in, simple bump stops and shock mounts. With stock XJ roll around steel wheels and tires and braked 3500lbs axle (72" WF/WF) it weighs 472 lbs.

Your frame looks to be a little beefier than mine in the xmbr dept, and, of course the 3 inch deep tube.

[kokomoto]

Point of reference: my frame is 9'-8" long at the cabin x 64 inches wide, sides and rear xmbr are 2x2x1/8; front xmbr and A-tongue are 2x2x3/16; two xmbr's are 1-1/2x1-1/2 x1/8 L. The suspension is rear YJ (or were they XJ?) Jeep leaf springs with all heavy duty Ruff Stuff Specialties brackets, hangers and shackles all gusseted in, simple bump stops and shock mounts. With stock XJ roll around steel wheels and tires and braked 3500lbs axle (72" WF/WF) it weighs 472 lbs.

Your frame looks to be a little beefier than mine in the xmbr dept, and, of course the 3 inch deep tube.

Your frame is slightly larger (compared to 5x9) and your suspension a bit beefier. I also have the 3500lb braked axle with standard 26" leafs and mounts. I would have guessed around 450lbs total on mine.

Thanks for the info.

[working on it]

Point of reference: my frame is 9'-8" long at the cabin x 64 inches wide, sides and rear xmbr are 2x2x1/8; front xmbr and A-tongue are 2x2x3/16; two xmbr's are 1-1/2x1-1/2 x1/8 L. The suspension is rear YJ (or were they XJ?) Jeep leaf springs with all heavy duty Ruff Stuff Specialties brackets, hangers and shackles all gusseted in, simple bump stops and shock mounts. With stock XJ roll around steel wheels and tires and braked 3500lbs axle (72" WF/WF) it weighs 472 lbs.

Your frame looks to be a little beefier than mine in the xmbr dept, and, of course the 3 inch deep tube.

Your frame is slightly larger (compared to 5x9) and your suspension a bit beefier. I also have the 3500lb braked axle with standard 26" leafs and mounts. I would have guessed around 450lbs total on mine.

Thanks for the info.

• Maybe I'm comparing apples to oranges, but I took a sub-250 lb trailer frame beginning (50x60, w/8"wheels) to a 4x8 trailer (14" wheels now), deck and lighting finished. I added 2 ft. to the rear, and 1 ft to the front, with a center spine connecting all, with 1.5x2.5 11gauge tubing, matching the original tubing. A 6 ft piece of 3x3x.187 steel was welded under the center spine, to become my 44" single beam tongue (with 28" underbody).

  

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  welding done, ready to weigh.png (242.48 KiB) Viewed 2393 times

  It weighed exactly 400 lbs. That was when I was using the original 1.25" square tube axle and springs (of unknown weight rating). After much alteration, repairs (including adding a Dexter 3500 lb axle, brakes, 25.25" springs, peripheral hardware, and my own frame reinforcement/attachments, and bumpstop contrivance), camping gear and trailer additions, I figure I have it up to 1750 lbs, or so (last reasonably calculated at 1630 lbs, with any accuracy, 2.5 years ago). I can still barely lift the tongue (bad knees and back), so I'll stop there, with the changes.
• I inadvertently tested the durability/strength of my overbuilt frame with overbuilt 3/4" plywood cabin, when I went into a deep, wide chughole in the road, at 75 mph. My truck bounced into the air, as did the trailer (as seen in my mirror). The impact knocked everything in the bed of my truck into an unorganized mess, but upon inspection, trailer contents fared well. Trailer structure,tires, and suspension also showed no damage, but my truck tires (10 ply, E-range) suffered two broken belts. So, I travelled the last 175 miles home, bouncing all the way, at a reduced speed (major storms approaching, on a Sunday, not yet sure of what to repair). All-in-all, even if you end up building a bit too heavy, it might pay off in added durability off-road. Just get a bigger tow vehicle, if need be. I intended my trailer to be sub-1k lbs, to tow with my HHR, but ended up towing with my 2500HD (I've towed 10k lbs with it).

[kokomoto]

It weighed exactly 400 lbs. That was when I was using the original 1.25" square tube axle and springs (of unknown weight rating). After much alteration, repairs (including adding a Dexter 3500 lb axle, brakes, 25.25" springs, peripheral hardware, and my own frame reinforcement/attachments, and bumpstop contrivance), camping gear and trailer additions, I figure I have it up to 1750 lbs, or so (last reasonably calculated at 1630 lbs, with any accuracy, 2.5 years ago). I can still barely lift the tongue (bad knees and back), so I'll stop there, with the changes. I inadvertently tested the durability/strength of my overbuilt frame with overbuilt 3/4" plywood cabin, when I went into a deep, wide chughole in the road, at 75 mph. My truck bounced into the air, as did the trailer (as seen in my mirror). The impact knocked everything in the bed of my truck into an unorganized mess, but upon inspection, trailer contents fared well. Trailer structure,tires, and suspension also showed no damage, but my truck tires (10 ply, E-range) suffered two broken belts. So, I travelled the last 175 miles home, bouncing all the way, at a reduced speed (major storms approaching, on a Sunday, not yet sure of what to repair). All-in-all, even if you end up building a bit too heavy, it might pay off in added durability off-road. Just get a bigger tow vehicle, if need be. I intended my trailer to be sub-1k lbs, to tow with my HHR, but ended up towing with my 2500HD (I've towed 10k lbs with it).

Holy Spiccoli! That must have been quite a chuckhole! I used to live up north, where those epic chuckholes would crop up once in a while (too often in any case). Don't see them here in SE TN. Hope I never stumble across one of those road craters. I'll keep that in mind when assembling the cabin.

I'm not too concerned about being the build being too heavy. Fifty extra pounds is good insurance, I figure. The goal to keep it under 1,500 lbs total weight though for the sake of my XJ's transmission. I certainly don't want to let the smoke out of it in the mountains.

[kokomoto]

Trailer is now painted with Rustoleum gloss black. I used 4 cans to get the job done.

Painted 1

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Painted 2

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Painted 3

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[kokomoto]

The coupler seems to function properly. There is some rattle, but I think it's from the receiver.

Coupler

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[kokomoto]

The trailer lights have been installed. I've shifted to building the walls. After looking at sandwich construction methods, I decided to use a biscuit joiner to assemble the skeleton rather than using the Kreg jig. I'd rather not have hidden screws in the walls to run into with a drill bit or saw blade later in the build. I found a nearly new Ryobi biscuit joiner at the pawn shop for $50. Picked up some pine 1x4s at Lowe's. I'll be assembling that this week.

I picked up some tail lights that will mount to the fenders which should arrive later this week. I've already arranged to have the mounts fabricated and welded onto the frame once they are delivered.

I've also spent countless hours searching the forum for hatch building/mounting info. I'll be following Steve's manual for that part of the project. There's still a few details that are a bit foggy to me, but I'm hoping they clear up once I have parts and get to that point.

I also ran a quick spreadsheet on the cost of this project so far....not sure I want to do that again

[greygoos]

The coupler seems to function properly. There is some rattle, but I think it's from the receiver.

The attachment image.jpeg is no longer available

Put a muffler clamp on the hitch to stop the rattling. You can buy one for a couple of dollars or buy a clamp from the trailer guys for at least 10 times that amount.

[kokomoto]

[/quote]
Put a muffler clamp on the hitch to stop the rattling. You can buy one for a couple of dollars or buy a clamp from the trailer guys for at least 10 times that amount.[/quote]

Good idea. Thanks for the tip!

[kokomoto]

Junction box

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Tail light - temporary mount

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Rear clearance light

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[kokomoto]

Front clearance lights

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