Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

How much did your finished towable chassis weigh prior to proceeding with your build?
(Frame, axle, wheels, tires, wood floor/deck, hitch and tounge jack.

I used the HF that weighs in at 287 lb -- That's the shipping weight.

geron

This post got me thinking so I went out and weighed the stuff I have (don't have the steel, I'm getting it Monday).

Dexter axle 77lbs
Wheels & tires 70lbs
Tongue Jack
Coupler
Tongue Handle 20lbs
Estimated weight
of steel
(37.23ft X 6.10 lbs/ft)
227lbs

Grand total= 394lbs!

That includes everything except for lugnuts, safety chains, hubcaps, lights, paint.

Whew, that weighs more than I thought.

Rocky,
It took me a while to find this info, but 2x2x1/8 is 3.088lbs. per ft. and 2x3x3/16 is 5.59lbs. per ft.

I was using Andrew's tongue strength page. I think I was looking in the wrong column.

I started looking around and found a site that says 3.88lb/ft I think that is a typo though.

I found this one a while back but lost it. I am using a different computer because the boot sector on my other one is corrupt. It took me a while to find it also. I'll post it because it is a good reference.
http://www.pacific-recycling.com/SStube.html

After recalculating, my trailer weight is 281lbs which is more in line with the Harbor Freight trailers.

Having built one frame and looked at a lot more, I've decided IF I build another, I'd use a combination of square tubing and angle iron.

Square tubing for the side pieces and tongue, and angle for the cross braces. IMHO that would give the best of both worlds, maximum rigidity, ease of construction, and minimum weight.

But, that's just my opinion.

Be careful of using the command FDISK on your computer. It will totally remove everything on the disk and completely restructure it. I always use FDISK on a new drive or system to partition the drive into several drives and Use C: for my System, D: for my Programs and then E: on for My Data. Then if your system has a non-recoverable problem at least you can salvage all your Data. Just my HO.

I am in the early planning stage of a 5' wide Modernistic style trailer. My estimate based upon a combination of 2x2 1/8" angle and a 2x3" tongue with a torsion axle and tires is about 280 to 300 lbs.

I used a HF 1175 frame, extended it then swapped the axel to a 2000lb torsion and added 15X7" wheels Just a guess; 350-375lbs

Happy Trails

Len

asianflava wrote:I was using Andrew's tongue strength page. I think I was looking in the wrong column.

Now that I look at that page again, I can't understand how I laid that out so badly, so it can easily be misread!

It's now redone and I've added a link to Online Metals who give weights for all the sections they sell.

Andrew

Ours is a little different with buying the fiberglass shell but we've been told that it will be around 700#. After that it depends on how much weight we add with finishing it off.