Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

JunkMan wrote:I don't agree with the 3 to 5 years. My old 5 th wheel A/C unit was probably close to 20 years old when it finally crapped out. Of course your mileage may vary. Broken covers are common, unfortunatly replacements aren't cheap.

Yeah, I'm not believing that either. I don't yet know the year of this old pop up but its probably 20+ years old.

I listed the awning and screen room on my wife's Marketplace and instead of saying free I listed for 15 bucks to keep the scavengers from bothering me. Of course just like Craigslist people ask stupid questions. The last one, despite the post saying... "Condition is just on the salvageable side of the line between trash and salvagable", asked me the condition. And the "Is this item still available?" questions! I'll probably give it to someone free depending on how high maintenance they are

The second pop up pick up has been stripped. Not as valuable as #1 but it was free. It was a dumpster fire and the appliances need to be cleaned and checked out. Frame has a crack from manufacturer that I found upon taking off the floor. I can't believe what they did made it through assembly and the previous owners are lucky the tongue didn't come off. Anyway, I'll have a welder add some reinforcement to shore that up. Might make teardrop #4 out of that chassis for my other brother.

You're getting a collection!

Results of the appliance salvage job on #2 were OK. I gave away the AC unit and awning/screen room in a curb alert. The stove cleaned up nicely and I got 55 bucks for that. Water system was mostly trash, no pump. Got 100 bucks for a package deal with a guy who asked for the water tank, two lp tanks, water heater from pop up #1, and a buch of hardware and a few odds and ends.

After no success trying to sell pop up chassis #2 on my wife's Marketplace I've decided to get some work done on it. Either it will be more attractive to someone to build on or I will do so.

Removed the lift system and will scrap that. I just finished cutting off the "wings" which makes it a nice candidate for a 5x9 teardrop with outboard wheels. Frame to frame width is 58 1/2 and hub faces are 70 1/2. Between the 12" tires it is almost 64". Tongue is 50" in front of the box frame. I need to get a welder to reinforce the manufacturing defect on the frame/tongue joints but that should be quick work for someone that knows what they are doing. Ill wire brush the surface rust and rust treat the entire thing. I am keeping it on Marketplace for now and raising the price as I work on it. You'd almost think I don't really want to sell the chassis

Update on the two pop-up chassis...

Over the weekend on the orders of She Who Must Be Obeyed I have scrapped all the excess metal from both pop-ups including the lift systems.

The second pop-up chassis with the manufacturing defect on the frame has been finished by the welder and is a now good and strong candidate for a teardrop. I am planning a teardrop foamie build on it this fall through next spring. Possibly upgrading to 13" wheels/tires and manufactured doors from Vintage Tech.

Update on pop up chassis. I ended up not building teardrops on either one but the sale of the chassis were profitable.

The first, smaller pop-up chassis was sold to a guy in Marquette, MI last fall who built a nice squaredrop on it. I think I got $325 for the chassis.



Today a guy from Laona, WI purchased the larger chassis and is going to make it into an ice fishing shack. I hope it doesn't become a small, cold house of ill repute!

I got $400 for that one. There is definitely a market for salvage pop-up appliances and chassis. However, timing might be critical as I think getting your hands on a trailer these days might be much more challenging and expensive than "normal".