How low can you go?

[Iron-Iceberg]

I am going to be building a 5' x 9' tear to tow behind a Mini Cooper and I am wondering how low can the bottom of the frame be? The Mini sits pretty low so I wont be doing too much 4 wheeling. LOL
A friend of mine has a 4'x9' and it sits about 13" off the ground and this seems a little high.
I want to get the tear out of the wind as much as possible and lower the frontal area to make it easier to tow.
What is your experience on lower trailers?
Thanks for any help.

[High Desert]

I've noticed several builds here with drop floors in the 7" to 8" range. Saw a couple in the Hall of Fame that looked like less than that. What's the clearance on your Mini? That could serve as a partial guide, at least in front of the axle. Seems to me you might want a little more on the rear, to prevent dragging in driveways and such.

[Iron-Iceberg]

The Mini has 5.5" ground clearance. The wheels on the Mini are all the way to the front and all the way to the back. Really no overhang to speak of. The car is 12' long with an 8' wheel base.
So if I have an 9' long tear I will guess the distance from the rear tires on the Mini to the tires on the tear to be around 8.5' to 9' If this is true I think that I could go at least as low as the Mini.
Does this sound possible or am I missing something?

[teardrop_focus]

I want to get the tear out of the wind as much as possible and lower the frontal area to make it easier to tow.

I have a similar style planned to tug around with my Ford Focus...

Your reasoning is sound regarding the ground clearance issue; if you're not "high-siding" the MINI, your trailer should be able to follow in kind if you keep to the same ride height. And since the axles on the MINI, especially, are pushed so far out to the ends of the car, you shouldn't have any big issues dragging the tongue through drastic driveway angle changes and the like.

Now you have to start designing your particular chassis plan and that revolves around which wheel/tire combination you wish to use on the trailer.

An automotive combo like the one on the car? or something smaller... this will determine your teardrop wheel's spindle height and once you determine that then you can plan the axle and trailer design.

Have fun. I know you already are.

[emiller]

My car is lower than any Mini cooper and even though you can't tell by the picture the tear is pretty low also. trailer has never scraped and I've taken it down dirt roads before.

[teardrop_focus]

emiller

My car is lower than any Mini cooper...

Careful...

http://media.photobucket.com/image/lowe ... 88good.png

...and even though you can't tell by the picture the tear is pretty low also. trailer has never scraped and I've taken it down dirt roads before.

Good to know.

[emiller]

Without that plastic air dam my car is about that low.

[Iron-Iceberg]

My car is lower than any Mini cooper and even though you can't tell by the picture the tear is pretty low also. trailer has never scraped and I've taken it down dirt roads before.

How low is your trailer? looks around 8" but its hard to tell in the picture.

[emiller]

Never measured it but sounds about right.