Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi , I read more than post or reply but have a question. I just bought metal for my second tear. The frame is 2x2 12 GA. or 095. The tongue is 2x2 11 GA. or 120.
Ive been reading about the tongues 2x3. I got 2x2 11 GA. Will it be thick enough. My tear is going to be a Kit type. 4'8"x 8. Nothing on or in it but the basics. Should be light.

Any metal guys that can tell me if the 2x2 will work O.K.
I think I'm good but would rather find out now before I build.

Doug, Andrew anyone?
Thanks Daniel

I have a single tube tongue made out of 2x2x1/8. I felt it wasn't strong enough so I cut it shorter. You should be OK since your trailer is smaller and lighter

Daniel...you should be plenty good...did you check Andrews charts here....?
http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear84.htm

If you are concerned after it is all said and done, you can always add a couple of sticks of material and make it an A type frame pretty easily. Doug

Thanks guys. I didn't mention. I will have the tongue and two A members just like Doug's trailer tutorial shows. The difference is I bought 2x2 not 2x3 for the tongue. Mine will be lighter as it will be 4'8"x8'.

I tried Andrews carts for the tongue. I guess I'm a knuckle head because I just cant figure it out. Maybe someone else can help.

Tongue from frame to ball end is 39". I will be putting two A members on it. From the end of the A members to the end of the tongue or ball end it will be 11". All in 2x2. Tongue in 11Ga. and the members in 12 Ga.

Help please.


Daniel

Daniel,

What you describe sounds plenty strong enough - more than is needed for a light trailer! According to the Aussie rules, it would be OK for a trailer up to 2400lb and I tend to think you can double that rating for something like a teardrop that isn't abused.

So unless you're planning to go over 5000lb, you'll be fine.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew and Doug.
I posted a photo of my last frame on Grants site. Although I didn't build the frame myself I do want to make this one like it. The only difference is that the first frame was 41" and this one will be 49" wide.

Daniel

Hi Daniel,

On our first two trailers we used an a-frame tongue built out of .095. Our trailers ended up being heavier that we expected and we ended up with more flex than we wanted. We ended up sliding a 1-3/4" X 1-3/4" 1/4" wall inside the 2" to strengthen it. This ended the flex.

On the last three trailers we built we used 1/4" wall 2X2 without the a-frame. We found that on two of the trailers we got a lot of swerving from side to side while driving. The swerving was caused by the tongue flexing from side to side. We ended up building an a-frame under the tongue to which stopped the swerving.

My point it that if you have a problem there are easy ways to resolve it later. Go with what you've got and see if you have any problems.

Keith

Keith wrote:On the last three trailers we built we used 1/4" wall 2X2 without the a-frame. We found that on two of the trailers we got a lot of swerving from side to side while driving.

Keith, that is interesting. For my education can you tell me what the exposed length of the tongues were and roughly how heavy the trailers are? If you had photos of either of the trailer frames without a body on, that would be good info too.

Your trailers are an interesting example of where it wasn't insufficient strength, but insufficient stiffness that caused the problem.

Andrew

If there was any doubt at all as to the needed strength, I would just slide a length of pipe inside the 2 X 2 and tack weld it at each end - THAT would remove any doubt and still leave you with a nice, compact tongue capable of supporting any additional accessories you might later add on to it

Don

I think I'm going with what I have. If Andrew says it looks good then thats good enough for me. Plus as you guys said. I can add later if needed.
I plan on building Very light.
Thanks, Dan

Andrew,

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post a reply to your question. I finally figured out how to post pictures out of flicker to a thread. The tongue is about four feet long and the trailers weigh about 1100 pounds. This was the best picture of the frame I could find.



Here is a link to all the pictures of our 2004 trailer build.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/five_wide_club/sets/72157603689929590/

Keith