Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I got to thinking about the proposed 6 foot slide-in tear for my Blazer, and realized that only 2 people could ride in the front and none in the rear seat. Therefore, I am sketching and modeling (cardboard) a revised, revision of the latest revision. This one will only be 28' long, with the front section folding back into the center section and the rear, (galley area) sliding within the center section during travel, giving me a 6 ft long camping unit, raised the proper distance off of the ground.

Sounds kind of nuts, but I'm going to give it a try. That way my son and grand son can ride along with the woody in tow and we will all have a place to sleep at the campground. I hope it looks like a teardrop when slid out and flipped up for slumber. Lets see, where can I hide the faux wheels and tires? Hmmm more designing required.
Roly, gotta get this one (the Collapse-a-Tear) off of the drawing board............soon.

Roly Nelson wrote:This one will only be 28' long,

Roly how long is your blazer to fit a 28 foot anything inside it? Seriously with your skills it will be nice, I am curious to see how it collapses.

del

Hi Del, I have a 4 door 93 Blazer and with the rear seat in the upright positon, there is about 31 inches from the back of the seat to the tailgate. Sliding the galley into the "center" section of the proposed rig would be no problem. However having the front section hinged at the floor and folding over the center section is a bit challanging. Then when it is pulled out and placed on supports that contain the faux wheels, there is the problem of making the whole thing rigid once outside.

I plan to make 2 telescopic 4 foot sections of 2x4 that will pull out to 6 ft long. These 4 ft sectons will fit nicely crosswise behind the rear seats. Now, gotta get back to my cereal box cardboard modeling and solve some of these problems. I must say, it seems that you and I are the only members of the "40 inch wide club". BYW, HF has their 40 wide trailer on sale right now for 50 bucks off, in case you are planning on building another one.
Roly

Roly Nelson wrote:Hi Del, I have a 4 door 93 Blazer and with the rear seat in the upright positon, there is about 31 inches from the back of the seat to the tailgate. Sliding the galley into the "center" section of the proposed rig would be no problem. However having the front section hinged at the floor and folding over the center section is a bit challanging. Then when it is pulled out and placed on supports that contain the faux wheels, there is the problem of making the whole thing rigid once outside.

I plan to make 2 telescopic 4 foot sections of 2x4 that will pull out to 6 ft long. These 4 ft sectons will fit nicely crosswise behind the rear seats. Now, gotta get back to my cereal box cardboard modeling and solve some of these problems. I must say, it seems that you and I are the only members of the "40 inch wide club". BYW, HF has their 40 wide trailer on sale right now for 50 buck off, in case you are planning on building another one.
Roly

OH Man....where do I get a coupon? I'll be there when they open the doors in the morning!!

Just looked at the 40's on the HF site again. It looks like the only difference between the two is the size of the wheel/tire combination. If I get the one with the 8" wheels, I will be saving enough to order the chrome 12" combos. I guess my question is....is there really a difference between the two trailers and will the 12" wheels replace the 8" if I try to save a few bucks??

tinksdad wrote:Just looked at the 40's on the HF site again. It looks like the only difference between the two is the size of the wheel/tire combination. If I get the one with the 8" wheels, I will be saving enough to order the chrome 12" combos. I guess my question is....is there really a difference between the two trailers and will the 12" wheels replace the 8" if I try to save a few bucks??

I believe one of the differences is number of leaf springs (12" has 3, 8" has two), two I think how they mount the fender should be different (though I have looked at pics of Roly's (12"), and mine (8") and can not see a difference).

del

I seem to recall reading in one of the threads that Roly removed one of the springs for the Quarter Nelson effectively making it the same as the 8" version. If that's the case, the 8" with a new, longer and stronger tongue and the 12" chrome wheels.... I'm going to be making sawdust soon!! The fenders are inconsequential!!

HF in Memphis opens in about an hour and a half (10AM CST). Gonna have some breakfast and go buy a trailer, even without a coupon!!

Hey you guys keep us up to date.

Rolly I am still holding my breath Can't wait to see this.

It's 11:30AM and I'm back from HF. Next step is to get it out of the boxes and assembled. And then to Mississippi DMV to get it titled and tagged. Because of it's size, it doesn't have to be tagged here; but I don't want to run into jurisdictional problems down the road if I leave this state.

I opted for the 12" trailer. I'll build on the standard white wheels, and before or shortly after it's maiden voyage, I'll order the chrome replacements. That way for only $35 difference I have two spares!!



It's not much of a picture; but I know how you people feel about pics!!

Could very well be the next member of the 40" Chassis Club!!

I removed the 2 smaller leafs of the springs from my 40" x 48" HF frame, leaving only one long spring to carry the 245 lb load. It has the 12" wheels that came with it, which work just fine on my BIG one!

I recieved a mailer the other day from Harbor Freight, (now that I am on their sucker list) and the small trailer in question requires no coupon, just the money for the reduced price. Good luck.
Roly