Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I put the sides up on my trailer tonight and am worried about the tongue weight. It seems heavy to me but I don't have a galley to counteract all the front weight:
* The total length from hitch to rear is right at 12 feet.
* The body is a schootch narrower than 5 feet, the length is 8 feet and 4 feet tall.
* I made the tongue around 45" long with a possiblity of putting a small box on the front for some gear.
* The axle is placed about 36" from the rear of the trailer.

I've read Andrew's trailer balance calculations but I don't know how heavy the finished product will be. I'm guessing around 750# dry.
I'm being paranoid about the tongue buckling but I am using a 2x4 rectangular tongue from front to rear. That guy with the broken tongue on his desert trailer made me think too much.

Am I being too much of a worry wart?

Warpony-

I vote worrywart! <g> I don't think you should have any concern with too much tongue weight with your current set-up. All the dimensions seem to be pretty much mid-range for tears, in fact the critical one, 36" from back of trailer to axle, seems a little long- tongue weight might be too low. The tongue material is plenty strong if wall thickness is at least .12", and if you put a tongue box on, you have the flexibility of mounting heavy/light objects up there to adjust the weight right where you want it. Calm down! Building these is therapy, remember! The WORST thing that will happen is that you will have to relocate the axle- put the fenders on last, weigh the tongue to make sure it's in the reasonable range, take it out for a test drive with as much equipment installed as you can and see how it handles.

Tim Greiner

My hunch is that once you get your galley filled up, you'll be OK...
If it makes you feel any better... I'm in the same boat, sorta...
I haven't taken the time to weigh all my parts, so I'm guestimating a bit also.
I do have quite a bit of travel built in to my axle mount if I do need to move the axle.
I won't perminately attach the axle until I can see where it needs to go....

Dean, I don't have a galley at all and the design of my trailer won't allow me to move the axle location at all. I'm probably being overconcerned and at this point, IT'S TOOOOOO LATE!!!! I'm in too deep now to turn back so I'm going to finish it and deal with weight distribution when it's done. I guess I can just load up the back with a few extra cases of PBR and drink, errrr, shift the load accordingly !!!!
Since my design is not a traditional design I wanted to hear some feedback from some of you to see if there is any cause for concern. This is my first build so I do have some questions as I go along. Thanks all for the replys.

HI Jeff,
what is the wall thickness of your 2x4 tongue?
Is that a single straight tongue, or an "A" shaped tongue?
How big are the hitch pin holes (if any)?

2x4 sq tube sounds pretty good, if it's 1/8" wall thickness or better. You are mounting it "tall" not "wide", right?

Dave, the wall thickness is right at 3/32" and I'm using a straight hitch but I welded it to the main beam. It also runs the entire length of the trailer and is mounted "tall" ways. I'm going to weld some braces from the front corner of the trailer to the tongue, just to be sure. The wall thickness is not as thick as I would like but the metal I am using was used as shelving beams for giant pallet racking so I would think it is plenty strong. I'm also going to run some strap under the front of the tongue to help out, too.

Yeah, I'm no engineer, but less than 1/8" wall thickness? That sounds pretty thin to me. How about sleeving it with a slightly larger piece of square tube? You could take the sleeve from the hitch back to inside the frame. Mine broke right at the point of most force and the thinnest metal.

I was sure that mine was "plenty stout"... until it broke.

Welding a strap along the bottom side to reinforce it will help. You just really don't want the tongue to break off. Even if you like adventure & challenge!

Jeff,

Using the tongue strength spreadsheet on my tongue strength page shows:

1) Your 2" x 4" x 3/32" tube has a bend strength 3.7 times bigger than the 1" x 2" x 1/8" tube on Dave's trailer that broke. Yup, nearly 4 times.

2) However your 45" tongue is loooong. So I plugged the numbers into the tongue strength factor thingie I guessed up and it gives an answer of 2.5 daves - which suggests (I repeat, suggests - this is not court-room proof) that your tongue would be about half as heavily loaded as Dave's was when it broke. (I used 1000lb trailer weight and 150lb tongue weight.)

So I vote for worrywart too, though as we don't have that word in England, I may withdraw that if someone explains to me what I just said....

Andrew

Good question. I will be building mine 4.5'h x 5'w x 10'L and it will be cut around the wheelwells so I can't move my axle later so I must get it right the first time. I was thinking of putting the axle 48" from the back. Should I move back?

Gerdo wrote:Good question. Should I move back?

I don't think you should. That seems about right to me.

Here's an idea, if it's too heavy on the tongue, throw a case of beer in the back, see if that helps, can't hurt, and you'll make a lot of new friends..........Doug Hodder

if thats not enought go with a quarter.