Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Does anybody have any pictures or ideas about how I could construct a rear spare tire mount that swings out, swivels and then becomes the picnic table, like the lady has on the Discover y RV Crazy video? Or does somebody sell this?

Dr. Steve,
I took pictures of that lady's table in Minden, I will try and find them when I get home and post. Her son made it for her so it's not something you can buy. I don't think it is too complicated. I'll post the pics this evening.
Scott F.

It does not look too difficult. You fabricate the tire mounting arm from some steel tubing. Then you attach it to the back of your frame with a large barrel hinge. That will allow it to swing away from the body.
Then you make a tire mounting plate for the other side of the arm, and again use a barrel hinge to mount it. So when the ar is swung away, the tire can then swivel as well. You could use anything to latch all of this in to place. Something as simple as a pin to slide in to pair of holes, or a more complicated latch, or something as primitive as a bungee cord.
Have a look at this quick sketch I did. I am sure somebody like Mike or Andrew could give you a better, 3d view, but this should give you a rough idea.

PeteD added one to his tear and it is a nice touch. Following him to Unicoi SP last month I saw why you have to build that thing heavy duty, That spare is heavy and really wants to bounce around. Someone here in the Carolinas Crew should have some pictures of it.

Shrug53 and Alan:

I am also assuming that a guy would have to install a couple of safety pins in the hinges to keep them in place on the highway, correct?

No doubt. Or some kind of latch to keep everything in place. I thought that there could be some tabs or something on the moving parts so you can latch them on one side or the other to keep them steady when open or closed.

I would probably have something on the rear hatch to hook to, to really keep it steady. If the arm is strong enough, the plate on the hatch would not even need to be very strong, just enough to prevent it from vibrating.

This would even work with a small tire by the way. Just cut a bigger panel and reinforce the edges and bolt it to the tire. Paint it to match the trailer, or put a logo on it or something.

Shrug53 wrote:It does not look too difficult. You fabricate the tire mounting arm from some steel tubing. Then you attach it to the back of your frame with a large barrel hinge. That will allow it to swing away from the body.
Then you make a tire mounting plate for the other side of the arm, and again use a barrel hinge to mount it. So when the ar is swung away, the tire can then swivel as well. You could use anything to latch all of this in to place. Something as simple as a pin to slide in to pair of holes, or a more complicated latch, or something as primitive as a bungee cord.
Have a look at this quick sketch I did. I am sure somebody like Mike or Andrew could give you a better, 3d view, but this should give you a rough idea.

I would replace that nice 45 degree angle. If the tire support rests on a bracket at the center of the frame rather than the hinge on the edge, the tire would have much less leverage to flex, bend, and fatigue the supports.

I've been planning to build one of these when I get to that point. If the plan is not scraped I'll post pics then.

If you move it to the center, how will it swing out and away from the body?

Shrug53 wrote:If you move it to the center, how will it swing out and away from the body?

I would leave the hinge exactly where you put it. The tire support would be a right angle, the verticle portion would swing to the center of the trailer. A bracket supporting the the swingarm at the center of the trailer wouuld carry the bulk of the weight, and provide an excelent place to pin or latch the contraption in travel position.

Here are the pictures I took in Minden.

This pic shows how the spare is mounted to the rear of the trailer. Pulling a pin allows the mount to swing away to the side.


This pic shows the hinge from the side.


This pic shows the tire mount and swivel. In this picture the "table" is in the up position.


It looks like the carrier was built similar to Shrug's design with a piece going up at a 45 degree angle.

Scott F.

Best make it heavy duty as mentioned earlier. I've seen the back ends of jeeps fall off if the spare tire carrier isn't fastened right. Any kind of wiggle in the tire is bad. All the weight of the tire flopping around can break amazingly thick metal by fatiguing it. Now granted a jeep tire is a lot heavier than a trailer tire but you see what I mean.
Bruce

I followed Margie for several hundred miles going to Minden and her spare tire doesn't bonce. She has to swing it to the side so as to open her hatch. Then after the hatch is open, she positions it where she wants and pins it in place. So simple.

Look at the first pic (that Scott posted) closely and you'll see another reason why it doesn't bonce.

Another picture showing the 'spare tire' table


Have a good day.

s4son wrote:Here are the pictures I took in Minden.

This pic shows how the spare is mounted to the rear of the trailer. Pulling a pin allows the mount to swing away to the side.


It looks like the carrier was built similar to Shrug's design with a piece going up at a 45 degree angle.

Scott F.

From what I see in this picture is that the way that hinge is designed, it provides support for several inches to a portion of the bracket that runs parallel to the ground and the back of the trailer before the 45 degree angle. This portion of the bracket seems to be confined from moving in all but one direction by the channel and of course the pin locks it into the channel when in the travel position. This takes most, if not all of the strain off the hinge pin and eliminates a good portion of the leverage from hinge to tire. It appears to have even more support than my suggestion of a center bracket.

Excellent pictures! Wow! I get the idea very clearly now!

I have always said that on this great list there is always somebody that knows everything. Thanks!

Gage:

Is that a "For Sale" on Margies Tear?

What's up with that? I hate to think of her getting out of Teardropping!!!!

Let us know!

Cheers,

Coop