Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Well after getting the trailer all bolted together I decided to weigh it just to see where I stood, before building. and as luck would have it, i have the Racine chapters soap bx derby scales in the garage

So I took a jug of oil dry for the appx right height of the tongue.
and then I had the computer ZERO the scales.

I put the rear wheels on a pad each, and then the tongue on just one pad.





I read some where some one actually mounted that axle over the top of the sprigs, to get the height down a bit. Is there any real good reasons not to do this?

gonna take off the fenders, and cut the dolly holders off, and we will see what kind of weight I can shave

turned the axle over, and reduced the ride hieght by 2"

took the fenders off, and the weight is now at 219..


i ran across the happitrails kit, and am considering that very strongly, The weight is fantastic. has anyone build their kit yet?

I know a fella out east bought their trailer done, and pulls it with a prius. But I am curious about the difficulties of the kit.

I read around here that the trailer will probably cost around 2ooo to build from scratch, (although I still cant see that, but I know things add up)

and the kit is 1700 plus shipping. seems like the light weight way out.. any comments?

Willy,
I don't know about the happytrails but, as far as costs go. It all depends on how many bells and whistles that sneek their way into the build. $2000 probably is "average" ballpark figure. I spent more. Someone advertises a "bare bones" Teardrop for sale at around $1500, I can't remember the builder at the moment. I'm sure I saw the builder on this forum.
That's my 2¢,
Norm

Willy, with the axle on top of the spring for the lower ride will the fenders clear the tires. reason for asking is I thought of lowering to match my lowered s-10.

Hardin Valley Magic wrote:Willy, with the axle on top of the spring for the lower ride will the fenders clear the tires. reason for asking is I thought of lowering to match my lowered s-10.

I actually want to extend the body over the wheels somewhat, so i just took the fenders off and shoved em in the corner, never looking at em again They are ugly any way. hehe
I got in mind a kinda old time "skirt" but havent really worked that out yet. hehe btw, the fenders and the brackets were 13 pounds

My Miata is lowered a tad, and I figured out I was going to need an 8" rise on the draw bar, the way the trailer sat. and the largest avalable that I could find, was 5" so the lowering of the trailer was done for a few different reasons

flopping the axle over to the top also required turning the pin in the springs over as well. I clamped the spring with a big ole vise grip, and it was a piece of cake.

willy1959 wrote:

Hardin Valley Magic wrote:Willy, with the axle on top of the spring for the lower ride will the fenders clear the tires. reason for asking is I thought of lowering to match my lowered s-10.

I actually want to extend the body over the wheels somewhat, so i just took the fenders off and shoved em in the corner, never looking at em again They are ugly any way. hehe
I got in mind a kinda old time "skirt" but havent really worked that out yet. hehe btw, the fenders and the brackets were 13 pounds

My Miata is lowered a tad, and I figured out I was going to need an 8" rise on the draw bar, the way the trailer sat. and the largest avalable that I could find, was 5" so the lowering of the trailer was done for a few different reasons

flopping the axle over to the top also required turning the pin in the springs over as well. I clamped the spring with a big ole vise grip, and it was a piece of cake.

My axle is above the spring to lower the trailer.

And I had a hitch fabbed locally for my miata. It is completely hidden unless it is in use. Receiver is vertical. I am sure it is over built. Here is a picture:

They did a clean job on it...I like the vertical receiver idea....I scratch built the hitch for the Rambler and now I'm thinking....If I get rear ended...I'll probably punch a hole in that 20 gallon tank! I might just put on a blunt plate on the end of the reciever....at any rate...the hitch looks great....Doug

That really is a GREAT hitch for the yada, if I had seen that before I bought the hard dog, thats the one id have!!

I flipped the axle on my 1800 h/f trailer. I only have 1.5 inches of clearance from axle top to frame bottom... and 1 inch clearance from fender to tire. I reversed the carriage bolts on the fender so tire hits smooth top of carriage bolts and fenders do give..... I try to avoid huge potholes... and I run the tires at 40# pressure, so if suspension bottoms out, tires will have a bit of give.

All this has never causee me a problem, and I like the lower ride height. I think it dropped the trailer about 3 inches, and I would do it again.

Oh, the suspension is mounted on a mini-frame which makes it very easy to move to balance the trailer, and has to be notched to allow the axle more space... none of this is a problem.

I have a 5x8 Redtrailer that has a top supported axle. The axle was reversed just as described above. I only have 400 miles on the TinTop, but it worked fine. The 2" lowered height looks better and it worked better for the ball mount. Clearance between axle and frame is 2" -- no bottoming out that I can tell. I have a 4" rise behind my VW Golf TDI that runs the trailer dead level.
JLaman

TonyCooper wrote:

willy1959 wrote:

Hardin Valley Magic wrote:Willy, with the axle on top of the spring for the lower ride will the fenders clear the tires. reason for asking is I thought of lowering to match my lowered s-10.

I actually want to extend the body over the wheels somewhat, so i just took the fenders off and shoved em in the corner, never looking at em again They are ugly any way. hehe
I got in mind a kinda old time "skirt" but havent really worked that out yet. hehe btw, the fenders and the brackets were 13 pounds

My Miata is lowered a tad, and I figured out I was going to need an 8" rise on the draw bar, the way the trailer sat. and the largest avalable that I could find, was 5" so the lowering of the trailer was done for a few different reasons

flopping the axle over to the top also required turning the pin in the springs over as well. I clamped the spring with a big ole vise grip, and it was a piece of cake.

My axle is above the spring to lower the trailer.

And I had a hitch fabbed locally for my miata. It is completely hidden unless it is in use. Receiver is vertical. I am sure it is over built. Here is a picture:

mine was similar. the receiver is up under the bumper and faces at about a 45deg angle to the ground. If you recall, dad, I had harry modify that old receivr sleeve you had to adapt it...but now its about a 1" drop instead of a raise. I may have to make up a new one for this trailer to do it "right"

heres a fairly good pic of the butt, you cant see the receiver like this:

Little ruff on tires are you? Hitch looks great. I'll give the "flip axle to top side of springs" a shot. I've lowered several trucks before, but I was concerned about travel of the axle clearance after all was together.

those were sacrifices to the spec miata god. hungry little bugger.

i was worried about no bump stops and travel too...