Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I may have to build my trailer from square steel tubing. I was wondering whow much and what lengths some of you guys used.

I can get 1/8th" square steel tubing for $2.40 a ft locally. Cutting to length would cost me a bit more.

Just looking at all the options.

What size square? 1/8 wall might be a bit fragile unless the height is more than 3 inches.....

arnereil wrote:What size square? 1/8 wall might be a bit fragile unless the height is more than 3 inches.....

Ah, 2" square. What size do you recommend?

My chassis was built from 2" sq tubing 1/8" wall, except for the tongue, which was 3/16" wall.

Mike...

Eric

I paid $1.13 a foot for my last piece of 2" x 2" x .120" wall steel tubing. This is the material I would reccomend, but you need to buy twenty foot lengths from a steel supplier rather than from one of the big boxes.

Just realized I didn't answer the "how much" section of your question. I didn't keep track of the amount of tubing I used. I bought three 20' sticks of 2 x 2 x 0.120 wall, but had several projects going at the same time. Still have some left, but started with some on the rack. The picture should give an idea of what was involved in my frame. Angle is 2" x 2" x 1/4" two feet long.

Eric

I used about 50' of 2" square tubing for my frame not counting the tounge.

2x2x.120 will be plenty strong enough for any "normal" teardrop. If you're building an off-roader and believe in the "excess is never enough" theory then you might want something stronger. I've bought a couple of the travel trailer plans sold by Glen-L here: http://www.glen-l.com/campers/glenlrv.html and that is the steel they recommend for the smaller trailers, all of which are larger and heavier than most tears would be.

I used 2x2x3/16 for the two tongue pieces... I'm glad I did. There is no flexing on the tongue members!

Mike...