The Chassis

[Prem]

First a confession: I made a 6 ft. wide, 12 ft. teardrop chassis out of 4 inch C-channel steel, including cross members AND 1/8 inch plate for the entire floor and running boards. Weight? About 1,500 pounds with the 5k axle, heavy leaf springs, brake drums and 16 inch steel wheels. After four years I decided to sell it and magically (Craigslist), some people came along who really needed that kind of construction and were happy to get it.

From what I've seen, the dominant fad these days with teardrop builders is to build an absolutely rigid steel chassis out of 2" thick wall tubing and weld it all. The lesser fad is to get a many times lighter, bolt-together, C-channel steel, Harbor Freight trailer to carry the same size structure as the 2" square tube, overkill chassis.

You wouldn't believe how minimally they constructed the chassis of my 1956 Shasta trailer back in '56. Three full-length runs of two inch C-channel into an A-frame with a little 2-inch angle iron for cross members. I beefed it up slightly with bed frame angle iron and a couple of 5-foot trusses of square 1/2 inch rod underneath from the tongue to the front of the spring carriers. It's almost as rigid as a 2-inch, thick-wall, square tube at 1/4 the weight. The economy of weight to strength is important when you put it all in motion and the weight suddenly turns into momentum.

If you image google BOLUS TRAILER you can find a photo of one with the body removed and chassis up on oil drums. It's all 1" steel pipe trussed marvelously! THAT'S a weight-conscious design and it's rigid.

Prem

[Lgboro]

I went with a Tractor Supply trailer because it was very light and I think will be plenty of support for my 4 x 9 tear. I did reinforce the tongue though for a little added strength. When my tear is finally bolted to the trailer I am sure the lightweight trailer will not be a weak point in my build. If I was building a trailer from scratch I would use any more metal that the Tractor
Supply trailer has currently.

[doug hodder]

A lot of scratch builders do overbuild their frames, sometimes it's a function of what materials the local supplier has on hand, or what they scrounged or maybe ones ability to competently weld on thin wall materials etc... I was able to scratch build a 2x2 16 ga. frame that included the stabilizers, a 4" drop axle, 15" wheels and tongue wheel and came in within 15 pounds of the HF 1500# trailer, I think that is the one. I'm only going by what Andrew had mentioned about it. I had him check the engineering on my design prior to building. I way overbuilt my first one...live and learn. Heavier wall tubing is more forgiving on welding.

It is interesting to tear apart a manufactured trailer and see just how it was put together, a real learning lesson. A real shocker for body construction is a Serro Scotty. Steve E is doing one now. Doug