Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I recently received my 7x16 from TrailerShowRoom/Lark in Douglas GA. It has tandem torsion axles with 22.5 degree DOWN angle which makes it sit up higher. I ordered the narrowed (interior) wheels to keep the trailer width about the same as my truck (2005 Dodge RAM diesel 4x2). I also ordered 60" triple tube extended tongue, chrome wheels with radials, bulldog collar lok coupler, square corners and smaller 28" side door.

I have been researching and working on this concept for over 5 years. I started buying parts and appliances two years ago. In many cases I found things at a discount online (ebay, etc). I am thankful for this forum and participants for the many great ideas. Hopefully I can contribute some worthwhile ideas also.

I spent about three days putting in insulation, air conditioning, G-Floor and electric and then took off for Myrtle Beach. It still has a long way to go before I am finished but we had reservations at the campground so we had to go...







After taking walls off. I sprayed some bare metal. Also I ordered the full walk on roof which is 3/8" plywood and tubular steel frame.



After adding 3/4 insulation to walls between Z studs. The roof took a layer of 3/4 and then a layer of 1/2 foam. It only comes in 1/2, 3/4 and 2" at the local Home Depot and Lowes. Also beware some metal tape doesn't stick to the foam.





I ran the 50A power cable inside and up the wall to my custom built electric panel. More on that later.



Not very well organized but I have plans for fold down bunks and cabinets to hold all this.

That is one fine CT that you have there.

I like the inboard wheels, diamond plate rock guard and skirting, color,...well everything. You're doing a very nice job on your conversion, too!


The more I read this section of the forum the more I am thinking about a CT conversion.

Take care,
Tom

that's one purdy trailer !

is that ham gear?

cheers

I love you soooooooo MUCH

Finally another LARK'er on this form


1 more & soon we can rule the world
Did you get to meet Mr Grandpa Lark' er in Person ......he is a real cool old guy ?


http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

Thanks guys.

Tom, I was trying to match my truck with the chrome wheels and silver frost body color and it came out great. The armor plate is a nice touch (but that stuff is really thin!)

Pappaw, the radio is an old commercial/public service UHF reprogrammed for GMRS. It works better than FRS radios.

OverTheTop, no I didn't meet grandpa Lark. Your trailer has inspired me also.

I hope it won't make me go borke

Soon I'll have to get a loan to keep on building ,
I hope the gov can give me a 2.68% loan for 30 years
I need to upgrade to 8.5 x 16 so I can have 6 solar panels & a good AC up to 110 deg

Psst don't tell my plans are top secret

OtTCC, Mark-
My 6x10 trailer is also a Lark. There are more of us than you think. I just saw someone else talking about picking their trailer up in Douglas, GA, that is probably a Lark as well. If it is a gaggle of of geese, I wonder what a group of larks is called?

Mark, it looks like you have done a great job in a short amount of time. I really like the idea of a full walk-on roof. As far as costs, boy does it mount up, my wife accused me of being "trailer proud" this weekend, after I spent most of it working on that box. On the other hand, commercially, you could not touch what a lot of people on the site have done out of love/obsession/ingenuity.

Pat

I'm the one who picked up a Lark in Douglas. I think you might call us a Larkle.

Mike

According to Wikipedia, some classify larks as babblers. I am not sure how to take that. But considering the forum entries....

I just spent the last four days under my trailer installing jacks and conduit. The jacks are UltraFab PowerTwin II electric stabilizing jacks. They aren't cheap but this is a big part of the quick setup/takedown concept I am building.

First, I got rid of the factory wiring and breakaway battery with those poor connectors.



My breakaway circuit will run directly off the main battery. Actually, I may not use breakaway at all. Is it really necessary? Notice the tongue jack has been removed (not easy since it was welded on). The front jacks can easily lift the tongue.



Rear jacks are retracted here. Front jacks are laying on the ground. I drilled holes in frame I beam and jacks. If the frame rails were even with the outside edge of the trailer, I think it would be a lot more difficult and steel mounting cross members would have to be welded in. Since I have narrowed axles, the frame rails are set in by 12".



This is the relay array for the control of the jacks. Each jack has an up and down relay so there are eight total. The tow vehicle harness goes to the terminal strip with all the yellow wires. From here I rewired all the lights and brakes. There is a relay here that takes over the brakes and backup lights and provides full power to them. This is activated by the "master jack switch". So when I go into setup/takedown the brakes will be locked for additional safety. When the master is switched off, the no power will go to the jacks so they can't accidentally short out and deploy while driving.



The master jack switch will be installed on the tongue under the generator box cover. There will be four momentary up/down switches, one for each jack. Ultrafab makes a radio controlled relay box that does the same thing but I wanted to build my own with upgraded power components like 40A relays and 8ga wires. There is a 100A master solenoid and independent fuses on everything.

Conduit and holes - not fun to install



Brake wires are 10ga in conduit. They split off from the center so left and right sides are electrically balanced. I wired the front and then rear, so front may get a little more power than rear. I hope thats not a mistake.



The jacks can lift my trailer no problem. The lifting power is not even - the further they extend, the more leverage they get, and the more power they deliver. I haven't tried to lift both wheels off the ground on the same side. That might not be good for the motors even if they could do it.



Overall, I am pleased with the quality of the Ultrafab PowerTwin II jacks. They are thick heavy steel and even if the trailer is too heavy to lift, they would be worthwhile for stabilizing. I did have to cut a bit off the corner of the legs because it interfered with the motor mounting bolts. It was either that or cut off the bolts by 1/4". I decided to use a nylon lock nut and take advantage of that extra length. It is kind of hard to imagine how Ultrafab let this slip through since it clearly couldn't work as shipped.

Mark519 wrote:I just spent the last four days under my trailer installing jacks and conduit. The jacks are UltraFab PowerTwin II electric stabilizing jacks. They aren't cheap but this is a big part of the quick setup/takedown concept I am building.


First, I got rid of the factory wiring and breakaway battery with those poor connectors.


My breakaway circuit will run directly off the main battery. Actually, I may not use breakaway at all. Is it really necessary? Notice the tongue jack has been removed (not easy since it was welded on). The front jacks can easily lift the tongue.

The small battery is there to provide power to the brakes if the trailer becomes separated from the tow vehicle. If the trailer is separated then the breakaway will not be powered from the main battery. I'm not sure if you have to have the breakaway feature. I was told when I purchased my trailer that the state required it, but I'm not sure if that is true or if all states require it.

Awesome job on your installation and your rewiring.

Holly Be Jesus

Damn now I know what supper luxury item I forgot to install on OTTCT :-((

Are you planning to have disco dance party inside the trailer ??
Now my next trailer will have to have full hydraulics 4 sure

There is however a drill, for drilling holes for conduits in metal boxes, about $40 and drills the holes like hot butter

Good job .....I hope you don't go broke like I am ..... overshot my $25k target already a long time ago


http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/

Nice jacks I am wondering did the jacks come with an up relay and a down relay or is that something you added?
I'll bet the jacks do draw a lot of power so relays make sense to me.
they sure would make setting up easier and you have done a nice clean install.

pete

I should have taken some better photos of the jacks before I installed them. The jacks come with 6 ga wiring and "15A/125VAC" no name switches. The RC9 controller unit comes with relays built in. I basically took their schematic and built my own relay controller (but without the radio remote control). You can find the docs on the Ultrafab site but they aren't great and didn't mention the wiring harness at all. They fuse each motor at 30A although they draw much less in reality with light loads. I may have overbuilt the electrical but I designed it all based on the specs before the jacks arrived. And then I upsized everything. BTW I will publish detailed schematics when I am totally done with the trailer.

Hi Mark

Im still a little confused When you order this item does it come with 1 or 2 jacks ( front & rear ) for the $549 price
everybody's add just seams to show 1 jack ?
Also would that be 6,000 lbs per each jack or for both sets of jacks ( front & rear ) therefore a total of 12,000 lbs ? as a 7 x 16 can easily exceed 6,000 lbs

http://www.dyersonline.com/ultra-fab-power-twin-ii-22-stabilizing-jacks.html

Did you also get the remote ?

Thanks Jerry