Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

This is my new trailer. The is a hybrid trailer by freedom trailers. The trailer is 24' long the box is 10' by 8.5 wide by 6'6" tall. the open part is 14' long. The axles are dexter 3500 lbs I went with radial tires and the ac bracing in the roof. This will be my first conversion so I will be asking for help. I will be towing a 2014 canam maverick xmr 1000. The trailer will be pulled by a 2010 1500 Dodge Ram larime. So these is my ideas that I have but there not set in stone. I will be putting a 13500 btu ac with heat strips on the roof. I want to insulate the roof, wall and maybe the floor. I also want to do windows on both side. I was thinking about a shower and a toilet. I want to build a fold down bed thats really all I need. Also going to do stabilizer jacks on each corner. I don't really travel to the crazy cold parts of the U.S. I live in charleston sc and I go as far as West Virginia to ride the Hatfield and McCoy trails. Any idea are commets would help me in this adventure.
Thanks

shepdogg, Howdy;

Welcome to the forum!
Interesting set-up. I can 'see' a lot of possibilities... nice patio for a bar-b-que.
My concern would be weight and balance with the trailer. Basic 'rule-of-thumb' being
60% of weight in front of the axles and 49% behind. Anything directly over doesn't
count for front nor back but does for total... So be careful how much you load into
the enclosed portion. To much and you'll be pulling the steering tires off the pavement.

hank

Wow! That's quite a trailer! I'm pretty sure you're having more fun than I am.

Dave

Hey the sheep can jump out the back

P.S. how you gonna get the door open when the load slides to the front......
or are the sheep trained to not come in ??

P.S. 2 if its empty it must be front heavy, how would you tow it ??

hankaye wrote:shepdogg, Howdy;

Welcome to the forum!
Interesting set-up. I can 'see' a lot of possibilities... nice patio for a bar-b-que.
My concern would be weight and balance with the trailer. Basic 'rule-of-thumb' being
60% of weight in front of the axles and 49% behind. Anything directly over doesn't
count for front nor back but does for total... So be careful how much you load into
the enclosed portion. To much and you'll be pulling the steering tires off the pavement.

hank

I noticed that also. I have not picked it up its still at the dealership. How should I appoach that at the dealer. Do you think that the wheels need to be moved more forward. I google some 8.5 x 24" trailers they look about the same as in axles placement. I'm kinda thinking that being that's is a weird looking trailer it maybe throwing us off. What yall think???

OverTheTopCargoTrailer wrote:Hey the sheep can jump out the back

P.S. how you gonna get the door open when the load slides to the front......
or are the sheep trained to not come in ??

P.S. 2 if its empty it must be front heavy, how would you tow it ??

shepdogg, Howdy;

shepdogg wrote:

hankaye wrote:shepdogg, Howdy;

Welcome to the forum!
Interesting set-up. I can 'see' a lot of possibilities... nice patio for a bar-b-que.
My concern would be weight and balance with the trailer. Basic 'rule-of-thumb' being
60% of weight in front of the axles and 49% behind. Anything directly over doesn't
count for front nor back but does for total... So be careful how much you load into
the enclosed portion. To much and you'll be pulling the steering tires off the pavement.

hank

I noticed that also. I have not picked it up its still at the dealership. How should I appoach that at the dealer. Do you think that the wheels need to be moved more forward. I google some 8.5 x 24" trailers they look about the same as in axles placement. I'm kinda thinking that being that's is a weird looking trailer it maybe throwing us off. What yall think???

Generally, the rear axle or axles are set aft of the 1/2 way point to allow for the 60/40 split, sooooo ...
not sure, I'd definitely be asking if it's designed to be towed with the front loaded and the rear empty
or if it's necessary to keep "X" number of pounds of weight on the rear ... Another question is what is
the empty tongue weight with the trailer. Remembering that it should be in the neighborhood of 10 to
15 % of the gross weight. It may be there already which would indicate that the back half will require
something to be loaded at all times when you need to move it ...

hank

Good point hankaye. I will call them Monday and ask for sure.

Tongue weight is designed to be 10% of trailer weight about 350lbs the axles are set approx at 60%
This is what I got from the dealer..

shepdogg, Howdy;

shepdogg wrote:Tongue weight is designed to be 10% of trailer weight about 350lbs the axles are set approx at 60%
This is what I got from the dealer..

That's empty or is that the gross wt. ? How much do you plan to pack into the front, how much will be on the rear deck???
How much does the tongue weight as it sits on the dealer's lot? Do they have a scale to weigh it on? Personally, I'd want to
see it for my self. Especially if the Gross weight is only about 5.5K to 6K pounds, that would seriously reduce your ability to
add some pounds to it. For instance if the trailer (as is), weights in at 3500 pounds then you've already got near + or -1/2 of
the total Gross already. How much does whatever you are going to load onto the rear weigh? Now how much will you have
to build what you want in the front?
Really, I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just questions I'd be asking if I were going to spend the bucks to buy it.

hank

hankaye wrote:shepdogg, Howdy;

shepdogg wrote:Tongue weight is designed to be 10% of trailer weight about 350lbs the axles are set approx at 60%
This is what I got from the dealer..

That's empty or is that the gross wt. ? How much do you plan to pack into the front, how much will be on the rear deck???
How much does the tongue weight as it sits on the dealer's lot? Do they have a scale to weigh it on? Personally, I'd want to
see it for my self. Especially if the Gross weight is only about 5.5K to 6K pounds, that would seriously reduce your ability to
add some pounds to it. For instance if the trailer (as is), weights in at 3500 pounds then you've already got near + or -1/2 of
the total Gross already. How much does whatever you are going to load onto the rear weigh? Now how much will you have
to build what you want in the front?
Really, I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just questions I'd be asking if I were going to spend the bucks to buy it.

hank

These are great question man. the trailer weights in at around 3400lbs the side by side is about 1500lbs so that only leaves me 1300 are so lbs to put in the front. maybe I need to upgrade the bigger axles. maybe I should get the axles moved forward a bit. I just want this to be a trailer to carry my sxs and somewhere to sleep out the weather.

shepdogg, Howdy;

I have a feeling that they won't be willing to move the axles forward.
Load up your Side-by-side as if you were going for a ride and weight it.
Assumed weights are sometimes just a wee bit off and can put a hole in
your plans.
How completely do you intend to finish the interior of the front part? Full
insulation, what kind/type of cabinetry and how much, Shower, water source
and quantity, commode, cooking method, windows, on and on ...
Someone on here posted a bunch of weights for different building materials,
might do a search to check it out. Couldn't find it right off the get-go, but,
here's a thread that will give you some ideas about where to look for weights.
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=61828
I'd still ask the folks what the tongue weight is in it's "as is" configuration ...
meaning I'd ask them to actually weight it with me present so I'd know what
I'm dealing with.
Who knows, yours may be the last hybrid they will want to sell ...

hank

I have seen some that most likely were homemade. I've seen them deck in front and deck in rear. Here is a photo of one that is still being made. The tow vehicle is bigger than a 1/2 ton too.

Many remove travel trailer axles and weld trailer into a 2-3 axle or gooseneck equipment trailer. I was going to try my own combo, but went with an all aluminum 7x12 -7' high cargo/toy hauler. I like your idea but think I'd want an all aluminum frame and box. Be the guinea pig- but safely.

So I called the trailer company today and told them about my concerns. So they are going to build me another trailer brand new. im getting the 5200lbs dexter axles. The salesman in going to ask the factory about moving the axles more forward to kinda even to load out. im also going to have them frame in 2 windows.
QUESTION. what size window do you think I should go with???
where should I put them in the trailer???
they don't have to open I just want to see outside..

shepdogg, Howdy;

Thanks for the update. Please keep us in the loop.
This should be interesting...

hank