Indiana Teardrop

[jim littiken]

My son and I are building a 4x8 teardrop we plan to take to Canada this coming spring. Sunday we went to the lumber yard and picked up some plywood. I have some 2" square 11ga tubing ordered and need to get a Dexter axle on the way. I do have a small set back at this time I am in a brace and on crutches. We have gotten the sides laid out and cut. If anyone has anything to say good or bad speak up this is the first trailer we have built.

[Dean in Ct.]

I love the profile! I went with 10' long and definitely sacrificed some of the "cute" factor. Good luck and keep us posted!
Dean

[Chuckles2153]

What part of indiana do you hail from?

[jim littiken]

I am from Quincy it is real close to McCormick Creek State Park and Spencer.

[Shadow Catcher]

You may wish to check out Tearjerkers which will have a BIG gathering at McCormick in July, we will be there.

[jackdaw]

Love the profile Jim...Very nice

Is that a wide five empi wheel ? Have you got a little VW splitscreen bus to tow the teardrop ? (Just a wild guess)

Looking forward to seeing this come together

[jim littiken]

I have a 56 bug. I had a westy but sold it when they were bringing as much as my first house.

I have been working on the wall frame work I can only work about an hour at a time then need to rest so it is going slow.

[Jst83]

Welcome Jim from another fellow Hoosier

Yes living close tomcCormicks creek you should check out the Crossroads Gathering there in July already close to 100 Campers already confirmed. Plenty of room but don't wait to long they're going fast

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=52566&p=990527#p990527

[jim littiken]

I got one side brace done this morning. Maybe I will get the other side done later today.

[jim littiken]

Started welding up the frame last night.

[jim littiken]

I got the frame done. It is two inch square tubing with a Dexter axle. Feel free to tell me what a messed up.

[KCStudly]

If your overall build weight is fairly low and your welds are impeccable you are probably okay. Maybe. If your build is really light weight. (I suppose I could read back and see for myself.)

Otherwise I am concerned about how you tied the tongue into the frame. That will be a weak point. Look at how most frames have the tongue side rails crossing under the front xmbr and tying into both the front xmbr and the main frame side rails at or near the second xmbr. As a minimum, the "A" rails are integral to the main rails with the outer vertical wall of tubing uninterrupted, and a pie cut on the inside vertical wall that is welded back up.

What you have created (forgive me for being blunt) is a can opener on a hinge. You have, what? a 3 or 4 foot lever trying to rip those front xmbr welds apart, and if the welds hold the next thing to go is a single section of one wall thickness material the weak way.

Sorry, I can be opinionated, but I honestly feel that you should reconsider your tongue attachment. Let's see what other opinions you get.

[jim littiken]

I know what your saying on my 30' inclosed car trailer and my livestock trailers the tongue continues under the frame to tie into the side rails. This is such a little trailer I hope that will not be a problem. It would not be a hard modification if needed. I guess I could draw it up and run it on the stress program and check. Thanks for the input. Any other opinions on this. Oh the welds are all TIGed and I have been welding top fuel dragster and funny cars together for years so I do not think that part is an issue.

[mezmo]

I'm not a frame expert by any means, but I think KC has
brought up a valid question. I'd just weld another piece
of tubing under each "A" frame member, say from the
small crosspiece on the "A" frame that the center tube
for the coupling is attached to, back to where the second
cross member meets the side member. It's not that much
extra weight and should remedy the situation. I just like
to have some redundancy with some things like this. It'd
be easy to do now at this stage too. I'd hate to see a
mishap happen from an unexpected tongue failure and
ruin your trip and the build - that's a nice profile you've got
there too. The Aussies and Kiwis used to undertruss their
"A" frames, on their generally smaller caravans [Travel Trailers],
from just aft of the coupler back to where the
second cross member is - or so [they seem to have used even
legs on the truss of flat bar stock, the inverted peak of which
was at the point of where the "A" frame went under the
first crossmember].

Just another viewpoint on it...

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[jim littiken]

I have an idea of how I am going to beef it up to day. I will take a picture when I am done.