My teardrop build

[Josh J]

Hello, I am from Minnesota, and my wife and I have enjoyed tent camping for many years. Lately we have been getting tired of all of the setup and takedown that goes along with it. I spotted a teardrop at a local camper dealership one day when I was driving by. I stopped in to take a look at it and I decided that I should try to build one. I've built many trailers, so I think I am up to the challenge. I haven been working on it since September, off and on when I get some free time (and money)

I have a build thread on a local car club forum, and on the tearjerkers forum. I wanted to start one here just to help keep myself motivated, and get input/ideas from people who have more experience than I do with building the actual teardrop. I haven't really built many things out of wood, so I'm sure I will learn a lot!

So, it begins!

I cut my axle out of a 94 Plymouth Acclaim, it has a 4" drop







Then, I bought some steel from Discount Steel in Minneapolis and started on the trailer frame. I am using a GoPro camera with a wide angle lens for the pictures, but I promise all of the steel is actually straight!

I whipped these plans up in excel at work, and made my parts list so I knew what kinds of steel to get, and how much I would need.



My ole trusty bandsaw



All of the pieces cut and layed out on the floor



On Sunday, a friend (with a nice welder) came up and helped me stick it all together. It went together really well, and was easy to keep everything square



The spring mounts were designed to keep the trailer as low as possible. Also slipper springs were used to keep it lower. You can also see the tubing that was added to run the trailer light wiring. The bed of the trailer should be around 12" in height, and that is using 195/65R14 car tires for a smoother ride.







The tongue is gussetted at the front crossmember, and the corner gussets are also the mounting points for the swing down stabilizer jacks.



We ran out of welding wire before we finished, but we made a lot of progress. You can see the rear receiver for my gas/cargo carrier and the flip down stabilizer jacks at the corners. The axle is upside down in this picture. Soon we will finish putting the axle together and mounting it onto the trailer, finish the rest of the welds on the trailer, and start painting it up.



The welding is all finished, and I have it primed and ready for paint.. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the trailer with the welds ground smooth or after I put the primer on.

Good pic of the stabilizer jack mounting



Spring mounting, all tightened up and ready to rock.. There is around 2.5" of travel and I'm using 2000lb springs.



Safety chain mounting



Tongue jack mounting. I had this jack on an older trailer that I do not use anymore, can't beat the pricetag!



The trailer sitting on the four stabilizer jacks



A couple of pictures behind my car, it was designed to be nice and low





Here are a few more pictures of the frame being finished up









Then, I picked up some plywood and primer/paint to start building the floor.



The floor is now glued and bolted onto the frame, and primed/painted on both sides.





That's where it sits currently. I purchased the plywood for my walls, but I am still in the process of modifying the generic benroy plans to make it more of 'my own'

Stay tuned!

[KCStudly]

Looking good!

Welcome to the forum.

[AlgoDan]

Looking good, will be waiting to see more as you build.

[grantstew8]

Looking good

[JeremiahO]

Glad you started one here too. How's the progress lately?? You gonna work on it this weekend?

[Josh J]

I live in MN and the shop where I am building the teardrop has no heat. I picked up a corn burning stove to put in there so this weekend I will be installing that.


I have a lot of sketching to do in order to get my shape just perfect before I start cutting out my walls, so it may be a while before any physical progress is made on the project.

[Josh J]

Long time no update! Life has been passing me by as of late. I've had a lot of things going on over the winter which left me with very little free time. It seems that things are slowing down now, so I will be able to work on my own projects once again! On to the progress!

I designed the walls and cut them out, and cut out the opening for the doors. I used the tnttt how-to on drawing ellipses, it was very helpful!

I picked up some vintage technologies 30"x36" doors. The doors more than doubled the project budget, but I think it's worth it to stay dry, lol.

Also I found a nice little AC unit at a garage sale for 15$ that is very quiet, and very cold.. I took it all apart to clean it out, that's when i snapped the pic. I also picked up a tiny but powerful 1000w heater from a different garage sale for a dollar, just in case we want to use the teadrop in the early spring or late fall.

Pics:

[lthomas987]

I like the profile. I too am in Minneapolis. Maybe someday I'll see you around somewhere.

[Josh J]

Thanks for the compliment!

I decided to throw the walls onto the trailer today.. they fit really well, and overall I like the shape.

The next step is to finalize where the rear bulkhead is going to go, and if it will be flat or not. then get some more lumber to build the bulkhead and start installing spars to frame the roof.

The piece that goes across the front is going to be the headboard of the bed, and in front of that there will be some storage space.

pic:

[eggsalad]

I like your use of the Plymouth axle. Great idea!

[Josh J]

Thanks, I actually have a small surge brake hitch that I was going to re-condition and use with the build. I decided to leave it out for now but if I ever wanted to pull it with a smaller car I could add it later and re-connect the drum brakes to it.

[KCStudly]

Be aware that in some states if the trailer is equipped with brakes they are required to be functional. I think this is intended to prevent people from towing trailers that need brakes with vehicles that are not equipped with brake controllers, but some over zealous VIN/DMV inspector could call you out on it on a technicality. Maybe. Just saying. I hate going to DMV; they always seem to find a way to make you wait, send you off without what you came for, and make you come back another time to wait again.

[martymcfly]

IT is pretty easy to take the brake backing plates off of the dodge axle. The spindles unbolt from the axle. They used to put shims behind them to align the rear wheels.

[Josh J]

I'm not too worried about the brakes issue, the trailer is licensed as a 2000lb homebuilt so there are no brakes required for that low of a weight. But I do plan on possibly hooking them up later, just for the added safety benefit.

The tow vehicle that I will be using is a sporty car that has huge brakes. I can probably stop a lot faster with the trailer than a lot of economy cars can with their OEM brakes. In the future, if the towing vehicle changes to something less sporty, then the brakes will definitely be hooked up.

[Josh J]

I put some more time into the project this weekend.

The front is almost ready for the ceiling/roof panels. I made a storage area in front of the headboard, with pop out access panels. Hinged lids would have been a pain with the ceiling curving over them.

I put a few spars across the top, and framed in the spot for the roof vent.

I also added the rear bulkhead, I decided to keep it straight for more space inside. If it rains at a campsite some time, we will be able to fit 4 adults inside with a boardgame in the middle.

The next step is to add a few more spars and put in the ceiling, I think I am going to use hardboard as the inside will all be painted.

Progress pics: