Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

...ask your questions in the appropriate forums BUT document your build here...preferably in a single thread...dates for updates, are appreciated....

Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Mon Sep 07, 2015 5:41 pm

Hello everybody,

In this build journal i hope to keep jou up with my teardrop build for the coming time.
For me the build is an adventure in itself, in what i am realy looking out for.

It won't be a "fast build", and i hope to add a lot of pictures in this journal.
I noticed it "smoothes" a build journal a lot.

I hope you enjoy.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby razorback » Mon Sep 07, 2015 7:00 pm

welcome to the madness!!!!
razorback
Super Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 585
Images: 12
Joined: Mon May 21, 2007 6:14 pm
Location: NLR, arkansas

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby rebapuck » Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:25 am

We look forward to the pictures. Love pictures.
Judy
1966 VW camper
1967 VW singlecab
Image
User avatar
rebapuck
.
 
Posts: 2243
Images: 1
Joined: Thu May 14, 2009 1:55 pm
Location: Chapel Hill NC
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Wed Sep 09, 2015 1:11 pm

Ok, here we go.

But were to begin with a building journal.

The idea?, your towing vehicle?, a chassis?, a scetch up design?

For me it was a little bit of everything.

I was already lurking here for quit some time wandering the idea of building my own teardrop trailer.
How would i like mine, sizewise, designwise, materialwise...

My starting point was my current car.
Or better, the size of it. I own a 2010 Fiat 500 (Eurospecs) 1.2l dualogic (semi automatic, or robotised manual gearbox) with 69hp.
Quit small, and yes they can come with a towbar...

Impressive on the small Fiat 500 (at least in Europe) is their in comperisson quit large towing capasity.

For a car that weights about 875 kg, you have a max. towing capacity of 800 kg (braked), or 400 kg load unbraked,
with a max towing ball weight of 60 kg.
I don't really know if you have to want that on such a small car, but it is perfectly legal here.

That is a lot for such a small car here in Europe.

I have to admit that i like some smaller class of cars. I dont really need one, and have no feeling to compensate things with a big car.
Nore the money either in that prospect... :roll:
So my next vehicle wil probably be a small one too.

So my (to build) teardrop trailer must be rather small too.
Even more, i didn't want the teardrop to be (much) wider than my car body. By that i mean inclusive the width of the wheels.
That automatically means a teardrop with the wheels partly under the body.

Also i like the oldscool look, and form of the real old teardrop trailers. And yes that could include rivets.
So most likely a steel frame build with aluminum panels.

Hmmm, quit a wishlist already....

And than i came along the scetch up design of the 8x5 ft. Grumman 2 design here on the forum.

That could be REALY close.
Attachments
grumman7s.jpg
grumman7s.jpg (29.9 KiB) Viewed 4400 times
grumman4s.jpg
grumman4s.jpg (29.91 KiB) Viewed 4400 times
Last edited by smeerkees on Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:33 pm

Meanwhile i kept one eye open on the Dutch selling sites if i could find a (for me) suitable trailer or trailerframe for the start of my teardroptrailer.

This ment size (lenght, width, and max. mass.) wise , brakesystemwise, wheelsize wise, quality of the frame wise... etc.
You guesst it already, that took a while.

But after some 6 months or so i found a possible candidate.
And somewhat affortable too.

Edit: For uploading some of my older pictures, i had to make the files much smaller.
And since my computer skills aren't much better than my spelling skills, i had to do it the hillbilly way.
And yes, that included printing the old picture, and photograph the print in a much lower resolution...

But, ...result.

This was the situation in wich i purchased the trailer (chassis).
Attachments
IMG_1158.JPG
IMG_1158.JPG (117.41 KiB) Viewed 4205 times
Last edited by smeerkees on Sun Sep 13, 2015 12:32 pm, edited 6 times in total.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby Travellingchris » Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:37 pm

If you want to be able to tow your trailer with a small car you should build it out of foam. The classic canvas over foams seems pretty light. Try to use light materials as often as possible. :thumbsup:

Good luck,

Chris
User avatar
Travellingchris
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 7
Images: 6
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2015 3:09 pm
Location: Qu/bec, Canada
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Wed Sep 09, 2015 3:16 pm

Thanks Chris for the advise.

Yes there will probably used a lot of some type of foam. Probably as insulating core between the aluminum panels.
Walls, roof, and floor.

The weight issue and weight distribution issue on the teardrop build is one of my leading threads on the build.
Also will the space between the framebeams itself be used for insulation space.
(A bit like the Airstream trailer building system.)

Greets, Kees.
Last edited by smeerkees on Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:10 am

IMG_1145.JPG
IMG_1145.JPG (130.9 KiB) Viewed 4319 times
IMG_1146.JPG
IMG_1146.JPG (128.71 KiB) Viewed 4319 times


This is how the trailer chassis looks about today.

Build wise, it looks if there has been not much going on, and in a way thats correct.

But there is more done than meets the eye.

First of all i reposisioned the towingbarframe (bracked) from on top of the A frame beams,
to under the frame beams.
I had to cut a little of the front of the A beam, so the towing bar sits now between the A frame bars.

Miraculously it fitted quit well.
The handbrake lever in downward position clears the A frame by just a couple of millimeters.
I also made a couple of bushings to put in the inside of the A frame for some extra strength by tightend bolds, plus an extra brace
on top of the A frame for extra stability. That last one was a bit difficult because of a grease nipple just under the brace.

Now i know how to upload my pictures on the forum i will make some detail foto's of the towingbar situation.

Now maybe you guess what kind of towing bar i use on the frame.
In the Netherlands we don't use the electric type of trailerbrakes you have in the states, but a kind of push brake system.
When you push the brakes of your car, the trailer wants to push you forward. That forward momentum is used to pull the brakes of the trailer.

Now the trailer stays much more horizontal behind the pulling vehicle.
On top of that, now i can modify the horizontal stand of the trailer much more easily when changing the pulling vehicle.
Unscrewing some bolds, and add some spacers will be enough.

The Fiat 500's towing knob is rather low on the car, that was the main reason for this rebuild.
Previous the trailer had a kind of ducktailstand with the backside of the trailer more than 8 centimeter higher than the front.
In my opinion butt ugly, and also much more unsafe to tow.
In the "ducktailstand" a trailer is much more subsebtive for "tail wagging" situations.
Attachments
IMG_1147.JPG
IMG_1147.JPG (113.74 KiB) Viewed 4222 times
Last edited by smeerkees on Sun Sep 13, 2015 12:36 pm, edited 5 times in total.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:35 am

Towing my trailer to its current build place, i had my first breakdown already.
:o
My first learning moment for trailers you might say.

I was driving for about 200 meters (...) when i heard a loud klunk noise followed bij a screatching sound from a tire on asphalt.
When i looked into my mirror i saw that the left wheel of the trailer didn't roll anymore...

Bloody h#%% that is not a good beginning for my teardrop relationship.

I already got an idea what happened, and it had nothing to do with the wheel bearings.

So after i got the combination home i took off both the wheels, and brakedrums for inspection.
And yes, my suspitions turned out to be true.
Each wheel has 2 braking pads in the drum, and by 3 of my 4 brakingpads (!!) the glue between the brakingshoes and the rest of the pads
had come loose. So a loose brakingshoe turned with the rotation of the wheel, and got stuck between the next brakepad, and brakedrum...
Strangely the brakedrums, and brakepads as well as the wheelbearings looked as new. And were still the factory ones from the build.

Luckily i was doing about 15 kilometer per hour when it happened.

But what really happened?

As it turned out the trailer i bought was used as demonstration trailer for years at a dealership, but never used on the road.
When i bought it much later, and from the second owner, it had still never been on the road, but the one thing witch was used for all those years was the handbrake system.
Appearantly the glue between the brake shoes, and the rest of the brakepads will come loose after long periods of use of the handbrake.
Also the brakeshoe's are only glued. My assumption was that this kind of brake shoes were glued, as well as "rivetted" like the brakeshoes of a truck.
As it turned out they use glue only for years already for drumbrake pads on caravans, and light trailers. (At least in Europe.)

(In retrospect, i had heard a very minimal sound of brakepads touching a brakedrum already. My thougts were i had to re adjust the brakepads, and braking cable, and perhaps grease up the brakingcable, the slidingboom of the towingbar, and pivotingpoint of the brakingbevel. But that was not the case here.)

This is a 1500kg. (about 3300 pound?) rated axle with matching brakesystem from BPW. A big German axle company.
There products meet all the required standards as such.

So when you park your trailer for a longer time, put something before, and behind the wheels, and don't use the handbrake.
(Remember this is an European system. Usa rated systems may be very differend).

For me, (for hobby coming from the vintage motorcycle world), it was an eye opener.

Greets Kees.

(Edit: Since i am not that good with computers, and had to make some older pictures smaller for uploading, i had to do this one hillbilly style,
so yes, i made a print of the old picture, and photographed it on a much lower resolution....)
Attachments
IMG_1155.JPG
IMG_1155.JPG (73.39 KiB) Viewed 4229 times
Last edited by smeerkees on Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:32 am, edited 5 times in total.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby pchast » Fri Sep 11, 2015 8:01 pm

Kees,

The type of brake system you describe is called 'surge brakes' here. I've
seen it done with Hydraulic or Electric actuators on boat trailers.

I'm surprised by the bonded brake shoes separating on you. I'm glad
it wasn't more serious.
pchast
Platinum Donating Member
 
Posts: 2023
Images: 97
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:47 pm
Location: Athens, NY
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby noseoil » Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:28 pm

Kees, perhaps you were very lucky to have had this happen now and not with the full weight of the build on the axle. I guess you can find the correct shoes & maybe the dealer will make good on it for you & supply the shoes for free. Worth asking about it, at least a good try.
Build log: viewtopic.php?f=50&t=60248
The time you spend planning is more important than the time you spend building.........

137905
User avatar
noseoil
1000 Club
1000 Club
 
Posts: 1820
Images: 669
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 8:46 am
Location: Raton, New Mexico, living the good life!
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Sun Sep 13, 2015 9:48 am

pchast wrote:Kees,

The type of brake system you describe is called 'surge brakes' here. I've
seen it done with Hydraulic or Electric actuators on boat trailers.

I'm surprised by the bonded brake shoes separating on you. I'm glad
it wasn't more serious.


Hello pchast, (Pete)

Ah, it's called a surge brake system. I didn't know.

However this system is a little bit different.

It doesn't work with hydrolics, or electric actuators,
but is purely mechanical, and works with a sliding pipe in a pipe, a rebounce spring, and the rest with pullrods, and cables.
The handbrake system uses the same pullrods, and cables.
Last edited by smeerkees on Sun Sep 13, 2015 12:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Sun Sep 13, 2015 10:35 am

noseoil wrote:Kees, perhaps you were very lucky to have had this happen now and not with the full weight of the build on the axle. I guess you can find the correct shoes & maybe the dealer will make good on it for you & supply the shoes for free. Worth asking about it, at least a good try.


Hello Noseoil,

You are absolutly wright, it was my first thougt after the incident too, luckily no weight, and very low speed involved.

About the dealer is quite another story.

They are out of business for a long time already. I purchased the chassis from the second owner who bought it out of the
business bankruptcy of the dealership. His initial idea was to rebuild the chassis for using it as a small trailer for behind a horse...,
but decided later that it was not a good idea. (The frame height was considered to low for use behind a horse).
And after some years of stand in the way in his barn, he sold it on the internet, on wich i found it.

Still i'm quite happy with the frame. Size wise it is pretty close for me, load and brake system wise, it is more than sturdy enough for me, and since the axle and brake configuration are from a well known brand, wich (i believe) has it's pedegree in the truck axles world etc.,
i can purchase spare parts with relative ease.

Greets, Kees.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Sun Sep 13, 2015 1:18 pm

IMG_1152.JPG
IMG_1152.JPG (119.1 KiB) Viewed 4192 times
IMG_1151.JPG
IMG_1151.JPG (119.02 KiB) Viewed 4192 times


Since i really wanted to tow a full size spare tire with the trailer, i have got to improvise.
Width wise i have exactly what i need next to the leveling stands. (In both outward, and inward positions).
Idealy the spare wheel would be mounted a few more inches backwards in my opinion by the lengthning of the chassis, but it is what it is.
Length wise, when i would have a small pivoting rotation point when lowering the spare wheel to the ground, i am in shape.

Since it is the only place i can hang it under the frame, i have to give it some extra time and thoughts.
My currend (second) attempt looks promissing yet...

You have to know the chassis will be lengthened about 14 cm (about 5,5 inch) at the back, and widened some 20cm (about 8 inches) each side.

So at the final width the wheels are for about 90% under the body.
I will need some fendering, but still the body width of the trailer is still a bit smaller than the body width of the pulling vehicle (my Fiat 500).
This way i don't need extra width mirrors on my Fiat 500 while towing the trailer.

These are exactly the floor ( base) measurements of the 8x5ft. grumman 2 design.

The open space between the axle i want to use for some extra storage space under the trailer floor,
And on the front of the trailer, under the chassis, the pullrod of the breakingsystem is in the way for such a big spare wheel.
No problem, it is probably a great space for a battery. (or two). That gives me some way for balancing out the weight on the pulling knob
at the end of the build.

Greets, Kees.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Re: Meanwhile in the Netherlands,...

Postby smeerkees » Sun Sep 13, 2015 2:34 pm

IMG_1143.JPG
IMG_1143.JPG (147.85 KiB) Viewed 4186 times


Speaking of my towing vehicle.

Here is proof that the Fiat 500 can come with a towingbar...

On the picture the car has still the european 7 pins connector.
In Europe useable for small trailers, and bike carriers.
(The European 7 pins system is significantly different than the Usa spec. 7 pins systems.


The more versitile systems for for instance caravans, etc. contain 13 pins (european specs).

And because i want to be as versitile as possible connector wise, i have already a european 13 pins connector system ready.
But will be mounted later on in the progress.

A 13 pins connector system here contains among others a continuous + wire, and a + wire over the cars contact switch, in comparison with our European 7 pins system.

Greets, Kees.
smeerkees
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 103
Images: 0
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:03 pm
Location: Netherlands
Top

Next

Return to Build Journals

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests