Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

What is your first choice? Tube steel or angle steel for your frame.

Tell us the merrits of the one you choose.

If I had my choice right now it would be tubing but since the budget is way more limited than it was expected to be I'm gonna have to go with angle, except the tongue of course. The price of steel around here more than doubled in the past six months so I have to go with what is affordable.
Tubing is much easier to work with and gives a better finish, less prone to stress cracking and makes it much easier to mount spring hangers, torq flexes and what not to the frame. Either will definitely work but my favorite is tubing.

Nitetimes wrote:Tubing is less prone to stress cracking

Building it with better materials might be cheaper in the long run.

I guess by angle you are including "channel" which is what I used. Tubing usually rusts from the inside out which is hard to monitor. Just my opinion but I think this is the reason that most all boat trailers use channel which doesn't retain moisture and is easy to inspect. It's also easy to paint all surfaces, inside & out.

Denny

When I built my frame I used angle iron because it was cheaper and I figured it would easier. I did, however, double the angle on the sides of the frame above the area where the axle mounted and effectively made it a tube in that area...a lot of work.

If I were doing it again, I'd use tubing on the side rails and angle cross pieces.

If anyone thinks their frame may not be strong enough, I say take a look at the frame under a CampInn.

The rust inside the tubing was a concern to me because you can't see it. Somewhere I read a post where some one had a tube frame and they used it on the coast alot and it rusted through. I have been studying trailers around home and all that I have seen use angle. It is very interesting that the loads you will see used on them. Little trailers with big equipment on them. The Campinn trailers are a good example of a simple and strong trailer. I'm not a structural engineer and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn last night but it seems its real easy to over complicate things and over build. The loads I see used on most of the trailers in this forum are just not that heavy. Seems load weights between 600 and a 1000 lbs. And the trailers in this forum that I see pic's of are what I consider very heavy duty.

I'm at the point that I have to make a choice at which one I will use because I will need different axle mounts and measurments. The writing at the begining is just me thinking out loud.

I will be using it on and at the beach plus the mountains and everywhere in between. The input that you wrote is very appreciated and the more the merrier.

...Camp-Inn uses an angle iron frame...'nuff said. We used 2x1/8th tube for our frame and 2x3/16th tube for an "A" frame tongue, after it was built, we realized we had a trailer capable of hauling small elephants or large horses. Next time we will probably use 2x1x3/16 chanel...that will be more than adequate and since angle or chanel is consideralby cheaper than tube(about half) then that is an even better deal
madjack

Don't forget too that it is much easier to attach things to angle (or channel). Just drill a hole through it and bolt the body through the holes. With tube you have extra mounting tabs and such to deal with.

From a structural point of view there is a another point people miss. Welding two piece of angle together at 90 degrees makes a three point joint. Where as butt welding tube together is only a two point joint even if it is welded all the way around. Look at a aircraft fuselage or a NASCAR chassis and you will see what I mean. There is never a tube with a bending moment on it that is not supported by another tube in another direction.

Growing up as a kid working in my dads shop I helped him build a bunch of flat bed trailers. We always used channel for this. For a self supporting structure like that channel is great. Easy to fabricate and weld and no inside trapped areas. Plus it made a easy way to weld in steel decking and run conduits for electrical.

With a teardrop you are not building a frame that has to support a load at all points, it is not a utility trailer. The body of the teardrop should be doing this. All the frame really needs to do is drag the axle down the road and give your something to bolt the body to.

Cary

Thank you very much Cary for the info. I agree with you 100% ! Your Campinn's are first class in my book

Stephen G. wrote:Thank you very much Cary for the info. I agree with you 100% ! Your Campinn's are first class in my book

That is why I copied them. Right down to the frame.

TRAIL-OF-TEARS wrote:

Stephen G. wrote:Thank you very much Cary for the info. I agree with you 100% ! Your Campinn's are first class in my book

That is why I copied them. Right down to the frame.

Do you have any more info on the frame? I've heard "channel" being used, is this angle iron, or an "I" beam type? What size are the angle's legs and thickness?

Thanks TRAIL-OF-TEARS/Cary

Maybe Cary will chime in I think its just Angle only.

Channel iron is shaped like a 'C'. Actually more like this: ] and it comes in lots of sizes. I don't know what CampInn or anyone else uses for size. I have a Harbor Freight trailer frame that is made of Channel stock. Approximately 3" on the sides and 1 1/2 on the top and bottom.

I used 2"x2" for the peremiter, and 1 1/2" x 1" for the cross braces. The only reason I used tube was because I had it on hand. Next time I think I will use angle. It's cheaper, easier to cut, and weighs less.

Ok, I understand what the channel looks like. The Desert Teardrop plans call for this in their design (1"x2"x3/16"). But isn't the channel harder to weld? Since it's filleted the corners aren't 90 degrees.

Still wondering what size and thickness those of you who built with angle iron used.