Trailer Frame Size - It's Big

[bjeppson]

I have the chassis a StarCraft Pop-up camper. The price was right -- FREE and in great shape. I removed everything from the frame and now I have a the frame with the attached springs, the axle. the wheels and tires. It measures 11' 9' x 75" (without include the tongue), 57" between the wheel wells. Built as is, it would be a massive TT. I am not a welder and was wondering if there are suggested plans for a large teardrop or should I have a welding shop scale it down?

Many thanks,

Bob

[danlott]

I picture would go a long ways in helping us get an idea of what you have and make suggestions.

Dan

[bobhenry]

Here is a starcraft frame it might not be yours but it is a frame.....




The beauty of these is you can sleep side to side and have more cabin room. I would loose the bumper to shorten the trailer a bit but that's just my take.

[bjeppson]

Bob, Dan,

I will get picture posted. I have stripped it down to the bare bones frame.

Bob, looks very similar to yours.

Dan, your build blog looks great, a lot of good ideas.

Bob J.

[bjeppson]

Here's a photo of the chassis from the pop-up camper.

Frame Chassis from a pop-up camper

Chassis 2.jpg (210.86 KiB) Viewed 1193 times

[KCStudly]

Yours is different from Bob's pic in that your main frame rails travel down along the inside of the wheel wells, whereas his pic shows a frame where the main rails travel outside of the wheels.

Yours would be much, much easier to narrow if you should choose to do so. All it would take is making sure that those angled tongue members tie into the main rails really well, and cut the rest of the outboard stuff off.

However, I would consider another, third, or perhaps forth option.

How about building the cabin between the wheel wells and having a deck with storage boxes round the outside perimeter (3rd option), or building the cabin out partially over the wheels with just half width fenders (4th option).

On TPCE I have yet to decide how I will secure my axe and shovel (some forest areas require you to carry an axe, shovel and bucket). Since I am building with a mild off road theme, I would welcome that extra cargo capacity outside of the cabin for easy access storage.

Good score, and good luck!

[bjeppson]

This great to know. Option 3 & 4 expands my thinking. The interior main frame could provide a number of configurations.

Bob

[danlott]

You need to decide what type of travel trailer you want. Then you need to either make your trailer design fit your frame as best as possible with as little modification needed or come up with and trailer design and highly modify your frame to fit. It does appear that you can modify the trailer to fit almost any design that you come up with. My suggestion would be to come up with a design that fits the frame with little to no modification.

If you get into heavly modifying the frame it maybe easier to have a new one built. It would be lighter and probably less costly in the long run.

You need to see if the hydraulic surge brakes are in working condition. I had surge brakes on the donor frame that I got. Everything was beyond repair, so I replace the hydraulic breaks with electric brakes. I also had to cut off the hydraulic surge coupler with a standard coupler.

Dan

[RandyG]

I like Kc's option of the cab being smaller than the frame, almost like a country home with a wrap around porch.

[bjeppson]

The hydraulic coupler was the first thing I noticed and after hooking it up I found out that it can also be a real finger pincher ... the coupler is going. Since it is a large frame I will replace the surge brakes with electric brakes. My current thoughts are to remove the rear bumpers and leave the remaining frame intact. The rear bumper weld joints are currently weak though they would provide a modicum of rear end protection is re-welded and left.

Dan, where did you source those round windows on your 2 + 2? Your TT looks very well designed and fabricated. Congrats!

Bob

[bjeppson]

Also to note, I have the galvanized wheel wells that were in rust free condition. Not too bad for a trailer built in 1981. I kept anything that might be remotely reused ie cooktop, non electric/gas insulated ice box, lp tank holder, progressive dynamics converter, siding aluminum etc. The roof A/C was kept by the previous owner, no loss there other than the opportunity to put it on Craigslist. It took about 16 hours to disassemble down to what you see now.

Bob

[grantstew8]

My caravan donor was too wide 7' and I trimmed the deck back to inside the wheels to 5' it's wide enough for us to sleep comfortably, narrow enough to tow and pools cute

I've a photo of the deck before and after in my gallery & in some of the early videos.