Decisions, decisions, need a little help please...

[noseoil]

I'm looking at building a teardrop or benroy type of trailer, a 5x10. I've been looking at basic frames and here's where I am with it. I'm ruling out the super-light weight stuff due to axle, wheel, tire, bearing considerations (Harbor Freight, etc). Too many problems from what I've read lately with them, so cheap isn't always best. A custom build will cost me about $1,300 for a good quality setup here in town, but that seems a bit high to me based on parts (& I'm not a welder) and what I know about costs of materials which I can get here.

I have the opportunity to buy a 6' x 8'6 flat top this weekend ($600), but it looks like a straight axle and the top of the platform sits about even with the top of the tires, based on the pictures online. It may have 14" rims, so that's pretty tall. That would end up with a towing height of 6'. It looks to be plenty sturdy as far as the frame & basic parts go, but it might be too tall as it sits right now. At 6' wide on the platform, it's also a bit more width than I would like to tow. Ideally, I can use my Nissan Frontier (it's 6' wide, more or less) as the tow vehicle, but I don't like the idea of a wider track behind me in traffic. By the time I spend the $600 on a used one and then start swapping parts, redoing things and throwing stuff away, what have I really gained? I still have to see what it is, but it's a ride out of town for me and more time & money just to look.

I have a friend who welds & he could make one for me, if I bring all the parts for him & the steel. I'm thinking a 3" dropped axle (2000# rated), 15 tires & 2" square steel tubing frame would be about right for my needs. No big hurry on this one, but I want to get it right from the ground up, and not have to re-make a basic frame which isn't what I want or need. This might be my best option for what I want, can afford and best quality for a good price.

Thanks for looking, any & all answers greatly appreciated. tim

[danlott]

If you have someone that can build one for you that is the way I would go. The frame can be fairly simple and you can use a torsion axle which will make it even easier. The cost will be cheaper or comparable to a harbor freight trailer, plus it will be better built and designed for the trailer that you want to build.

Here is a good trailer frame design topic to read. http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=35097

You will find some good information and there are even some detailed drawings that you can use to design and build a frame to your measurements.

Dan

[Esteban]

You likely can build a trailer frame for a 5'x10' trailer with two 24' sticks of 2"x2" tubing and one 20' stick of 2"x2" L for interior cross pieces.

I found a local welding shop to make one for me. He could buy steel for considerably less than I could with no added shipping charges. So most of his labor and fabrication cost was a wash. Start to finish it was done within two work days.

I bought a Dexter #9 torsion axle. If I was to make one again I'd probably use a flexiride torsion axle with its (re)adjustable start angles.

edit: Dan's trailer frame design link is full of good ideas.

[ctstaas]

I have been welding most of my life and built my own TD trailer frame. KISS. The tube my receiver is attached is 3"x 3/16" square and is welded to a similar cross tube forming a Tee. 2" x 3/16 would be adequate. What ever a commercially obtained receiver fits. I welded another piece of three by to the cross tube for the rear receiver to be welded to. The perimeter of the frame is 1 1/2"x0.063" square tubing. Very light. The plywood bolted to the frame gives strength to the whole thing so the outside of the frame can be fairly light.
I built mine to the size of the floor plywood less 1/8" on the sides. Here's the kicker. The plywood for the floor was not square so having a square frame complicated things. OK let's say I had to cheat a little. Please don't tell.
I bought torsion axles from Northern Tool and the wheels/tires locally and it wasn't cheap. I'd prefer to pay the right price now and not worry going down the road later. The plates and gussets the axles bolted to, were made of 1/4" plate and were welded to the ends of the cross tube. Its kind tricky making the plates, positioning them and sizing the gussets and welding accurately without the axles, so I would recommend not building the frame until you have the axles. I made a lot of other parts from steel and welded them right to the frame. The steel will cost X dollars and the labor will cost twice the cost of the steel, typically. A quick shopping list my 4'x 8': 20' 3"x 3/16" square tube,30' 1 1/2" x 0.064 square tube, 10' 4"x1/4" flat bar, 10' 1 1/2" x 1/8 flat bar, 3 square feet 10 GA. sheet. The hatch frame is made from 1" x 0.063 square tube and the support is mostly 1/2" round stock.
One last piece of advise, Buy your own welder. A Lincoln 110V wire welder is only $600. You really need it, scratch that, don't know how you've made it without this long. Hey your B-days coming up? Tell your significant its for their B-day if you have to. Think of why your ID number is inscribed into it ahead of time.

[rowerwet]

keep an eye out on craigslist for old tent trailers, around here they are anywhere from free to a couple hundred at most. this is the time of year owners open the pop up and find out the mice ruined it. After they look into the price of new canvas and cushions they move on to bigger stuff or give up camping.
Pop ups are made slightly stronger than you need, as the floor was made to stand and walk on, and most are rated for higher weights than you would want in a tear. I got two for free, one has a nice torflex axle rated for 1250 lbs the other has a heavier Dexter axle and is rated for 2K lbs. Both will end up under a tear in the future.
strip the pop up down, cash in the metal at a scrap yard, save the latches, lights, sink, stove, etc to sell or use, trim to the size you want, clean up and paint the frame.

[martymcfly]

I am in the same boat as you. I bought a brand new 2k torsion axle for $200. I bought brand new chrome wheels $80 each. New kumho tires $115 mounted. New coupler $20. $300 worth of steel. I am into it $800 and it is still all piled up in the corner of the garage. I am on vacation next week and plan on starting on it. I could have saved by buying used tires and wheels. I see used tires and wheels on cl all the time for cheap. I also see used boat trailer on cl for real cheap, I probably could have altered one of those to work for half the price of what I got. If my budget was a major concern, I would have gone that route.

[noseoil]

First, I want to thank the folks who have taken the time to respond to my inquiry about the trailer. After talking with the owner of the trailer last night I had posted about, I found it just wasn't what I needed. The deck was 2' off the pavement & the axle was about 1/2 way up the platform, so the balance & height were both just plain wrong. The axle was a straight axle as I thought, so too many negatives with this one. The price was right, the trailer was wrong, too much work in time & money to make it right.

Next, it looks like the best choice is to have my friend weld up one for me (sorry, I don't want to spend $600 on a welder, only to find that my welding abilities look like a flock of pigeons made deposits on the tubing in a random fashion at critical areas). The link was very helpful and there's good information there to use, so that's the direction I'll be taking.

Here's a sketch of the sides I'm working on now, just a preliminary design. I work in the construction industry as an estimator in a roof truss plant, so the strength & weight of materials will be fun to work out. I'll be doing 3/4" skeletonized plywood sides & basically use standard construction techniques to assemble the whole thing. Hoping for a target weight of rolling at about 1,200# all up, with the rolling frame being about 300#. At some point I'll post a build thread when I get started. tim

[Esteban]

A couple ideas about your framing.

Door sill height. It looks like the bottom of the door is too high. It's best to have the door bottom about half as high as your mattress. That makes getting in and out of the camper easier. It also does not cut odd your blood circulation if you sit in the doorway for awhile.

Cabinet & shelf attachment hard points. You show diagonal supports on both sides of the door. Have you considered where you will attach shelves and or cabinets? It's good to have hard points (interior framing) to attach them to. The same consideration is good for the fenders. The inside and outside plywood can carry the bulk of the stresses.

Fiberglass skin? I figure fiberglass weighs about 1/10th as much as an aluminum skin. It allows you to more easily build in custom sizes. It waterproofs well.

[Campin' Texan]

You made the right choice, especially if you know someone who can weld. This way you can build exactly what you want. I had a friend of a friend do the welding for my trailer. It only took us about 8 hours on a sunday to build my trailer. It's 5x10, all new materials, and it only cost me about $575 in materials.

[noseoil]

It looks like thanks are again needed here for the generous & timely input. I'll add more "hard points" for cabinetry and do a modified web pattern to distribute the loads into the wall panels properly. The door threshold does look to be too tall in this drawing, duly noted, so it will be moved down to permit better blood-flow to the lower extremities and easier exit during the night for calls of nature. Is a 4" or 6" memory foam mattress best in this space? So glad I'm getting a bit of help from everyone here, truly a great group of people.

I spoke with my buddy the welder today again and showed him a sketch. He said he thought his part of things would be around $200 for labor, a smokin' deal for me. He did mention a new extension cord might be needed, so that's going into the budget as well. I'm hoping a 100' #10 wire will work for him and be long enough to do what we need to do in his shop. Harbor Freight has some in stock, but I need to see how long the run is before I buy him one. Things are looking up! I'll work on the drawing again tomorrow morning and get back on the design with an update soon. tim

[noseoil]

Back from the drawing board with another sketch:

I moved the door opening a little and lowered it, so sitting in the door will be more comfortable.
Changed the webbing to incorporate a fender mount web and more "hard points" to attach the cabinets. I'm sure I will need to add a few things to increase other things (porch light comes to mind now), but I'm thinking this is a better design in general. Comments? thanks, tim

[Esteban]

Your design is coming along nicely. Don't forget framing the upper curved part of the galley walls.