Off-Road Jeep Teardrop

[Gibson]

Ok here goes. My plan is to build a teardrop worthy of taking into the mountain trails out here in Colorado. I plan on towing it mostly with my wife's 4 door Wrangler, but from time to time it may end up behind my truck. I say this because I am using the same wheels and 32" BF Mud Terrain tires that come stock on the Jeep Rubicon. This way the spare tire on the jeep doubles as the spare for the trailer as well. The overall plan is to have a camper that can be taken into the trails and when we find a place that looks good we can just pull off the trail and stay the night right there. I am planning on a 12 volt power system with a battery for the off the grid camping and for when we stay in more civilized places I will have a few 120 vac outlets and an air conditioner for those really hot days. The profile will be a modified Grumman on a 5x10 platform.

Picking up the trailer

Trailer 1.jpg (117.66 KiB) Viewed 3014 times

The Frame:
I am starting with a steel frame that was custom built for me by Jayhawk Trailers (a local trailer shop located in Commerce City, CO). With the help of the owner we determined the axle width and trailer construction that I would need for my trailer. To be able to use the Jeep wheels I used a 2" wheel spacer mounted to the trailer hub to be able to clear the dust cap of the trailer hub and use the stock Jeep wheel as is without modifications. The trailer measures 120" x 61" to the outside of the frame for a starting dimension. The fenders and wheel wells were installed by Jayhawk for me and will add a few hurdles during wall construction, but will be a nice flat surface outside of the trailer once it is finished. I wanted a beefy axle to be able to take the abuse of rocks and anything else the trail might throw at it so from Jayhawk it had a 3500# axle on it. I have taken a leaf out of the suspension to derate the axle to be a 2000# axle which should make things ride a little better down the road.

This shows the wheel spacers I used and the blue paint I added to the inside of the fenders.

The inside of the wheel well did not get painted by the trailer guys so I added some blue paint to it

Trailer 2.jpg (118.07 KiB) Viewed 3014 times

Modifying the suspension

Trailer 3.jpg (122.13 KiB) Viewed 3014 times

The Doors I purchased from Frank at Vintage Technologies. They arrived this afternoon and look great! He even made sure that they had the same key for each side.

I started on the subfloor this past weekend and once I get a little farther in the build I will add some pictures of it.

If anyone has comments or suggestions to me please let me know. Enjoy the build of my offroading teardrop!

[capnTelescope]

You're off to a good start, Gibson.

... derate(d) the axle to be a 2000# axle which should make things ride a little better down the road.

Good move. Don't ask how I know.

The Doors I purchased from Frank at Vintage Technologies.

Another good move. I really like mine. Doors are just about as complicated as the hatch. And there's two of them.

[lrrowe]

Nice looking trailer.

[TESKELLY]

Cool trailer. Have you considered switching the springs to the top of the axle to gain some additional height and allow for more articulation when offroading. I did that with my trailer as I take it offroad somewhat as well.

[noseoil]

Very nice start on the build. DO have one thing to ponder though. The frame at 61" will be a bit more "interesting" to deal with due to sheet-good sizes. Mine ended up at 60 1/2" and it makes you think when planning the top material & how the build goes together. Really like the concept so far. Welcome!

Edited for 60 1/2"

[Gibson]

I have started construction of the floor. I have the subframe completed and have the floor started. Unfortunately with the holidays coming up I will not be getting any progress made.

I considered flipping the axle to be under the springs but had the trailer guy build it low to start with. If I find myself running into ground clearance issues I can always flip that later to gain an easy 3". I wanted to keep the overall height low to begin with to make it easier to get in and out of the doors. As it sits right now it has about 12" of ground clearance which is more than the differentials in my jeep.

[Gibson]

Very nice start on the build. DO have one thing to ponder though. The frame at 61" will be a bit more "interesting" to deal with due to sheet-good sizes. Mine ended up at 60 1/2" and it makes you think when planning the top material & how the build goes together. Really like the concept so far. Welcome!

Edited for 60 1/2"

What did you use for the top of yours?

[noseoil]

Since I'm using "off the shelf" materials, the top panel will be 1/8" Baltic birch for the skin (not done, still working on it) & aluminum will be the finish. Not too worried about the 1/8" skin and I may rip some small pieces for a full cover. Once they're glued in place & slathered with urethane, there shouldn't be a problem. I may just cut the panels to sit inside the rabbet joint at the top of the sides & run the top spars at 1 3/8" instead of the full 1 1/2" depth. This would still be plenty strong with a skin glued on both sides of the spars (top & bottom).

I'm thinking the aluminum skin at 60" will be a bit short (but just 1/4" per side), with the moldings & some butyl rubber tape as a gasket, it will still be a water tight joint. If I use 1" wide moldings, the rubber tape will be plenty to take up the difference & squash down in place. There will still be 3/4" of molding material covering the joint.

If I had to go much over the 60 1/2" dimension, I would use some 4' wide aluminum & have a couple of seams with moldings to cover the joints. With the butyl rubber tape & enough fasteners & moldings, there would still be a good waterproof joint, so no worries. Just be sure to have your spars matched to the joints (center line of the screws) where the metal overlaps, so your fasteners can bite into solid wood for a tight seam.

[Gibson]

I have made a bit of progress since the last post. I have installed the sub floor and insulated the floor. I also have the flooring bolted in place and put in laminate floor for the galley area. I also have vents installed in the floor for the AC. I was able to find 4x10 plywood to make the walls with which will make construction much easier and eliminate a seam in the walls. Next up is cutting out the profile and building the studs for the walls.

What techniques have people used to attach the walls to the floors?

[dales133]

My floor finishes the thickness of my walls inside the frame so essentially my wall load is transfered directly onto the trailer frame and screwed into the side of the floor.
My floor is about inch and 3/4 actual in thickness including both skins so I have plenty of glue surface

[Shoprat]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1421265801.333396.jpg (117.66 KiB) Viewed 2417 times

Hope this helps! I used the wood cleat style since my frame didn't allow a lap joint which I think would have been better. I first had metal l brackets to secure the walls to the floor and the screws all pulled out on my first trip. I have since used a 2x2 the length of the wall which gave me a better bite into the floor and used carriage bolts trough the walls, it's solid now...

[capnTelescope]

I did a variation on the rabbet joint:


I screwed up (no pun intended ) through the floor into the bottom framing board about every 6"(red arrow). You have to do this before you fasten down the floor/frame, but no biggie if you don't cover the trailer frame with the wall bottom. The advantage is no screws through the outside wall allowing you to use 1/4 or 1/8 ply on the outside, saving 40-50 pounds per wall. Biggest disadvantage is that the screws don't pull the wall in to the edge of the floor, so you'll have to clamp horizontally before screwing.

The cabin is held to the frame by carriage bolts down through the floor into angle iron mounting points. I didn't countersink the bolts, as they're covered by the mattress.

As the absent-minded skydiver said, "So far, so good."

[Gibson]

The weekends progress. Next up is to frame the plywood walls

[Gibson]

The last 2 weeks have been productive. Getting close to attaching the walls to the frame for good.

[CMC]

Nice looking trailer. It is coming along well. I will be watching your build.

Curtis