mikeschn wrote:I like this design. I like that the tongue is attached to the stub axles. The T@B does something similar...
When you bolt thru the floor, and you going to have a steel plate on the other side of the floor?
Mike...
I attached a more detailed CAD drawing of the torsion half axle. The torsion half axle sits directly under a laminated 2" fir board. This will prevent compression of the foam SPS panel, and acts as a regular axle in keeping the 2 half axles aligned.
The 3- 1/2" long by 5/16" hex bolts go through to the axle plates and have lock washers on the ends. As for the top of the bolts. A simple 1 -1/16" fender washer will provide plenty of area to prevent compression of the 1/4" plywood. With this set up I have eliminated some unnecessary weight.
In my opinion I think we overbuild the bases of small tear drops. A tear drop that weighs under 1500 lbs can do without a full metal trailer frame. A properly designed floor can handle the weight loads. I had a commercially built tent trailer in the 1980's that only had half axles and OSB board with a few strategically placed pieces of plywood
for support. And it weighed a lot more than this tear drop.