My Giant Teardrop (updated 04/21/10)

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:19 pm

Quick question...I'm gonna frame my floor now(instead of putting the plywood right on the frame)can I use pressure treated 2X4s for that, or do I just get regular pine and coat it with black goo?

I'd stay away from PT wood. I'd use good, dried lumber and goo it.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:49 pm

Ok...here is the floor pics...



As you can tell, I decided to go with a frame under my floor. I cut some more metal out of the front where the "party deck" will be. The 2X3 frame is roughly 24" on center and the 1X2's (that I ripped off the 2X4's to make 2X3's) will go around the outside. I did a little more than what's in the pics...I black gooed the bottom of the floor plywood (1/2 inch), broke the tongue jack, and made about 15 trips to Ace Hardware to get $h!t that I forgot to get. By the way, black goo is nasty. Saturday was a shopping day, started out going to McCoys Lumber here in town, and found out they wanted $35 to deliver 4 sheets of plywood! The wifey was going to Lawton, so I thought..."I bet I can find a way to strap 4 pieces of ply to the top of the Durango" so off we went. Note to self...hauling plywood on top of the Durango on a verrrry windy day is NOT an good idea. I did save 5 bucks a sheet, 35 bucks on delivery charges, and I got a pretty decent workout holding a strap down through the sun roof all the way home. Well more work to follow next week, GAWD I'm glad I finally got started.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:03 pm

Ok...I was running the wires for the tailights last night, and when I got to the wheels and looked down at the brakes, I wondered to myself, "Does this thing really need brakes? And if so it wouldn't need all 4 wheels to have 'em, would it?"

Any thoughts on this? Suggestions? I kind of wanted to do all that wireing crap before the floor went on, but I can go from underneath if need be. Also, what size wire should it be if needed? And is there a spot on a 4 prong hookup for brakes, or are they ran differently?

You may want to check with your state laws on whether you have to or not. Washington state I am told requires them on both axles (on trailers with tandem axles), some states only one axle. If you hook up one axle and not the other, hook up the rear axle. If you do not have to be inspected, do what you like, but I would hook them up. For wire size what wires are there? I think I used 10 gauge (or was it 8 ) on the Jelly Belly.


del

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 1:05 pm

Ok...I was running the wires for the tailights last night, and when I got to the wheels and looked down at the brakes, I wondered to myself, "Does this thing really need brakes? And if so it wouldn't need all 4 wheels to have 'em, would it?"

Any thoughts on this? Suggestions? I kind of wanted to do all that wireing crap before the floor went on, but I can go from underneath if need be. Also, what size wire should it be if needed? And is there a spot on a 4 prong hookup for brakes, or are they ran differently?

I had heard 3000 pounds requires brakes in Arizona. Here is an article I located.
http://www.aa1car.com/library/trailer_brakes.htm

Something as big as your rig would certainly benefit from brakes.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:25 am

Question...What is 74" wide...

187" long...

It's Johnny's floor!!! Finally.




This one shows the rough lay out of where the "Party Deck" will be...

This is a mockup of the wheel wells...


Well, she's all back under plastic again now, we're suppose to get rain the first part of this week. Next time I think I'll build the wheel wells. Should I put the black goo on them and then some metal? Or would the black goo just be over kill?

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:49 am

I had a bit of a brain fart when planning the frame and floor joints. Instead of making the joints land on a "floor joist" the joint are just kind of out there in the middle. Rather then tear it out and start over, I came up with this to join the floor and keep out the water and what not...

I'll be working on this and the wheel wells this weekend. But I have to make time for my daughter's 13th birthday sometime in there. They want to got shopping in Oklahoma City. Hmmmm maybe a side trip to Harbor Freight to check out the sale.as with all my drawing, the above is not to scale.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 10:59 am

Johnny, why don't you just put another crossmember where you need them. They don't really need to sit on a crossmember of the trailer. I mean, what demensions are your wooden crossmembers and how thick is the decking plywood??

Agrees with toypusher - the addtional crossmenber will negate the need for t-molding and keep the seam from flexing. 1/2 ply gets pretty bouncy at the seams. I tried to join some 3/8 with a plywood backer glued and screwed in place - It didn't hold well for me. I eventually backed it with a 1x4 screwed and glued and it holds just fine

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 2:32 pm

A little progress today...

old jack location


old jack, new location


new jack

This may be temporary, cause I don't really like this jack, I wanted one with a wheel, and it just barely clears the ball on the Durango. Oh well that's all I could get at the time, so it'll work.
Now on to the wheel wells.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2008 9:50 pm

Not much more "real" progress, just want to show off the new lights that allow me to work into the night.




I did get the parts cut and painted for the wheel wells. It's hard to work when you keep running back inside to check football scores. More tomorrow.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2008 8:42 pm

Well here are the wheel wells...




Not tied up right now, got to trim them up a little, get some silicone in the cracks, metal on the inside, etc.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 12:46 am

Here's a little preview (hopefully) of the inside of my "Tear-Tanic"

before...


after (concept)...

The flatscreen on the back wall will rotate around into the galley for outdoor viewing. The area for the dog will prolly just be a pillow, not a cage.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:47 pm

No build progress, prolly no more 'til after Christmas, but I did finally get some weights on what I have so far...

With trailer hooked up...
Front axle of The Durango...2340 pounds
Back axle of The Durango...4880 pounds

With out The Durango...
Tounge weight...200 pounds
Total trailer......1340 pounds

The Durango and The Teartannic...

6040 pounds

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:28 pm

Looking at the Durango tow ratings (3750-8950), it will be designed to take a static hitch weight of over 1,000lb, so unless you build your trailer body with lead insulation, you shouldn't have a problem. If you move the axles far enough back that the hitch weight gets high, it might make you want to fit helper springs or air bags to the Durango, just to keep it from riding nose-up.

[Ivar the Red]

Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:52 am

:fb
Well...the economy strikes again. Recently they told us at work that our yearly raises would be "postponed" until business could be re-evaluated. Now the have cut back all over time. I'm very thankful I still have a job...but this build has to be placed on the back burner now.

Thanks for the interest and input so far...hopefully we'll be back on soon.
Good luck everybody.

[Ivar the Red]

Sat Mar 21, 2009 2:24 am

Well...I decided it would be better to downsize than to quit all together...so I give to you the Mini-Tear. This is what my original plans were...just a small trailer to haul gear in. But then I found this site...and it was on. The Mega-Tear will be completed as soon as things pick up a little. Now for a couple of pics...

40"X48" Haul-Master on sale at Harbor Freight...minus a coupon...chaa-ching...





A little hint for those of you considering a small bolt-together trailer...make sure you have a wide variety of metric wrenches...