How strong does the frame need to be?

[MoparCzy]

Okay, if I am grasping what everyone is saying, I should plan on a 2" square tube perimeter frame, 2"x 3" rectangular tongue, and one crossbar where the axle will be. Then the actual floor could be built out of 1/2" ply on top of 16" on center 2"x 2" wood with insulation between them and a 1/8" ply bottom to seal it off. Then with sandwich wall construction of the rest of the teardrop it will be plenty strong and hopefully still come in under 1,000 lbs.? In that case, what gauge 2" square tube and what gauge 2"x 3" rectangular tube should I be looking for?

Thanks again for all the help.

I agree with Lou.

I would me more tempted to go for a thicker wall tubing.

That said, spacer tubes at 24" in my opinion is way way overkill. An 'A' shaped drawbar/tongue under the 10 x 5 frame from 2 x 2 x 12 guage and I would put a couple of 1/8" thick 2 x 1 'C' channel to brace and to fasten the floor to. I would be happy with that on my trailer.

Your build will be heavier when finished than you estimate at the start of your build, when looking back at the end where you could have saved weight it's going to be a bummer to think you need to start chopping the chassis around.

Here is a link to the Kit frame from another thread on here recently, not a lot to it at all and something to think about maybe.

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... hlight=kit

[madjack]

12 to 16 ga (1/8-1/16) on the 2" and 3/16-1/4 on the 2x3 would be a good place to start...........

p.s. don't thru bolt the body components to the thin wall tube(it can crush)...have some brackets or tabs welded on for that purpose.........mj