Member III
I never do build threads mostly because I jump around from project to project and I don’t want to start a thread that takes a year to complete. OH and I suck at taking pictures. This one should not take but a few months.
Over the last decade, I’ve been running around with a small trailer and an RTT. I realized that half of my trips have high winds and even though the RTT holds up well, its noisy as heck and I don’t get much sleep. For this reason, I decided to build a small teardrop ish trailer.
My criteria are, under 2000 pounds loaded, low profile, moderate off road capable and all my gadgets. It must have a slide out for my fridge, some sort of kitchen, solar and a modular walled off area. Finally, it must look good.
I’m building the frame out of .090 2x4. I switched from 2x3 120 wall because I’m going to tuck things into the frame underneath and the front section will act as an inside storage compartment. My box dimensions will be 5’ wide X 4.5’ High, 9’long. In my first design, I had the fridge slide out and the entrance in the front. That was going to make the tongue way too heavy. I moved the fridge to the rear for better balance.
Axle is a 3500-pound Dexter with electric drums and a park brake. I wish my small trailer had a park brake. Tire chocks are fine if you don’t have to drive onto rocks to level the trailer.
Suspension. I wanted to be creative here. I drew up plans for everything from 3 link to trailing arm to independent. Spring wise, coil, air, leaf. One of the guys at work builds desert trucks and is real well known for his suspensions. He looked over my plans, checked the math and said, “what is the main purpose of this build?”. Well let’s see, I’m not track racing, not rock crawling, not flying through the desert. I don’t want the cargo to be vibrated to death, it needs to be easy to maintain and a moderate amount of suspension travel. I will be driving down dirt roads and occasional dry wash. So, simple leaf spring.
My leaf’s are 46” long. Early CJ7, rear, 2” lift. The main reason I chose the CJ spring is their everywhere and I can get them in whatever spring rate I want. Add in a set of Monroe gas shocks from a lowered king-pin VW and were done. Simple and effective.
Tires and wheels. I wanted something that would somewhat match my Cruiser, but I didn’t want to run 35’s. I ended up with 6 lug Raceline trailer rims (yeah they actually make trailer rims), with Falkin Wildpeaks 235/75 15 tires that measure 29” diameter.
I didn't get much in the way of start up pictures. It was raining and that means building in the garage (bare metal and all that).
Spring tabs mocked up, axle in the background. The frame is just tacked together for square and will be shorter when fully welded. The axle is sitting on small furniture dollies. Once the axle was mounted that's how I had to move it around while I waited for my tires and rims to get here.
Frames cut down to final size, tongue jack in place, tires and rims on. It rolls so much better.
Frame ended up at 103” long, tongue at 44”. 147” total. Axle center is 50” from the rear, width is 60". That should give me the balance I’m looking for as well as good road manners.
Over the last decade, I’ve been running around with a small trailer and an RTT. I realized that half of my trips have high winds and even though the RTT holds up well, its noisy as heck and I don’t get much sleep. For this reason, I decided to build a small teardrop ish trailer.
My criteria are, under 2000 pounds loaded, low profile, moderate off road capable and all my gadgets. It must have a slide out for my fridge, some sort of kitchen, solar and a modular walled off area. Finally, it must look good.
I’m building the frame out of .090 2x4. I switched from 2x3 120 wall because I’m going to tuck things into the frame underneath and the front section will act as an inside storage compartment. My box dimensions will be 5’ wide X 4.5’ High, 9’long. In my first design, I had the fridge slide out and the entrance in the front. That was going to make the tongue way too heavy. I moved the fridge to the rear for better balance.
Axle is a 3500-pound Dexter with electric drums and a park brake. I wish my small trailer had a park brake. Tire chocks are fine if you don’t have to drive onto rocks to level the trailer.
Suspension. I wanted to be creative here. I drew up plans for everything from 3 link to trailing arm to independent. Spring wise, coil, air, leaf. One of the guys at work builds desert trucks and is real well known for his suspensions. He looked over my plans, checked the math and said, “what is the main purpose of this build?”. Well let’s see, I’m not track racing, not rock crawling, not flying through the desert. I don’t want the cargo to be vibrated to death, it needs to be easy to maintain and a moderate amount of suspension travel. I will be driving down dirt roads and occasional dry wash. So, simple leaf spring.
My leaf’s are 46” long. Early CJ7, rear, 2” lift. The main reason I chose the CJ spring is their everywhere and I can get them in whatever spring rate I want. Add in a set of Monroe gas shocks from a lowered king-pin VW and were done. Simple and effective.
Tires and wheels. I wanted something that would somewhat match my Cruiser, but I didn’t want to run 35’s. I ended up with 6 lug Raceline trailer rims (yeah they actually make trailer rims), with Falkin Wildpeaks 235/75 15 tires that measure 29” diameter.
I didn't get much in the way of start up pictures. It was raining and that means building in the garage (bare metal and all that).
Spring tabs mocked up, axle in the background. The frame is just tacked together for square and will be shorter when fully welded. The axle is sitting on small furniture dollies. Once the axle was mounted that's how I had to move it around while I waited for my tires and rims to get here.
Frames cut down to final size, tongue jack in place, tires and rims on. It rolls so much better.
Frame ended up at 103” long, tongue at 44”. 147” total. Axle center is 50” from the rear, width is 60". That should give me the balance I’m looking for as well as good road manners.
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