Off-road teardrop build from Canada

jaydon44

Observer
Hello all,

I've been lurking in the dark on this site for some time...but no more!

Thanks to everyone (to many to list) for posting your threads and builds that inspire idiots like me to think they can "do it too"

Not sure how long this thing will take me but hopefully it's done sometime before the end of summer 2015... Ya right hey?

Building trailer that can go offroad, be used for snowboarding trips by winter and biking trips by summer, so insulation is a major factor

I was thinking about posting up here when I was all done, but I figure that a play by play might help motivate me to keep pushing through so here we go
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I'm no welder but this came together nicely, I will show you no close-ups on weld beads haha, I have a buddy who is a welder who came and did all the important bits so at least it won't fall aprt on me on the road....I think this will be the hardest/longest part so I'll be glad to get metal work done

I will post details of plans and such as I go, any info/advice/criticism you can give I appreciate

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More to come


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

jaydon44

Observer
Think I finished off the welding, test driven and painted, glad to make it to this point, doing a boarder run to pick up parts soon..... Wish the dollar wasn't so bad
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And it's still straight!
 
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jaydon44

Observer
Putting floor in, I got hooked up with a ton of 2 inch rigid insulation for free so I'll have that stuff throughout walls and floors, only problem is I gotta run every 2x4 stud I have thru the table saw to make it 2 inches... Not the worst case scenario for saving a ton of money
Finally the tricky welding pays off to make the insulation go inside the metal frame vs just on top to save a little height... Still not sure if it was worth the extra work
Used tee-nuts and bolts to secure the the two floor sheets to the frame... That kinda hardware gets pricey real fast
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That's the bottom most floor panels supported by 2x2 angle
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Insulation fitting no glue or nothin
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Top sheet on, I'm using 1/2 inch ply for everything so far
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Mocking up walls
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This is what I'm using for the underside pro
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Stuff was nice to work with just a general foundation type paint for 45$ a gallon, spossed to be good stuff
Rolled it into the wood really well first the globed it on the rest of the metal and creases and spread it around with brush, went on in one super goopy coat just letting it dry now
 
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jwiereng

Active member
Why did you decide the make the tongue different than the normal A frame employed by most other builders?
 

Lucky j

Explorer
It is probably me, but I have never seen the leef shackle mounted to the front of the leaf pack, except on a jeep, wre we modifie them to become reverse shackle.

Just a question.
 

jaydon44

Observer
jwiereng, I had a couple different thoughts when it came to the tongue I know a lot of people like and used the A-frame, but I preferred the single straight tongue because it was less messing around with angles and such as far as keeping this thing straight goes and I think I added quite a bit of strength to the frame by welding the tongue to each cross member from back to front the other pieces that attach resembling an a-frame were put on solely with the purpose to support tongue box/storage
 

jaydon44

Observer
Lucky, it's not just you I totally messed that up and I had welded on the hanger already when someone else mentioned that it was odd
I'm told it won't be to big of a deal as long as I'm not rock crawling and flexing like crazy with this thing, correct me if I'm wrong? I understand why it should be in the back... When tire hits a rock or something it's spossed to give way to the back of the vehicle... If it's in the front like mine then it will be more of a shock since it won't flex much at all until the tire is actually on top of the object right?
Thx for pointing that out though
 

jaydon44

Observer
Progress is slow but painted leafs, mounted tires, went for another tow at some higher speeds to confirm this thing is straight
And now I can finally start to build from the deck up, profile has been cut
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Getting everything lined up now as a means of door, windows and starting to think about wiring
 

Vinman

Observer
Are you doing an all-wood frame construction for the box or are you going to frame it in steel/aluminum?
 

gbohnstedt

New member
Jaydon,

I've gone through this process of building a teardrop before. Now I have to build an off-road teardrop, I feel your pain. It will take much longer than you expect, but that is okay. You've got a nice start, there. BTW, it's a teardrop rule of thumb to mount the axle location roughly 40% of the length of the box from the back. Of course, we have heavy kitchens in the back of our trailers. I assume that you are familiar with the online teardrop builders bible, www.tnttt.com, Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailers. Lots of very helpful, highly experienced folks there who are thrilled to advise you provided you document your build there.

Good luck, Greg
 

Lucky j

Explorer
My belief is that with the shackle to the front, without a track bar, it might have a tendancy to be unstable. But since you are a bit futher in the built, you could try it, but I suggest not an extendend duration trip, just in case.

Keep it coming! :)
 

matthewp

Combat Truck Monkey
Very nice work! I like where you're going with this (I may have an affinity to off-road teardrops myself).
 

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