Little Guy Teardrop lifted

[SameGuy]

I have a couple of posts here about the Little Guy 6 Wide sport that we bought a couple years back. After a few summers of use the wheels in my head were turning about what to do with it to make a little more robust and useful for the places we like to go. It's weakest links for our use were its low ground clearance and the previously overloaded torsion axle setup it had. A 2200 lb. axle on a 1500 lb. camper didn't leave all that much if any cushion for 2-3 dirt bikes and 2 weeks worth of gear.

After a lot of reading and postulating I decided to go with a 3500 lb. Timbren Axle less setup, larger tires and some serious frame reinforcement. We just got back from the shop today and I am happy with the results. Unfortunately have to wait for the weekend for its maiden voyage.

before mods


on the lift


Timbren Axle less


all done and home

It doesn't look all that much different but we've gained 6 inches of lift and some much needed rigidity in the frame. We added two sets of boxed 2x3 steel tubing running the length of the frame which stiffen things up completely, one of the sets can be seen below.


It is little bouncy unladen but some adjustment of tire pressure and 500lb. to 700lb. of bikes and gear will smooth things out I think.

 

[Jammer]

Did you go with a lift with the Timbrens? It also appears as though you have trailer brakes. Did your trailer originally come with brakes?

We recently inherited a custom teardrop and the builder used a lot of Little Guy parts for the build. I am thinking of going with Timbren and hubs/wheels/tires combo to match my Tacoma.

 

[SameGuy]

I did go with the Timbren 4" lift suspension. The trailer originally had brakes but to have hubs that matched our FJ I added new 10" hubs with brakes and matching drums. Probably didn't need 10" brakes but for the little price difference I chose to overbuild rather than under build. Adding brakes if your going with new suspension isn't much more than no brakes price-wise.

If you do go with the Timbren setup your frame may need some frame reinforcement from side to side, in the beginning I didn't quite understand but a regular axle is often integral to frame rigidity. This system has a 2x3 cutout in in each mount just for that. We chose to use it rather than do more welding on the frame itself. It cost me 2.25 inches of clearance underneath between the wheels which isn't too bad, I've still for 18.5" to play with.

 

[LexusAllTerrain]

Looking beefy!

 

[Muddzy]

SameGuy, I know it's been awhile but I want to do the same thing with a 2006 LG 5 wide. I was debating if I needed the Timbren 2200 or 3500 since I doubt I will ever have more than 2500lbs on it and most often 2200 or less. Have you taken it off-road on some rocky terrain and has the body held up from the shaking/swaying? Basically, do you have any advice on pros/cons of your improvements now that you've used it for several years?

 

[Mjm505]

SameGuy, I know it's been awhile but I want to do the same thing with a 2006 LG 5 wide. I was debating if I needed the Timbren 2200 or 3500 since I doubt I will ever have more than 2500lbs on it and most often 2200 or less. Have you taken it off-road on some rocky terrain and has the body held up from the shaking/swaying? Basically, do you have any advice on pros/cons of your improvements now that you've used it for several years?[/QUOTE

Muddzy
I did the 2200 springs on a LG 4 wide and the springs wore out after the first big trip. I had to to change them to 3500. The 3500 have a better feel. I’ve taken mine off road several times and it’s holding up fine.

 

[Muddzy]

Interesting. Thanks for the helpful reply Mjm. What year is yours? Did you reinforce your frame at all or is your 4 wide pretty much stock other than the Timbren/wheel/tire upgrade?

 

[Mjm505]

I think mine is an 06 or 08.. can't remember.
Nothing stock on mine. bought it cheep and gutted it! I added frame reinforcement and a box to hold the fridge and batteries in the front. I added a cross member next to the Timbrens. They are the "long arm" style.
All new cabinets and a functioning galley with stove slide out and lower storage. Also reinforced the rear cross member and added a 2" hitch for a bike rack. custom fenders, lots of LED lights, Lock n roll hitch, breaks, added sliders last year to reinforce the sides. Weight as seen with bikes and RTT etc was 1900.
I only ran the 35's in the pic one time. They belonged to a friend and he let me try them. They where great off road but I didn't like the added height. I went back to 33's and I'm going to make a spare carrier this spring.
Took it a couple of places where it got extremely tippy with the RTT. Once the kids are gone and I can take off the RTT I wouldn't hesitate taking it into more challenging terrain.
It's a great setup that can sleep 6 comfortably. We did a 7000 mile trip a couple of summers ago and my only complaint was the sagging Timbrens but they sent me a new set of rubber springs free.
Great customer support from Timbren!

Hope this inspires!

MJM

 

[Muddzy]

Wow, you did an awesome job! That's really cool looking and is very similar to what I had in mind. You've definitely inspired me and are helping me believe a 5 wide could handle the necessary additions and off-road upgrades I wanted. The 2 biggest concerns I had were that going off-road and dramatically shaking the camper back and forth didn't loosen the seams and cause leaks. And, that adding the "made for LG 4 & 5wide's" roof rack could handle a RTT static and dynamic loads packed or deployed with people in it.

A few more questions if you don't mind.

1) Do you remember - are your 4 wide side camper walls just plywood or built with wood or aluminum studs? I know the curved roof is built with wood studs to hold the fiberglass wrap but some pics showing wall water damage from other's LG 5 wide campers looked like the walls were just a plywood core sandwich (which I wasn't sure how structural that was).

2) Do you mind sharing how much you paid for the 4 wide before you upgraded? And ballpark what your upgrades cost? If not, no worries. I'm figuring out all of the cost of the upgrades and trying to decide if it makes sense to start with an older 5 wide shell kind of like you did or instead look at a used Silver Shadow or T@G that already has a few of the upgrades I want to add and go from there.

3) What are "Sliders" to reinforce the sides?

Thanks so much!

 

[Mjm505]

Thanks It's been a lot of fun.
The walls are just ply. I did need to seal a couple of areas after I bought it.
All the extra cabinet work on the inside really reinforced the structure. There isn't much room in a 4 wide and I took up more with cabinet work.
The structure of mine is at least 5x stronger than the original.
I paid 4k and it came with a Tepui 4' wide RTT. I took that off and its been sitting on a shelf ever since.
I had the CVT RTT so that is not added into the cost.
I would say I have another 3500-4000 into everything and I bought everything new for the camper. all the little things add up fast.
I have 200 just in lighting and no porch light.. I also have solar and agm batteries, stuff you can't see.
I had .125 5052 aluminum bent 6" up and 3" under to protect the sides and the exposed plywood bottom. I also sealed it all to help prevent the plywood wicking up moisture.


MJM

 

[Muddzy]

Greatly appreciate the info! very helpful. I got some decisions to make...