jim65wagon
Well-known member
Sitting on 285/75/16s (~33" tire)the CrowsWing is 85" tall. On the same tire the truck is a mere 73" tall.
The CrowsWing - Offroad Teardrop Trailer
- Thread starter jim65wagon
- Start date
Sitting on 285/75/16s (~33" tire)the CrowsWing is 85" tall. On the same tire the truck is a mere 73" tall.
jim65wagon
Well-known member
But Weight! There's More!
One of the most frequently asked questions we get, (and I know you are all dying to know) is “How much does it weigh?”
If you're interested in an empty, unladen, dry weight I'm going to disappoint you. Our first weighing was done at a CAT scale, loaded with everything except water. We were actually coming back from a trip with the kids in tow so the water tank was dry. We still had some food in the kitchen, the kids clothes, sleeping bags, backpacks,and other assorted stuff were piled on the bed. We figured this was a good simulation of being loaded with food, wine and drinking water. The truck was loaded with four people and a bed of gear (tent, cots,an EZ Up, chainsaw, gas, etc)
You can see:
Truck +Trailer = 9740 lbs
Truck with trailer tongue = 7100 lbs
Trailer axle while connected to truck = 2640
Truck alone = 6500 lbs
Some quick math:
7100 lbs – 6500 lbs = 600 lbs Tongue weight
2640 +600(tongue) + 320 (water tank when full) = 3560 lbs Trailer weight(loaded)
OK, now I hear you saying: “Dude! That's heavy! The tongue weight is tremendous!” Yes, yes it is.
Somethings to note:
First: We tow with a fullsize truck. It's rated for twice what the trailer weighs, and the tongue weight is right at it's maximum rating.
Second:Total trailer weight, the teardrop holds all the camping gear Beth and I use for a trip. Yep, all the gear. The extra storage built into the teardrop frees up the truck totally. The truck only hauls extra gear when the kids are along, or if we decide we need something extra like the kayaks, chainsaw or generator.
Third:Tongue Weight. Yes 600 lbs is high, but it is only 16.85% of the weight of the trailer, not far off the 15% maximum it should be. Now, consider the axle sits too far back in the wheel well. Look at it. It's well behind the center-line of the fender. It looks funny.It looks wrong. It's back about four inches farther than it's supposed to be. If the axle were in the right position the tongue would be lighter.
<-----FRONT of trailer
“So,just move the axle forward” Yeah, yeah. I hear you. That's been the plan from the first day we picked up the trailer. That project was put on the back burner until now.
We set aside a weekend. Raised the trailer up, took the tires off and unbolted the axle. Our thought was we could just unbolt the hangar brackets from the frame, slide them forward 4 – 6 inches, drill some new holes and rebolt the brackets to the frame. Except one of the cross-members is in the way. Moving the brackets just ahead of the cross-member would put the axle too far forward. The tire would sit too close to the fender, extremely close to rubbing the inner fender.
We wound up going to a local fabricator, Area 51 Fabrications, and had these brackets made up.
The top brackets are the originals. The bottom ones are our new ones.They are 10 inches long, use the original mounting holes for the back of each bracket, and the spring hangars are 4 inches forward of the originals. The cutout in the one bracket slips around the offending cross-member. A big Thank You! to Area 51. They were friendly, easy to deal with, and quick to produce our brackets at an extremely reasonable price.
Once all the holes were drilled, the new brackets were bolted to the frame.
...
The springs bolted back on, tires added and the trailer was all better again. The tires are now pretty well centered in the fender. It looks much better, doesn't it?
<-------FRONT of trailer
The last thing we had to do? Reweigh the setup to see how much the tongue weight changed. We filled the water tank up, added the full complement of gear (no food or drinks though! Oops!) and drove to the nearest CAT Scale.
Truck +Trailer = 9120 lbs
Truck with Trailer tongue = 6180 lbs
Trailer axle while connected to truck = 2940 lbs
Truck alone = 5720 lbs
More quick math!
6180 lbs – 5720 lbs = 460 lbs Tongue Weight
2940 lbs + 460 lbs = 3400 lbs Total Trailer Weight
Moving the axle forward 4 inches took 140 lbs off the trailer tongue! That 460 lbs is right about 13% of the trailer weight, right ********** dab in the middle of the "recommended" tongue weights (recommended tongue weights are commonly between 10 and 15 % of the total trailer weight) I'd call that a success.
One of the most frequently asked questions we get, (and I know you are all dying to know) is “How much does it weigh?”
If you're interested in an empty, unladen, dry weight I'm going to disappoint you. Our first weighing was done at a CAT scale, loaded with everything except water. We were actually coming back from a trip with the kids in tow so the water tank was dry. We still had some food in the kitchen, the kids clothes, sleeping bags, backpacks,and other assorted stuff were piled on the bed. We figured this was a good simulation of being loaded with food, wine and drinking water. The truck was loaded with four people and a bed of gear (tent, cots,an EZ Up, chainsaw, gas, etc)
You can see:
Truck +Trailer = 9740 lbs
Truck with trailer tongue = 7100 lbs
Trailer axle while connected to truck = 2640
Truck alone = 6500 lbs
Some quick math:
7100 lbs – 6500 lbs = 600 lbs Tongue weight
2640 +600(tongue) + 320 (water tank when full) = 3560 lbs Trailer weight(loaded)
OK, now I hear you saying: “Dude! That's heavy! The tongue weight is tremendous!” Yes, yes it is.
Somethings to note:
First: We tow with a fullsize truck. It's rated for twice what the trailer weighs, and the tongue weight is right at it's maximum rating.
Second:Total trailer weight, the teardrop holds all the camping gear Beth and I use for a trip. Yep, all the gear. The extra storage built into the teardrop frees up the truck totally. The truck only hauls extra gear when the kids are along, or if we decide we need something extra like the kayaks, chainsaw or generator.
Third:Tongue Weight. Yes 600 lbs is high, but it is only 16.85% of the weight of the trailer, not far off the 15% maximum it should be. Now, consider the axle sits too far back in the wheel well. Look at it. It's well behind the center-line of the fender. It looks funny.It looks wrong. It's back about four inches farther than it's supposed to be. If the axle were in the right position the tongue would be lighter.
<-----FRONT of trailer
“So,just move the axle forward” Yeah, yeah. I hear you. That's been the plan from the first day we picked up the trailer. That project was put on the back burner until now.
We set aside a weekend. Raised the trailer up, took the tires off and unbolted the axle. Our thought was we could just unbolt the hangar brackets from the frame, slide them forward 4 – 6 inches, drill some new holes and rebolt the brackets to the frame. Except one of the cross-members is in the way. Moving the brackets just ahead of the cross-member would put the axle too far forward. The tire would sit too close to the fender, extremely close to rubbing the inner fender.
We wound up going to a local fabricator, Area 51 Fabrications, and had these brackets made up.
The top brackets are the originals. The bottom ones are our new ones.They are 10 inches long, use the original mounting holes for the back of each bracket, and the spring hangars are 4 inches forward of the originals. The cutout in the one bracket slips around the offending cross-member. A big Thank You! to Area 51. They were friendly, easy to deal with, and quick to produce our brackets at an extremely reasonable price.
Once all the holes were drilled, the new brackets were bolted to the frame.
...
The springs bolted back on, tires added and the trailer was all better again. The tires are now pretty well centered in the fender. It looks much better, doesn't it?
<-------FRONT of trailer
The last thing we had to do? Reweigh the setup to see how much the tongue weight changed. We filled the water tank up, added the full complement of gear (no food or drinks though! Oops!) and drove to the nearest CAT Scale.
Truck +Trailer = 9120 lbs
Truck with Trailer tongue = 6180 lbs
Trailer axle while connected to truck = 2940 lbs
Truck alone = 5720 lbs
More quick math!
6180 lbs – 5720 lbs = 460 lbs Tongue Weight
2940 lbs + 460 lbs = 3400 lbs Total Trailer Weight
Moving the axle forward 4 inches took 140 lbs off the trailer tongue! That 460 lbs is right about 13% of the trailer weight, right ********** dab in the middle of the "recommended" tongue weights (recommended tongue weights are commonly between 10 and 15 % of the total trailer weight) I'd call that a success.
Last edited:
silvrzuki77
explorer
Very nice, still need to weigh mine also. Are you able to relocate the fenders?
sierramadreteardrops
New member
Nice job! still working my way through the thread but I'm loving it so far!
jim65wagon
Well-known member
Thanks! Initial seat of the pants feel is good. Easier on the rough bumps in the road. Time will tell....
Fenders are not moveable due to the construction of the running boards. Well, really anything can be reconstructed, but I'd rather not.....silvrzuki77 said:
schmaged88
New member
Holy epic Tear Drop build thread!!! I read this in 1 sitting (my legs now need to be amputated they have been asleep for 2 hours now) How hard was it to get titled and insured? By the way I love the husband+wife teamwork!!
Colonial Cousin
New member
The Teardrop Year
With reference to the book - 'The Teardrop Year', having looked on the Internet, I don't seem to be able to purchase a hard copy; also I am in the UK (England). Any suggestions please? The whole build was excellent and extremely well documented. Thoroughly enjoyable.
With reference to the book - 'The Teardrop Year', having looked on the Internet, I don't seem to be able to purchase a hard copy; also I am in the UK (England). Any suggestions please? The whole build was excellent and extremely well documented. Thoroughly enjoyable.
jim65wagon
Well-known member
See if this works for you Colonial Cousin, I'll link the page on the Blurb website that I get when I search through Blurb. The Teardrop Year Thanks for your interest in the book!
The title was easy as the chassis came with a VIN from the trailer company. Simple as a trip to the DMV. Insurance is a different story, it's still only insured when attached to the truck through the tow vehicles insurance. Our local State Farm agent will not insure it because it's home built (we know other teardrop builders that have State Farm with no problem getting insurance)schmaged88 said:
Last edited:
So... Knowing What You Know Now...
Obviously this was a great experience for you guys and you came out of it with a completely unique build that is arguably one of the most glamporous teardrop builds likely to be found.
But what about the John Doe considering the same road and facing the same choices? You mentioned at the beginning that purchasing a teardrop and then paying even more to build it out to suit your needs didn't sound appealing. I'm curious to know, when all is said and done, how did the cost of your project compare to the alternative cost of buying a SoCal Teardrop or similar and then doing some custom work?
From the time you made your first sawdust cutting your template for the walls, how long did it take to complete your build?
And knowing what you know now... if you were ever to build CrowsWing Teardrop 2.0, what would you add? What would you remove? And what would you do just plain different?
Thanks for the continued input and creative motivation.
Obviously this was a great experience for you guys and you came out of it with a completely unique build that is arguably one of the most glamporous teardrop builds likely to be found.
But what about the John Doe considering the same road and facing the same choices? You mentioned at the beginning that purchasing a teardrop and then paying even more to build it out to suit your needs didn't sound appealing. I'm curious to know, when all is said and done, how did the cost of your project compare to the alternative cost of buying a SoCal Teardrop or similar and then doing some custom work?
From the time you made your first sawdust cutting your template for the walls, how long did it take to complete your build?
And knowing what you know now... if you were ever to build CrowsWing Teardrop 2.0, what would you add? What would you remove? And what would you do just plain different?
Thanks for the continued input and creative motivation.
