Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Looking for a reliable trailer manufacturer to make a chassis to my specs. It seems they are all too busy. Location Puyallup WA [quote][/quote]

If it's your specs. any good welder should do. Look for the one who is self employed and works out of his garage or has a small shop. Chances are you may get a better job for less money.

Have a good day.

Hey, I live in Puyallup too!! are ya glad the fair is done? I can finally drive through town. what ya planning to build? ......Bob

If you don't mind going a bit north of where you are located, Mann's Welding up in Shoreline (on Aurora) will do it for you. I almost had them do the welding for my chassis, but changed my mind after taking some welding classes. I have had the guys there wire up my truck for the trailer lights and brake, and they do a great job. They sell already welded up trailers as well, which look great. The guys there are incredibly nice and very helpful. I learned about them through the nice guys at Six Robblees, and it doesn't hurt that they are located right around the corner from where I live.

Amy

Thanks Amy, I'll check them out It's 55 miles one way but if that's what it takes so be it. I have an order with a trailer mfr in Tacoma but he is a week late now and offered me a refund because he doesn't know when he can get to it. I wasn't too enthused with his idea of cutting a Dexter torsion axle to fit my chassis : .

Do you have a tractor supply (TSC) store nearby?

I wrote up specs for a carry-on 5' x 10' 2990 lb gvw a frame trailer and went thru TSC to get a quote from carry-on. It has been more than a week but the manger at TSC said last night that carry-on is working my quote. I asked for 3 quotes actually: 1) just a stripper - no gate, no sides, no deck, no fenders; 2) making the frame out of 2" x 2" x 3/16" square tube; and, 3) using the square tube and using a 3500# dexter torflex axle instead of the standard spring axle.

By the way, the manger at TSC (a lady) got really excited when I showed her a picture of the teardrop that I wanted to build on the trailer frame. I plan to build the 10' Comet.

At least they did not say no, but I don't know the price yet. Tried to get a local welder to weld a 5' x 10' frame for me and he quoted $600 and I furnish the axle and tongue box - I politely said no thanks and left.

Will let you all know how TSC/Carry-on comes out.

John
Edmond, Oklahoma

I paid $814 for my last trailer... but I had a lot of money wrapped up in wheels...

Custom 5x8 trailer
So what do you do if you want something wider, or heavy duty. You build it yourself. For a 5' x 8' trailer here's the price I got to build it myself…
Steel: $242
Torsion Axle $189
Coupler $22
Safety Chain $6
Aluminum Alloy Wheels $160
Tires $80
Welding $195
Total Price $814


http://www.mikenchell.com/weekender/chassis.html

Mike...

Hi, I don't have a Tractor Supply near by and I have never welded not that I couldn't learn. My son has a MIG welder that I can use but I would rather learn on something that doesn't follow me at 60 mph. The rest of the build is a piece of cake as I make radius & angled reception & Library Circulation desks all the time in my one man shop . The chassis is a direct copy of one Grant Whipp drew for me. It's a copy of his Li'l Bear 5'x10'. It's 57 1/2" wide, 96" on the main body and 54" in the triangular tounge area using a Dexter Torsion axle with a 10% up. The body hangs over the tail 6" and the front of the body extends over the tounge area, quite an ingenious design that he drew. Danny

halfdome,

If you were to go to your local welding supply store, they will have a bunch of business cards or have someone they would recommend to you to build your frame.

My shop isn't quite set up to do it, but soon. I'm in Burlington and not familiar with shops in that area.

You might call Six Roblees in Seattle and ask them who they supply to in your area that would be able to build. They may be tenative to give out that info, but it's worth a shot.

Good luck.
Mike

Thanks Mike, I have recently obtained info on two welders from personal reference. My trailer mfr called yesterday to inform me he will have the chassis that I ordered done in a week, two at the most. I'll give him that. If he fails to deliver then I'll pull my deposit and go elsewhere. This week looks like it's going to be slow in my shop (waiting for plam) so I've cut out the wall profile and just finished designing the door profile that appeales to me. I'm now in the process of making jigs to route the door cutout and profile for the door. Danny

Got the quote for the Carry-on trailer from my TSC dealer.

$1,391.00 + tax for a 5' x 10' trailer "stripper" to plant a Comet on, give me a break!!1

Back to the search to see what else I can find.

John

Just bought the materials for a 5x10 frame :
30 feet of 2x2x.095 main rails and front and back cross members
10 feet 2x2x.125 angle for the 2 inner cross members
5 feet of 2x3x .125 for the tongue
2" ball coupler
total for frame materials and coupler 125.00(aprox)
dexter #9 torsion axle quote 197.95
trailer wheels with tires 5x13 85.00
steel fenders round with 2" rounded lip 30.00
2 hrs fab shop welding time 100.00
total 538.95
I have the equipment and skills to do my own fab and welding but my wheels and tires are costing as much as I could build this trailer for.
I f you use a harbor freight trailer you are starting with a handicap as you are stuck with the size and light weight frame materials.... if you buy a "farm supply " trailer you will have the same problem as to starting size and the cost is all out of reason.. find a "hobby friend " and trade skills tfor the fab and welding ( I could use the skills of a cabinet maker for my galley)

I painted my chassis today. Being this is my first experience with a torsion axle I noticed something wrong. The trailer mfr made my chassis 57 1/2" wide and 57 11/16" between trailing arms, woops! I had ordered the distance as 61" since my walls ( 60" TD ) will cover the chassis. They will be out Monday with a flat bed trailer to pick it up and make it right. My mistake was waiting for it so long that I was excited when it was completed and being a novice I didn't notice until today. The floor was siting on it for 2 weeks so it wasn't apparent. That thing could have locked up on the chassis on the first good bump, maybe throwing it out of control. http://www.costcophotocenter.com/slides ... t_=3641510