Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

well I got 11" to bottom of frame at the rear of the trailer and 16" from ground to floor of the galley,, this is running tortion axle and 20.5x8-10 tires, I want to raise it up with larger tires but I got to find 4x4, 14 " wheels or change out the spindles to a 5 bolt hub


chipper

I used a Dexter at position #4, 10 degrees up. The trailer has 14" tires. There is 12" of clearance at the frame, 10" at the bottom of the axel.

Gern,

Here is what we use. We use the Flexiride adjustable axle so we can set the trailer to different heights. For our standard street height we go with 12" from the ground to the bottom of the frame. This works for everyone but tall people who like to have it higher in the galley. For our SUV off road package we use a bigger tire and a higher trailing arm setting and go with 15" to the bottom of the frame.

We find the 15" height looks funny behind most cars but perfect with SUVs. Since most of our customers have SUVs this is a very very popular option.

If you are running a torsion axle don't worry too much about ground clearance. Even at 12" you will have more ground clearance than your tow vehicle. Teardrops have a inherent characteristic that alot of people miss. With the axle so far back it doesn't drag its bumper so to speak going in and out of driveways. The only point you will actually bottom out with normal usage is the hitch ball nut on your car, this should hit before any point on the trailer will. The exception being a drop floor or something hanging below the frame. You can determine your desired height without the trailer by just installing your trailer hitch and ball and drive in and out of stuff and see if it hits.

So, to sum it up. 12"-15".

Cary

Mine has only 10 inches clearance which is great for sitting in the door and having my feet flat on the ground. Also I placed my counter at standard kitchen counter height of 36 inches from the ground so with the low floor it gives plenty of room under for a large cooler etc. I've been off the main road with it and like Cary said the only thing that has ever scraped is the ball/nut on the hitch.

Denny

Denny Unfried wrote:Mine has only 10 inches clearance which is great for sitting in the door and having my feet flat on the ground. Also I placed my counter at standard kitchen counter height of 36 inches from the ground so with the low floor it gives plenty of room under for a large cooler etc. I've been off the main road with it and like Cary said the only thing that has ever scraped is the ball/nut on the hitch.

Denny

Denny,
Thank you for addressing the issue of galley height. I'm 5'2" and I'm concerned that I might not get decent cabinet height/ storage space with 15" tires, etc. I guess it will be difficult to tell until I finish the design and start to build.

I have a reputation to uphold as a Southern cook so I must have room for the necessary tools of the trade! Cook Big, Eat Big!
Or was that Cook Pig, Eat Pig?

BTW: I signed up for a welding class at the local Vo Tech. I used this tear as an excuse to buy the welder last year and I'm being pressured to produce something!

mikeschn wrote:If you are going to build a standard trailer, with a torsion axle, you will probably end up with about 14" of ground clearance.

Take a look at my custom 5x8 chassis details here:
http://www.mikenchell.com/weekender/chassis.html

Mike...

Mike, About the 5' wide trailer attached to the black Jimmy. It looks like a torsion axle, and I don't see any bolts holding it to the chassis. Is it welded on? I thought welding was bad for the rubber in the axle. I've come up with an idea for a cheap welding mount and wonder if it's necessary. Redneck sells a welding kit for torsion axles for about $39 bucks. My idea for a mount (two 12" pieces of 1"x2"x1/4" channel and 4 bolts) would cost a lot less.

cracker39 wrote: I've come up with an idea for a cheap welding mount and wonder if it's necessary. Redneck sells a welding kit for torsion axles for about $39 bucks. My idea for a mount (two 12" pieces of 1"x2"x1/4" channel and 4 bolts) would cost a lot less.

No reason it won't work, the mounts are only flat steel bent on a press brake. If you cut your mount pieces, clamp them to the axle flanges and drill your holes and bolt it together, then lay the whole thing on the trailer, using the axle itself to line it up straight you can tack the mounts on, unbolt the axle and remove it, then weld your mounts on solid. Should definately be able to do it for under 40 bucks!

Nitetime, that's similar to my plan. Only, I'd measure, remeasure, (can't be too careful), then drill the holes in my channel (with some play for insurance) to match the holes on the axle mount. Then, put the bolts through the channel from the "inside" and tack weld the bolt heads to the channel and then weld the open side of the channel edges to the bottom of the chassis side rail with the bolts "hanging" down for the torsion mount to attach to with nuts and lock washers. With the bolt heads tack welded to the channel, I wouldn't have any problem keeping them steady to mount the axle. If they did break loose when tightening, I could slip a wrench in the end of the channel to hold them while tightening the nuts. I'd probably find lock nuts to use as well.

sence i go off road a lot and to match the hight of my rainger my tear is 21" to the bottom of the frame

I won't be offroading with mine. With the additional 1" height I'll get from the mount I came up with, I am thinking of a 0 or 10 degree drop on my torsion arms. Probably the 10 degree down will do it. I'll recalculate all of the heights for the different drops before I order the axle, as I'll need 14" at the center in order for my chassis to be level from hitch to the rear of the chassis.

Cary Winch wrote:Gern,

For our standard street height we go with 12" from the ground to the bottom of the frame.

Cary

For my VW bug (old Beetle) with stock 15" wheels, how high would you design it?

Thanks in advance!

I guess with my 12"wheels, my axle is less than 6" off of the ground. I firmly believe that if you keep your tongue weight down to a minimum, as long as your tear is light enough, you should have no problem pulling it with a smaller car. My ground clearance keeps my off-roading limited to backing into my campsite, on the grass, from the access road. No rock-strewn creek beds that require monster tires and hefty ground clearance. I think most tears are built this way, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Gage!

Roly, heading for the Julian Bluegrass Festival on Sunday morning.

Dr. Steve,

With most small cars the 12" height works well. Lower than that will start to get into what I would think of as "street rod" territory. The 12" height looks good behind a car without becoming a dragging problem. To give yourself some extra room for steep driveways put a generous radius on the rear lower corner of the trailer for clearance (and looks). With the axle as far back as it usually is on a teardrop that will make it pretty much impossible to drag its rear.

Once again, the hitch on the car is most likely going to be your snag point regardless of trailer height.

Cary

powderburn wrote:Dang
I built mine so the frame was 21 inches off the ground.The axle clearance is 16 inches.

Ive never seen a TD in person.

Excuse my ignorance: You have never seen one, but yours is 21" off the ground? How is the Preda-Tear project coming along?

Mine is 19" to the bottom of the frame, but if I were to use lower profile tires and or smaller wheels I could easily drop down 3-4". Right now it has the same wheels and tires as the wifes Explorer. Of course this puts the coupler height right where I want it for the ball on her bumper without any modifications to the tongue so I'll probably leave it as is.