Tall Tails - an adventure into Teardropdom with an NT 5x8

[Scotter]

what's up, everybody! long time fan, first time poster. this site has been an incredible wellspring of knowledge, which has made this endeavor possible for a knuckle-draggin' caveman such as myself. i hope that by posting my own build story here, i can give back a bit and possibly entertain with my screwups as well.

a teardrop camper has been on the "some day" list for a good long time. i remember seeing one years ago, that was being pulled by a hotrod and i thought it was just the coolest idea. i love how they look, the convenient low weight, great for camping with a small family like mine, and i think they'd make a pretty sweet little paddock sleeper unit for motorsports events.

this has been my personal teardrop vision that I sketched up last year. the woody plan has since changed to aluminum skin as i've started building, but the overall size, shape, and features are still my goal.


-----------------------

the semi-short, boring story that led up to this:
we took a couple trips last year into the north GA mountains in search of our favorite quarry, trout (where the name Tall Tails comes from - "tailing" trout). it was awesome...we're hill people at heart, anyway, so big surprise. my little boy has grown some big long legs and totally wants to start exploring, so we're trying to get him involved as much as possible too. after a couple weekend trips it became really clear that
(A) we want to start doing a lot more of this,
(B) lodging adds up super fast in the long term, and
(C) hotel rooms are boring....we want to be out around a campfire instead of in a room that smells like wet socks and stale A/C.

but not so fast - the wife is a picky sleeper. laying on the ground, possibly getting wet, minimal cushion and plenty of night-time noise from the woods....it was a hard sell and a recipe for what they call A Bad Time. but, for whatever reason, I ran the teardrop idea past her last year thinking she'd give it the old "yeah cool....so anyway you gonna help me with dinner or what" but she was super enthusiastic. we ran some measurements, did a little budgeting, and realized this was actually a real option if i built it myself. the final push were a few medical events within our friends/family circle that, i guess you could say, rekindled our respect for how much (or little) time we're given in this world. it pretty much confirmed that we wanted to get our little family out there and go as hard as we can, while we can, and this was a good way to get us into roadtrips and national parks that we previously only daydreamed about.

so up to this point, the plan was:
• get spousal approval
• acquire moneys
• ????
• tow all over the place

phase 2 of this thing actually happening is me fixing the fact that i have no idea what i'm doing. i'm a weekend woodworker at best...i mean i'm very enthusiastic about it, i've built up a very manly pile of tools, and i can make some simple, if ambitious stuff. basically, i know enough to be pretty dangerous. in 2015 i built my wife a gardening bench that wasn't terrible, and last year i just finished a loft bed w/stairs for my son that hasn't collapsed on anyone yet. each project got a little more complex and i strayed a bit further from established plans. its been enough of a learning experience that i feel pretty good about how to get the most out of my tools....but i came to find out that these campers are a whole new world of tactics, even though they're still really simple.

i started researching construction techniques and plans in earnest around January 2016. i've had to familiarize myself with all the different construction disciplines and products. i also got to find out, as you all know, that basically nobody builds these things the same way twice, and every builder has a different idea of what works best....so it was a bit confusing to nail down a game-plan based on a proven path.

in September 2016 i found a plan i liked for a very "classic" teardrop profile on a widely available trailer - the "Wyoming Woody", and since then i've been continually tweaking a sort-of accurate estimate so i don't nuke the budget in the first month.

BASIC GOALS
• ~1200 lbs. total or less once assembled so either of my cars can tow it (2003 Xterra, 2005 Impreza)
• easily available 5x8 trailer platform to allow for a queen mattress inside
• must stay simple. no TV's, super fancy cabinetry, refrigerators, AC units, etc
• can hold 2 adults and 1 kid
• has to look the business with a classic profile
• keep within a $3,500 to $4,000 budget by the end
• tagged and roadworthy by Spring Break 2018 (wife's a teacher)

so join me, won't you, as I crash face first into an attempt to put one of these things together in my garage!

[friz]

Very cool sketch. You have some talent. Clear the space and start laying out your profiles. There is a ton of information on this site to accomplish the feat. Have fun and try to avoid self imposed deadlines.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[QueticoBill]

Nice rendering!

Spring break 2017? That will really be impressive. Beam me up Scotter, er, Scotty.

More pics!!

[kokomoto]

Very nice sketch. Look forward to watching your progress. Your concept isn't vastly different from mine.

Steve Fredrick's shop manual is indispensable, and a good investment early on. In my case, it easily paid for itself in saved materials, saved time, and a better built TD than I could have done without it.

[Scotter]

Clear the space and start laying out your profiles.

Spring break 2017? That will really be impressive. Beam me up Scotter, er, Scotty.

More pics!!

haha, typo. meant 2018. i actually started this in Jan 2017 and i'm kind of posting the build up to where i am now. it'll still be a feat for me to hit a spring deadline, but i'd rather aim high and miss so that it at least keeps a fire lit under my butt to get going.

JANUARY:



Craigslist smiled favorably upon my mortal soul last week and blessed my quest with 125 sq ft. of 5/8" Berg & Berg red oak engineered flooring for $4-tay bucks. heck yes, definitely getting used as the deck floor. some of the planks saw a lot of traffic and need sanded and recoated, but some were up against a wall and look brand new. yeah, it'll add some weight, but the core of the flooring feels like pine so its not super heavy. if i did both entire side walls, and the whole floor front to back, i'd still have ~20 sq ft. left over, so imma be super picky and just sell whatever's left.



second thing, the tape marks. this is how i was able to work out how to squeeze this thing in my garage. that is the "maximum" footprint of this thing after moving all the other junk out of the way. the "box" on the taped area is where the tire and fender would be. so in actuality, the body of the trailer will be in about 9" in from the sides of the box, and of course at the front end the trailer frame "vees down" to the hitch point so its not very wide there. here's the thing though...you'll notice my subaru is up past the line in the meat of the trailer body. its a game of inches folks - if i place the nose of my car right, i can just squeeze the subaru in with about 3 inches front/back and still close the garage door. true dedication, right? i'll be hanging some marker strings from the ceiling to touch my windshield when i pull in to get the placement just right.

[Scotter]

(still January)

rolly bits showed up! the stock 5.3x12 tires are going straight to a shelf for use as emergency spares.

i decided on 15x5, GM 60's-era "Gennie" steelies from Wheel Vintiques and a 175/65-15 Kumho Ecsta PA31 radial. The steelies definitely have "the look", come nicely primered, and will allow me to plug on some "Moon" chrome hubcaps and matching trim rings later.


a couple major points that decided the wheel upgrade:
• stock tires are rated to 55mph, and that won't work for me with all the interstate travel we'll do
• the bigger tires will slow down the wheel bearings, extending their life span
• the radials should ride much better while still handling the weight easily
• the bigger wheels will really fill up the fender which looks awesome

the only complication, which caused considerable headaches in planning, was trying to find moon-hubcap-compatible steelie with as close to a zero offset as possible. i'm gaining an inch of width over the stock wheels, but i have to be sure i leave a bunch of room next to the frame for the side wall to come down and not hit the tire, as per the Wyoming Woody plans.

had i stuck with the original Northern Tool axle (i'll explain this later, its quite a story) i'd need to run a 3/4" spacer on each hub, which i wasn't crazy about, but its the best i could do and shouldn't have affected me in the long term since i would have been running the trailer pretty light. others here have logged 15k+ miles on 1 inch spacers with heavier campers with no drama, so had i gone that path i think i would have been OK long-term.

[Scotter]

late January i jammed over to the Northern Tool in Columbia SC and back on saturday morning in a tornado outbreak (well, south of us anyway). just beat the rain so i was able to shove all 3 boxes in the subaru (pass front seat removed) before it opened up.

all spread out on a Centipede Tool folding work table:


good shape overall, a few rails had scratches from the bubble wrap scooting around in the boxes that i remedied with a hit of the 400-grit, a mineral spirits wipedown and a good shot of black enamel. that's all i had time for but it felt good to just do something to start with limited free time this weekend.



additional niblets collected:
- tongue jack
- wheel chocks (x4)
- tongue lock

after farting around for a couple days, we have wheels on the ground! wasn't kidding about the tight space either. i'm gonna have to become an expert parker.



assembly went pretty smoothly....per other's experiences, i was able to square the frame up via ratchet straps run to diagonal corners and just a trial and error measuring process until each diagonal was equal. i kept the stock electrical wiring but ditched the 4-wire connector for a Hopkins 48110 unit and soldered it in. all wires were wire loomed and run down the frame rails.

[Scotter]

i decided at the beginning that i was going to flip the axle so that it was running spring-under vs spring-over, particularly since i was upping my wheel and tire size and did not want the trailer too high off the ground. the axle flip and wheel/tire change should, in theory, equal out and keep ride height stock.

here's some trial fitting. i also drilled the frame to move the axle 6" back to better handle the galley loads (a full Yeti cooler, water container, etc) and track with better stability:


after talking with an experienced and mechanically savvy friend who pulls a large trailer, he convinced me to run large axle u-bolts with this new flipped axle setup. with a flipped axle, ALL of the trailer's weight would not be held by 4 u-bolts instead of being transferred into the leaf spring pads by the axle, and he mentioned that the instantaneous loads of a wheel hitting a bad pothole, or being launched off the ground by a major bump could be very high, and enough to snap a bolt. this worry was compounded by the fact that NT doesn't divulge the material or strength grade of their bolts, so i felt like i was flying a bit blind with a very critical suspension component. i decided it was worth the safety factor to upgrade.

finding an off-the-shelf bolt and tie-plate combo to fit NT's axle was a huge research project. NT runs a very oddball axle dimension and i didn't want to incur the expense of custom bolts and a custom drilled tie plate. it took a lot of google searching, calling around, and sweating some diagrams to come up with a solution.

the result, with primer applied:


compliments of Stengel Bros. the parts are as follows:
• 5U-113S 1/2 X 1-13/16 X 4S steel Square U-bolt with nuts and washers
• U-103 U-BOLT PLATE, steel
• ~$50 shipped

i believe the bolts are Grade 5 strength. the new bolts/plates are a little less than twice as thick but the difference is staggering in person. i dove under my xterra just out of curiousity and the axle on that, which is also a spring-under-axle setup, is also held on with 1/2" bolts. i think if they're sufficient for a 4K lb. truck, the teardrop will be OK

[Scotter]

with the axle being a "U" channel design, when i flipped it, it meant that the "U" would catch any rocks/moisture. despite the thick enamel coat, one crack/chip could invite rust and potential structural failure if there's room for sitting water and mud/muck. i wasn't about to drill any drain holes in it either and compromise its strength.

i decided to fill the gap with Loctite expanding foam and coated it with a patching compound called Gardner Flex and Fill Patching Paste (technique taken from backyard foam surfboard makers i think) to ensure no water makes its way into the foam crevices and stays there. after that, a final coat with more black enamel spraypaint to further seal/protect and make it look nice.

a quick wipe-down and then a masking tape "form" put in place. 2 back-and-forth runs across the axle with the can and it had expanded to this in about 30 mins


after a 24hr cure i went across the top with an X-acto razor saw. very little effort to cut but its a hard foam for sure once its set. no give whatsoever.


i got overzealous and tried to trim the top after only a couple hours because i'm a dumdum and forgot the inside takes longer and i was anxious. the result was a bit like deflating a balloon as you can see. i went back and finished off the can with an second fill in this area and re-trimmed.


the patching paste is better than spackling paste for this application because it covers large gaps better. no cracking and it stays flexible once it dries. after a coat of paint, it had a nice seal and would "give" a bit with a finger poke, almost like a soft-touch dashboard in a car. i'm not a pro at smoothing this kind of stuff out, but considering it was going to stay under the trailer i felt the finish was good enough.

[Scotter]

THE AXLE NIGHTMARE

welp.

got everything tightened up and on the ground, tested the lights, adjusted the hitch, checked the tires. plate is on, i'm ready to go to home depot and pick up some wood and get this show on the road.

checked the tires again....thought i saw something....hmmm? !@#$%#@. the wheels aren't pointing straight. one wheel toed in, the other toed out. this axle is not "road set" with a factory-made bend for weight...these tires are pointing odd directions. standing over the frame as a straight-line reference, even with the naked eye its easy to see now that the we have a problem. i have no heard of this happening with NT trailers before. went back and double, triple checked my measurements. surely when i relocated the leaf springs 6 inches aft i probably was 1/4" off on one side or something? i could just notch the holes and slide one side forward and straighten it out. nope, the axle itself is dead perpendicular on the chassis. survey says: the actual hubs were welded on crooked. totally imperceptible to see without a big plane of reference bolted to it, i.e. the side of a tire lined up with the side of the trailer, so unfortunately i never would have noticed until this point in the build.

immediately i'm in worst-case scenario land. gotta get a new axle, what's that cost, oh and of course nobody sells and axle in these dimensions off the shelf without going custom so now my $50 just-painted u-bolts are garbage, would my bearings still work with a different axle, etc etc.

thankfully the local Northern Tool manager was supportive and tried to make things right, but it took about a month. they ordered in a new kit and would let me pirate the axle and any spares i wanted out of the fresh kit. so i endured yet another hour of South Carolina's most oblivious drivers on I-20 and upon getting to the store we tear open the boxes for the second time.

ta-daaaaa...new axle is also bent. check out the wicked paint chip too, talk about a lapse in quality. are these coming from the factory this way, or is a gorilla handling the boxes?


same deal...the axle beam itself is fine, but the stubs welded to the ends point wherever "not straight" is. bad enough i can see how far they're off just eyeballing it from 2 feet away. i make sure the manager sees this, and get him to assign me some kind of number that will get me in the door with NT Customer Service for a refund. i leave with 2 wheel/tire/hub combos (that i flipped on craigslist immediately) and the useless axle in case i need it for future proof to NT.

soon as i got home, rang up NT corp and they hooked me up. full refund on my trailer cost. i'm annoyed due to about 2 months of lost time, a bunch of driving i shouldn't have to do, and parts i didn't need, but i'm happy considering they could have made it super painful.

fast forward another couple weeks later. i rolled my refund money into my "dream" bombproof axle setup; a Dexter 3500lb unit. why so heavy duty? well, a 2000lb. unit was only $30 less, so why not go big? the 3500lb'er also has slightly larger bearings which can only help bearing longevity on long highway pulls. the new axle width of 72" also allowed me to fine tune it so that my new wheels are also spaced nicely away from the body for a good safe fit.

isn't she pretty? compliments of boattrailerparts.com. all aluminum, comes with adjustable axle brackets, and will accept common bearing sizes. the axle bracket AND u-bolt tie plate, importantly, is also a compatible width to play nicely with the trailer leaf springs.


here it is as delivered. also delivered were aluminum hubs, a u-bolt kit, and Accu-Lube dust caps for the axle nut cover


now THAT's how you pack and protect an axle stub


here's the first trial fit. what a mess, but at least it came together in the end.

[Scotter]

onto the next challenge, the axle bracket.

each leaf spring has a "pin" or bolt/screw combo that keeps the leafs of the spring centered. on the stock NT kit, the axle has small circular cutouts in it, designed to fit over the head of the bolt and securely locate the axle laterally and fore/aft once the u-bolts are cinched down. the supplied Dexter brackets have a cutout hole as well, but its too large. not by a lot, but enough that if the axle took a hard hit it could shift the axle an 1/8" in any direction and affect the wheel alignment.

my solution was to find a set of plastic Everbilt 3/8" ID x 1" OD nylon spacers. They are 1/2" tall. P/N 815118. perfect height to match the bracket, but I did have to hog out the spacer hole to snugly fit the leaf pin bolt head, and i had to also sand down the outside diameter of the spacer to snugly fit the Dexter bracket hole. sanding was painstaking and without a sanding wheel i had to simply run it across a sandpaper surface forever until it could fit.

with a rubber mallet i was then able to pop each spacer inside the bracket with a good interference fit. nylon is not super hard, but its solid enough that it will prevent the bracket from ever moving around and locate it perfectly centered on the springs.

before and after:


with the brackets taken care of it was time to finally get the last bolts tightened and get the trailer road ready. i was able to get my license plate painlessly enough and then its maiden voyage on the stock wheels/tires to get some unrelated project materials at the local HD with a buddy:


drove great. super excited. in the meantime my tires were getting mounted to my new wheels. i got them back and the trailer finally started to feel proper.




for anyone interested, these are 15x5 "Gennie" wheels with a 2.75" backspace, on a standard 5x4.5 bolt pattern and bolted to a 72" axle. you can grab them from Summit Racing.. below are some measurements to show the travel and clearance measurements.

[KCStudly]

I'm enjoying your posts. Keep the details coming!

One thing to clarify, could it really be an all aluminum axle? The spindles are surely steel which can't really be welded to aluminum. I suspect what you meant (or possibly misunderstood) is that your axle is (...at least looks to be) treated with an aluminized thermal spray coating. The result is similar to galvanization and is what they use to treat mild steel automotive exhaust so that the steel doesn't go rusty before it is installed or painted, but can still be welded w/o the hassles of full blown hot dipped galvanization. You can see the cold touch-up spray they used on the welds attaching the spindles, too.

Aluminized spray is a good thing, but I would still wipe it all down with a solvent and give it a good rattle can spray job for longevity. If not, once placed into service eventually (perhaps sooner than later) the steel will bloom through and show rust.

BTW, there is another plating process for steel called galvannealed where they first hot dip galvanize and then anneal. This gives the rust protection of galvy, but tames the crystal flake of the plating into a more even matte texture; thus allowing items to be more easily painted or powder coated for a preferred appearance.

[QueticoBill]

Sorry you had so much trouble with the trailer. Mine went smoothly with moved axel and underslung springs. (photos in my build thread). I may replace whole spring/axle/wheel/titre/fender assembly someday but staring with stock.

[KCStudly]

Also meant to say that your experience with poor axle stub alignment is also most likely the same cause of extremely poor tire tread life on other peoples builds; that may not have been as observant as you. They put better quality tires on but still get poor longevity. Maybe? Seems like a 'no brainer'.

[Shadow Catcher]

One advantage to the new axle. You can add brakes and you are going to need them. This is something few think about. From personal experience Subaru brakes are fine, if just for the Subaru. Or first tear did not have brakes our second did.