Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

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Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby johnavp1989 » Sun Apr 15, 2018 2:02 pm

I've been preparing to build a lightweight teardrop trailer for over a year now and a few weeks ago I finally started! My original plan was to base my build around a Harbor Freight trailer as so many people have suggested but I changed my mind and decided I wanted to do the entire build from scratch including fabricating the trailer itself.

I've always wanted to learn how to weld so I saw this as an opportunity to learn and put what I learned to good use, so after taking some welding courses and spending many hours practicing in the shop on scrap metal I've finally started. I've spent three full days working on the trailer so far and figure it was a good time to start sharing my progress.

Day 1: I spent this day cutting and prepping all of the raw material. The steel arrived in 20ft sections so I cut the material to length and then went at it with the wire brush and 36 grit sandpaper. I only snapped one picture the first day. Not much to see.



Day 2: I squared out the frame and welded it. I was taking my time and being very careful to make sure it came out perfectly square. I must have measured it 30 times before I began welding.




Day 3: I welded the two cross sections and the A-Frame for the hitch coupler. I clamped the coupler in place first in order to measure the angles where the A-frame meets the first cross member. I'm using 3.5lb channel iron for the A-Frame which proved to be very difficult to cut but after some struggle the angle cuts came out very nice and matched up almost perfectly.







After the third day the structure of the trailer is finished. Next up is the axle!

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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby Nodrog » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:34 pm

Congrats John, you have performed a rare feat in fabbing your own trailer! Looks good! It's great you took the trouble of taking classes, you probably even know what mig stands for! Will be a fun build for you- enjoy the process! later....Nodrog
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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby johnavp1989 » Sun Apr 15, 2018 4:14 pm

Nodrog wrote:Congrats John, you have performed a rare feat in fabbing your own trailer! Looks good! It's great you took the trouble of taking classes, you probably even know what mig stands for! Will be a fun build for you- enjoy the process! later....Nodrog


Thanks Nodrog! It's definitely been a fun experience so far. I've got a long way to go yet but I'm looking forward to it.
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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby tony.latham » Sun Apr 15, 2018 6:11 pm

Great-looking welds! :thumbsup:

Tony
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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby KTM_Guy » Sun Apr 15, 2018 10:51 pm

Nice job. Looks like a great place to work at.

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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby johnavp1989 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:31 am

KTM_Guy wrote:Nice job. Looks like a great place to work at.

Todd


Yes! I'm fortunate to have this place in the area. It's the only reason I'm able to take on a project like this.
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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby swoody126 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 7:07 am

gotz me a big ole tub of

popcorn.jpg
popcorn.jpg (29.65 KiB) Viewed 1576 times


and a pitcher of

sweet tea.jpeg
sweet tea.jpeg (4.98 KiB) Viewed 1576 times


LET THE FUN BEGIN :thumbsup:

sw
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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby johnavp1989 » Sun Apr 22, 2018 5:30 pm

Day 4: I finished up some welding on the frame and then started on the axle. I was happy just to see it fit! After getting this far it was nice to see that I can actually measure. :D I was hoping I would have a picture to post here with the rims and tires on but unfortunately the rims I purchased do not fit the axle. I've ordered some 15" tires to replace the 12" once I have, I think I'll be better off with the larger tire anyway. I also installed some stabilizer jacks at the corners.




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Re: Teardrop from Scratch (Foamie)

Postby johnavp1989 » Sun May 06, 2018 10:48 am

Day 5: Pretty light day today. I added some brackets for the rear brake lights and the side marker lights and got the wheels on. Got a helping hand from a buddy of mine. He's helping me brainstorm some ideas for the cabin and offered to draw up some plans. It's really awesome to see it look like a real trailer for the first time! Next up is to pull the trailer from the shop and paint it off-site since there's no way I'm going to fit a 5x8 trailer in their paint room.



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