Project Choose Your Own Adventure

[Mike]

wait. those tires don't have whitewalls. wtf?

[WRXtranceformed]

Dude, subscribed and it is seriously awesome you are actually building this with your own hands! We also want to start making further ventures into the wilderness, we've always loved hiking and the Great Outdoors™ is one of the only places I can go to clear my head from staring at a computer screen all day.

Teardrops caught my attention when I saw a Youtube video about the Terradrop (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.oregontrailer.net/terradrop.html">http://www.oregontrailer.net/terradrop.html</a><!-- m -->):




If you like how that looks maybe it will give you some design inspiration :thumbup:

[ScottyB]

wait. those tires don't have whitewalls. wtf?

i'm a no-style poser, what can i say

If you like how that looks maybe it will give you some design inspiration :thumbup:

gracias, and yeah for sure those things are super pimpy and i'm a big fan of their craftsmanship. i'm copying their side-table rail that you can see behind the white jerry can, so i can expand our cooktop surface by sliding on a little table with a collapsible leg:

[ScottyB]

big change with the original concept - no longer doing a "woody" but sheathing it in aluminum. After trying to hunt down high quality hardwood plywood in the size I need for the outside, there is almost no price difference to just doing the outside in aluminum which will resist UV light better, punctures and impacts better, less upkeep on the finish and will reflect heat better. It also looks equally sweet.

i originally thought the wood would be the cheaper way to go and was prepared to deal with the finish maintenance (re-sand and reapply varnish every 2 or so years) but the numbers don't make sense. always something to learn with this.

currently sourcing 5052 aluminum which is the go-to for outdoor and marine use. i'm after a "mill finish" which was a matte/satin appearance like this:


i'll have some fingerprints to smudge off and it'll need a coat of wax from time to time to keep a little oxidation at bay, but whatever, i'm willing to let it get some character.

also decided on a color for the fenders and wheels: L31 Volkswagen Dove Blue.


its a color from the 60's and 70's, mostly used on bugs 'n buses. i think it looks spot on in the "classic" department without being flashy or "hot-roddy", and is a nice mix between blue, slate, and grey and is non-metallic. it'll get a coat of gloss on top. blue accents and silver aluminum will look great together i think. paint will get here in 12oz. spray can form which will be fine for doing wheels and fenders....anything bigger and i'd definitely let a pro handle it.

[Goodspeed]

Love this, and that color will be perfect

[ScottyB]

the game is afoot.


yanked the passenger seat from the scoob and jammed over to the Northern Tool in Columbia and back on saturday morning in the tornado outbreak (well, south of us anyway). just beat the rain so i was able to shove all 3 boxes in the car before it opened up.

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

also grabbed some longer wheel studs and associated lugs from e-trailer which will let me put the new wheels on immediately. then its off the DMV once this pile is together, wired and roll-able, so i can use it to collect 4x8 and 5x5 lumber.

[ScottyB]

wheels on the ground, baby.


pretty tight when its all finished and parked. the scoob's back bumper is like 6" from the garage door. the masking tape "footprint" map paid off to ensure there was just enough space.

the wheel bearings come filled with waxy garbage grease that got wiped. supposedly its only meant as an anti-rust "shipping" grease, although they don't say it, and i believe it. hate to be the folks that find out they should have known that when their bearings fail 100 miles down the road. got new mobil1 red grease packed in with a bearing press/packer with some extra grease blob horked into the hub open areas. the hubs come with zerk fittings for grease top-off which is awesome.

better overhead of the space. threw the sawhorses there just to get the car in the bay. the tongue and hitch are on, as well as the tongue jack.


here is the axle, set up "flipped" to compensate for larger wheels/tires so the trailer will stay stock height. i would not run it this way if i intended to load this up to the max payload but we'll be at 1/2 capacity when done so i'm not bothered. whats also happening here is the axle is in the process of being relocating 6" rearward. teardrop builders recommend a 60/40 axle location for the proper tongue weight and straight tracking. to get that, it turns out i can re-use 2 existing leaf spring bracket holes and then drill new ones after the first 2 are bolted in. aside from being convenient as hell, it'll give me the right alignment side to side as well.


next up:
• wiring
• tailights (temporary) and clearance lights installed
• paint new wheels and mount tires
• pop out old studs, put in new longer ones
• throw on spacer and bolt new wheels up
• tow to Buy'N Large and get big pieces of wood to start building floor

[V1GiLaNtE]

Yes. Can't wait to follow the updates.

[PDenbigh]

Very cool man! Moving along!

I'll inject my uninvited opinion here:

1. Tongue weight does help tracking a lot. Good call.
2. The flipped axle makes since, but all that weight on those u-bolts gives me a nervous tick You're going to the trouble to have beefy tires and a beefy frame, and it's all connected by what looks to be grade 3, 1/4" u-bolts (assuming they are stock?). I imagine an unnoticed 6" deep I-95 pothole at 70mph and that's a lot of sudden force. I don't have a perfect solution, but will offer these ideas:
a. Get some really good, uprated bolts from McMaster Carr.
b. Distribute the load on the nuts (ha) and bottom plate as much as possible (wide grade 5 or 8 washers), and
c. Consider a safety strap made of 3/8" or 1/4" stainless cable that wraps "diagonal" around the axle and the spring. (stainless so you never have to touch it again). Fasten the ends together with the proper hardware, and then ziptie the slack down to the axle so it doesn't bounce around. Should something ever fail, the zip ties will snap and the strap will hold things together long enough to come to a safe stop.

You know me though, and you know I overbuild stuff. Just a suggestion if it's helpful.

Peter

[ScottyB]

awesome input, thanks Pete. that's part of the reason i've got this thread going. you definitely know your way around a trailer better than me.

found this on mcmaster in 304 Stainless:


dimensions look good, and the capacity is 1075lbs each. my total weight will be between 900-1200 so that should offer a very nice cushion with 4 of them.

they include nuts and washers with the u-bolt, but i'm going to find some nylocks and a larger washer.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.mcmaster.com/#u-bolts/=16dtpmk">https://www.mcmaster.com/#u-bolts/=16dtpmk</a><!-- m -->

[Steve85]

big change with the original concept - no longer doing a "woody" but sheathing it in aluminum. After trying to hunt down high quality hardwood plywood in the size I need for the outside, there is almost no price difference to just doing the outside in aluminum which will resist UV light better, punctures and impacts better, less upkeep on the finish and will reflect heat better. It also looks equally sweet.

i originally thought the wood would be the cheaper way to go and was prepared to deal with the finish maintenance (re-sand and reapply varnish every 2 or so years) but the numbers don't make sense. always something to learn with this.

Funny how that works, I swear everything short of carbon fiber costs the same at the end of the day. I would think a PVC fence would be a lot cheaper than wood, but nope.

While the woody look would be classic, I love the new design look. Airstream look with that classic blue will be spot on!

[BLINGMW]

I didn't really know what a flipped axle meant but I like it. And I like that the solution is more zip ties.

[PDenbigh]

awesome input, thanks Pete. that's part of the reason i've got this thread going. you definitely know your way around a trailer better than me.

found this on mcmaster in 304 Stainless:


dimensions look good, and the capacity is 1075lbs each. my total weight will be between 900-1200 so that should offer a very nice cushion with 4 of them.

they include nuts and washers with the u-bolt, but i'm going to find some nylocks and a larger washer.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.mcmaster.com/#u-bolts/=16dtpmk">https://www.mcmaster.com/#u-bolts/=16dtpmk</a><!-- m -->

That'll do nicely!

The day you run the right tire off the narrow country road and you look back just as it's about 8" in the air from hitting a hole...(I know because....) you'll be happy you have those upgraded u-bolts. Jen can worry about her coffee mug, but you'll smile because you know that's about all that broke.

[PDenbigh]

dimensions look good, and the capacity is 1075lbs each. my total weight will be between 900-1200 so that should offer a very nice cushion with 4 of them.

...Also, it's not the static load capacity that worries me, it's the dynamic. A 900lb load suddenly bounced 8" up in the air from a vertical wall of a hole, then slamming back down at 9.8 m/s^2 "weighs" much more than 900lbs. w/o actually doing the math, Im-a-gonna-guess it's 2-3x the weight at least.

OR when you dukes of hazard the whole rig that time you accidentally find yourself and your whole family in the middle of a live pro-rally course (drive fast or else!).

[Apoc]

He should be alright as long as he doesn't take the Family Truck Truckster to Wally World...

[Steve85]

dimensions look good, and the capacity is 1075lbs each. my total weight will be between 900-1200 so that should offer a very nice cushion with 4 of them.

...Also, it's not the static load capacity that worries me, it's the dynamic. A 900lb load suddenly bounced 8" up in the air from a vertical wall of a hole, then slamming back down at 9.8 m/s^2 "weighs" much more than 900lbs. w/o actually doing the math, Im-a-gonna-guess it's 2-3x the weight at least.

OR when you dukes of hazard the whole rig that time you accidentally find yourself and your whole family in the middle of a live pro-rally course (drive fast or else!).

Such a great point! I remember a video of people trying to swing from a bridge and the cable was calculated for their static weight, not the weight of them while swinging at 30mph. Didn't end well...

[ScottyB]

so i've wandered into the seemingly simple task of finding 2 u-bolts and a tie plate (the bit that allows the u-bolts to sandwich the leaf spring) and its now an endless and chaotic search that will probably lead to my ruin.

the dynamic load thing is a great point, so i'm looking to find 1/2" or 9/16" bolts which are typically intended for 3500lb axles (mine is a 2000lb) and will provide a better safety buffer than the stock 5/16" bolts.

first up, my wonky axle and spring dimensions. most 2k lb. axles are 2" wide, and the springs are 1-3/4" wide. this trailer is the opposite, 1-3/4 axle w/2" wide springs, because 'Gina. so i've gotta find really narrow u-bolts in a bigger size than they usually come in for that small of an axle. then i can't find a matching tie plate, because they're all designed for thinner leaf springs. then find out that these parts come in zinc coated, galvanized, and stainless, and if the parts don't all match they'll turn into belligerent drunks and fight each other if you smoosh them together, thanks to galvanic reactions and all kinds of other brainy crap. which led me to trying to source all the parts in the same metal type, for a weird bolt and tie plate dimension, which nobody really carries for this kind of piecemeal nonsense.

good news is i'm now intimately familiar with most of the major trailer suspensions retailer catalogs and i'm pretty sure i'm going to find the limit of how many tabs you can have open in Chrome before it catches on fire

[CaptainHenreh]

good news is i'm now intimately familiar with most of the major trailer suspensions retailer catalogs and i'm pretty sure i'm going to find the limit of how many tabs you can have open in Chrome before it catches on fire

I mean don't you just call Big G and tell them what you need?

[ScottyB]

i'm trying to not get expensive custom stuff and opt for off the shelf if i can.

made good coffee-aided progress last night. i think i found my 1/2" bolt and plate combo, at the proper length/width and thread pitch.

also found that that i should be using some different hardware to secure the bolts too - deep nuts vs. locknuts. apparently the u-bolts are supposed to stretch as part of their torque process, and the threads will actually stretch too at proper torque, more or less partially seizing the nut in place. its a one time thing, once the u-bolt is on its trash once it comes off again (which let's hope is a long time from now).

[Jeff]

This gives me a chub. I would love to do one of these if my wife could stand to stay in it. I'm probably going to end up with an Airstream Safari before it's all over. Following.