Luke & Laura: New 2016 Teardrop build, Family Sized

With the purchase of some initial parts our newest build is officially underway. I have been drawing plans and sourcing materials for a few months now. That part still isn't totally finished but I have the frame, body and interior pretty much planned out. It has to sleep four but overall the interior will be pretty basic. I've ordered my axle from a local heavy equipment supplier, Frey Heavy Duty , who had the best price even over directly ordering from Dexter. I'm just waiting for it to arrive with their next supply order so I don't have to pay shipping. I went with a zero degree start angle, rated for 1500lbs, electric brakes, 15" aluminum rims, zero offset and 195/65/r15 passenger tires. I already have the wheels and tires which I ordered from Discount Tire Direct. I saw no need for trailer tires when it will probably only weight 1200 lbs loaded.

In regards to ordering the Torflex axle, the whole process was seriously over complicated. Calling Dexter and/or talking with local distributors wasn't very helpful. Only after getting in touch with a Dexter engineer and having him send me 4 different "ProSpec" sheets did I finally figure it out and get my measurements down. Everyone else I spoke with really could only handle measuring replacement axles. I planned the total width to be approximately 79.5" inches because at over 80" federal requirements require extra lights on the fenders and three lights on the top rear (NHTSA). When I get to the electrical part I'll do a separate write up. The simplest way to determine the axle start angle (although I don't have my axle yet) seems to be to take the radius of your chosen wheel and add the unloaded 'H' dimension from the Dexter Application Information PDF. That should give your approximate frame height. From the examples on the TNTTT board it appears these axles don't compress much, so just go with the unloaded height. That method also matched the ProSpec calculations almost dead on. I'll attach a copy of my ProSpec later too so people can see it. Its invaluable for choosing the axle dimensions and figuring out how the short or standard spindle change the width or if your sidewall overhangs the frame.

I've also ordered two mill finish baggage doors and a 24"x48" entry door from Geistwerks who was kind enough to order my parts and ship them directly to my house. The owner is Micheal Geister and was great to work with and supplied all the needed little details.

This will also be my first time building a trailer from scratch instead of using a kit and modifying it. I have a basic flux core 120V wire feed welder and even with a better welder I could weld it pretty well, but I'll be bolting it together too just for added security. I designed the trailer from mainly 2" angle for just that reason. The side walls once attached should give it more than enough strength and a mix of 1/8" and 3/16" angle should be more than adequate. A 3" x 3" x 1/8" tube and 1/8" angle composite tongue should be adequate according to the Tongue Strength spreadsheet in the design library on TNTTT. I've also never used a trailer with brakes before so that should be interesting. I wouldn't have bothered with brakes but our tow vehicle has really weak brakes.

My wife started this blog in grad school (required for some class she was taking) and if I remember to actually take some photos while I'm working I'll post the progress. Hopefully we'll have it finished by sometime in June.

-Lucas