225's Teardrop Camper Build

[Patrick46]

Originally Posted by 225

4 hinges. 2 for the door, 2 for the hatch: $49.23

WOAH, WOAH, WOAH!!!!!! Waitaminute.....


You're gonna use these fence door hinges for your rear hatchback?????

BAD IDEA!


The one place on our teardrop where we had a constant ongoing problem with leaks, was the rear galley hatchback lid. We fought with that thing for several years...but could never get it to stop leaking. I tried all sorts of soultions (and I consider myself a pretty fair weekend engineer), between caulks, gaskets, flanges, rain gutters...to try and get that sucker to stop leaking (and potentially rotting out the rear section of the camper body)


that was, until we tried onna these...

Li'l Bear Teardrop Hinges, Moldings & Seals

"Better-Than-Hurricane" Leakproof Galley Lid Hinge

• 2-piece Extruded Aluminum - mill finish!
• Lower Profile Crown
• Tighter "Nesting Pocket" Within the Crown (less slop/play)
• NO Lid-to-Roof Offset!

This seamless hinge was the final soultion to our leaky lid problem.

They're not at all expensive, and work so well that I'm pissed at myself for being so cheap and not going this route the first time.

Trust me...this is not something you wanna put so much time, work, and love into, and have to deal with a frikken ongoing headache of a problem with, that will spoil your fun and love of it....when there's such a simple solution available.


oh, and you can pick one up here... http://lilbear.teardrops.net/parts.html#hinge

OK.....other then that, it's going great....let's get this thing built!!

[Patrick46]

Well, I just saw that you posted this.....

Originally Posted by 225

The hatch hinge. It's waterproof:

YES, that's it.......now I'm confused at what hatch you're refering to...

btw....here's some links to waste some time on...(and maybe learn a thing or two)...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=255835

http://www.tearjerkers.net/

[225]

Yes, to 2 replys. I am getting a hurricane hinge, and I flipped the axles around.

Pic:


I also bought the rest of the lights. Trailer will be done next week.

[JimVonBaden]

Cool build!

Jim

[a1fa]

no leaf springs?

[broncobowsher]

Originally Posted by a1fa

no leaf springs?

Rubber torsion axles, don't need leaf springs. Square outer tube [ ] with and inner square shaft turned 45° <> and the edges packed in rubber. Something like [<>]. As the inner shaft trys to rotate is squishes the rubber giving the spring. also happens to have killer ground clearance. Down side is they are very progrssive in the spring rate resulting in little travel. But very simple. Can be used in double axle configurations but is very sensitive to hitch ball height to get even axle loading. Not recomended for triple axle trailers. Torsion axles can be had in ratings of 8,000# per axle.

[225]

I finally finished up my frame. I had to do a couple of welds on the bottom, then flip the frame over and weld everything else. Then I had to make the tongue extension.




Also, everything has came in the mail. I picked up a bunch of hardware and the Kreg pockethole thing. And a few nick knack things. More to come in a couple of days. I will start the wood working tomorrow.

[papaduc]

Looking forward to your build progress.
Thanks for taking the time to share.

[225]

Today, I have been working on the fender, and rack outside the fenders. The boxes will have aluminum diamond plate in them. Tomorrow, I will finish the front ones. Then mount the fenders and wire up the trailer. Hopefully as of tomorrow, I'll be done with this phase.

Fender mock up:


Fender mounts:



Mounted:

[broncobowsher]

Making good progress. Better then my projects are going right now.
Another thing I spotted, looks like the liscense plate bracket is the lowest point at the back of the trailer. I have learned to mount my plates a bit higher to keep them from getting all bent out of shape. No matter how careful you are, sometime the back corner of the trailer will touch the ground.

[FMFDOC]

[225]

Very small update:

Also, some high res pics before I left. Since those pics, the hols have been drilled for the hitch pins. And on my local forum a couple guys asked if the frame was warped. It's not. It's just really bumpy ground where the trailer is.







And what's left for the cabin and stuff:


I cut off the tail light boxes and the angle iron holding it. It was too flimsy. I am going to replace it with square tubing. And I tried cutting off the taillight boxes from the angle iron, and well, the boxes are fucked.

So I had to buy new ones, which is ok, because I didn't want the ones with the tag holder on them.

I also just bought a MIG welder and plasma cutter. So my metal work I have left will go a lot faster now.

Also some epoxy for the epoxy filler for the outside.






And something else I done while I was at home, a supermoto frame swap

Original 07 KTM SMR with ghetto tank:


Stripped down:


New frame modded for 09 bodywork:



Done, almost. The bike isn't shifting and I need a special tool for the slipper. Plus I am building a custom dual exhaust.

[Patrick46]

Originally Posted by 225

Oh MY!!!

[225]

Well, I went the Benroy profile. I just love it too much. I built the template from paper, so I will have to make adjustments for the door. Also, I welded the fenders and taillight boxes on. I also painted the fenders and over spray on the tires flat black. I am going to box in, in between the rear fender and taillight boxes and fill it with expanded metal.

It's too dark for pics, but I took a break from wiring up the trailer. So tomorrow, I'll start on the floor, and should be finished with it sometime tomorrow.



Floor is built, epoxied, and siliconed! Tomorrow, I will put bed liner on, the off to the walls!

[Hannda]

I can't even make a straight cut across a 2x4. Very impressive work. Looks great. Can't wait to see pics of the finished product.