DIY Teardrop Trailer: Top 5 Frames | Pros and Cons

what people will do is they'll come up to this  utility trailer and they'll say i'm going to   slap a teardrop on that and so they come in and  they cut this top rail off which is welded to the   fenders so they remove the fenders they remove the  back gate and sometimes they'll take out this wire   mesh that's on the deck of the trailer but what  just happened to the structure and the strength   of the trailer by doing all of that hi campers  mark here from overland trailer dot com and in   this video i'm going to cover the five most common  diy teardrop trailer frames and the pros and the   cons of each one i'm not just approaching this  from the angle of this is what people do i'm also   approaching this from the angle of this is how  much work they have to have done to them over time   let's get in the very first one i think is the  the one that hails back the longest nobody knows   who built the very first teardrop trailer we do  know who built the first manufactured trailer   but the first teardrop trailer i suspect was  somebody who built one in their barn pulled   together with repurposed materials and there are  still people who build their trailers this way   maybe you have an uncle who's you know a little  off and he's always the guy that shows up to the   family events and never wears a shirt but when he  passes away he leaves behind in his will that you   get his boat trailer or that you get his utility  trailer and then you're like cool and then you go   see it and it it needs some it needs some tlc or  maybe you just have scrap steel sitting around or   you find scrap steel on craigslist or something  like that and you pull together these materials   that have served a purpose somewhere else in  the world and you figure out how to put them   all together into a frame for a teardrop trailer  that is the repurposed teardrop trailer frame   now it comes with pros and cons the pros are that  usually you save a lot of money doing this because   you may start with a trailer frame already or  you have an axle already or something like that   or you're just buying materials that are  inexpensive from somebody else who just has it   sitting around and so you can do a fair bit of  savings on this you also have total creative   freedom with this so you're building kind of from  scratch and you can make this thing fit custom to   your teardrop trailer design and idea the cons  of this is that usually these materials come in   some sort of dilapidated state so they may be bent  the wrong way if it's a boat trailer or if it just   got hit or something the the material finished  maybe rusted or damaged or scraped that it takes   a considerable amount of time to repurpose these  materials and to figure out how you can make them   all work together into a trailer frame that you  can put your teardrop body on now if you don't   already have metal working tools then you're gonna  have to have a bunch of those to get this job done   as well as the skills and the comfort to do it so  that could be a con however if you're looking for   an excuse to buy some tools then this is maybe a  pro the second most common approach the teardrop   trailer frame is some sort of bolt together  kit these bolt together kits are by and large   imported trailer kits that come off a boat and  then you go to a large imported tool store and you   buy them now ideally i would be able to show you  one of these kit trailers however right now there   is a big supply chain snarl and getting one of  these trailers takes about four months in my area   here in north idaho so i don't have one to show  you but you've seen some pictures and hopefully   that is good enough the advantages that they have  for the diy builder is that you don't need to have   metal working skills or much experience with metal  to be able to make a trailer and that is probably   the number one advantage of these another big  pro for this trailer is that it is very quick to   assemble it's the fastest of all of the trailers  in this list you just have to have some basic   hand tools and you can bolt this thing together  and have it ready to go within an afternoon and   then just move on with the rest of your teardrop  build so a definite plus on the saving of time the   other thing that people will say is that they are  inexpensive that is true the upfront cost is less   than the rest of this list however it does have  a long-term cost that people usually forget about   the cons of these these bolt together kits is that  the quality control of them is kind of all over   the place the long-term durability of the finish  on them which is usually a paint typically red or   black is usually not that great i've seen a lot of  these that are very corroded or rusted the gauge   of metal that they use is fairly thin and it's  not forged metal it's a sheet that they cut into   chunks and then fold it it's not going to have  the same durability as a forged piece of steel the   bed size of the trailer is often fixed to a four  foot by eight foot which fits the vintage style   size of a teardrop trailer if you want to do  like a historic size but the most commonly   produced teardrop trailer and the size that most  people want nowadays is a five foot wide by eight   foot trailer and there are ways to make  that frame work but it takes some figuring   out and the axle placement on this trailer  kit is usually set up for a utility trailer   and not for a teardrop trailer it usually needs  to be moved back a teardrop trailer is heavier   in the galley area where all your food is your  cooler you often haul water back there and stuff   and then the sleeping area is fairly light it's  mostly empty space that is a bed and maybe some   of your clothes which are typically toward the  back over the axle and so the axle placement   for this uh bolt together kit trailer is not  correct for a teardrop trailer now another con   is about the axle and i know this isn't a  video about axles but the axle comes with   the kit so we're going to talk about it anyhow  their recommended maintenance for the axle and   hubs of this kit is that you repack the bearings  with grease every two to three thousand miles that   you put on it when you're looking at a travel  trailer that's kind of an unrealistic number   and i would say most people don't actually  do that but it will help an axle that has   all you know quality control that's kind of all  over the map it will help that last longer but   the idea of tearing the hubs apart pulling the  bearings out cleaning everything repacking it   with grease and putting it back together every two  to three thousand miles just does not seem like   it's worth it to me another thing in the user's  manual is that they recommend you don't pull this   trailer faster than 45 miles per hour the reason  for that is you do not have highway rated tires   on this trailer and that's what makes me really  nervous about these is somebody who will buy one   of these kits put it together put their teardrop  on it and go down the road at 70 miles an hour on   the freeway without realizing that the tires they  have are not rated for that and it is then unsafe   so if you buy one of these kits just count on  replacing the tires and perhaps the wheels to   whatever combination you want but be sure you get  something that is rated for highway use and then   as far as long-term maintenance and this is where  my experience is kicked in bolts need replacing or   they need some sort of thread lock on them or they  need nylon locking washers to keep the frame held   together these bolt together trailers are very  common in the teardrop community and people   like them but they do come with those certain  trade-offs and like i said some of them as a kit   are pretty good and others are not good and it's  hard to know when you're just buying that and   you can't call anybody to ask customer service  because it is just an imported product now for   the third trailer we're actually going to get in  the car and go just look at one so let's do this okay so i'm at the big box shop here since i am  here there's some traffic around so hopefully you   can still hear me let's look at the pros and  the cons of building your teardrop trailer on   one of these big box trailers i'll start with the  pros there's some definite pros here first of all   it's a welded trailer frame you're not going to  end up with any of those rattling loose issues   you have with that that bolt together frame and so  long as you don't you know break it in some ways   you're putting your trailer together it should be  fairly sturdy i'm going to have one caveat to that   in just a second but it should be fairly sturdy  the second thing is it's already painted or powder   coated it is already finished you don't have to do  that that saves you a lot of material waste smells   work the third thing is that they usually have  highway rated tires on them it is already vend   so it already has the registration numbers and  everything you need for the government you can   just hook this up sign some papers and drive away  so that's really nice as well the last thing is   probably something that most people don't think  of which is most of these weld together big box   trailer frames are made somewhat locally so in the  case of this trailer it's made in either virginia   nevada or texas or iowa or georgia  it's made in the united states   which means if you have any issues with it you  should be able to call this phone number here   and get an actual person to help you with you  know whatever your issue is it is at least nice   to be able to make contact with the people  who manufactured your trailer frame now that   we've covered the pros i want to tell you how most  people in my experience utilize this trailer for a   teardrop and so they come in and they cut this top  rail off which is welded to the fenders so they   remove the fenders they remove the back gate and  sometimes they'll take out this wire mesh that's   on the deck of the trailer but what just happened  to the structure and the strength of the trailer   by doing all of that this trailer is made out of  two inch by two inch angle iron and it is typical   for these trailers to be made this way this top  rail actually supports this bottom rail they work   together to provide the strengths of the trailer  so by removing this top rail which is also tied to   the fenders the fenders are providing strength as  well because it's all welded together by removing   all of that you have significantly weakened this  trailer so this trailer was 1650 pound capacity   i don't even know what it would be anymore after  that so you need to take some of this material   and weld it in to provide more support for this  frame or you're going to have a floppy trailer   going down the road now the cons of using this  for your teardrop trailer first of all it's almost   always modified which weakens the trailer frame  which is a lot of extra work and it ruins your   paint job which was one of the pros that we had  the second thing is that it can be too wide if you   want your trailer to slip down over the outside of  the frame and cover up the frame this is exactly   60 inches wide which means you need to make your  trailer body 60 plus the width of your plywood but   then if you want to put metal over the top of your  trailer the metal is going to come in maximum 60   inches wide or you're going to have to cut it into  several pieces which puts more holes in your roof   and then you have to consider your galley  hinge are you gonna find one that's long enough   thankfully you know overland trailer we have some  that are longer those are all considerations what   starts at your foundation will translate to the  roof so think about those things and when i'm   looking at long-term maintenance of this there  are two areas that i'm really gonna look what   are the things that are gonna wear out one  is the axle and the other is the coupler and   the chains but the axle to me is a big deal  to have an imported axle on this these have   quality control that's all over the map so  you could get one that's really great and it   lasts forever or you could get one that just  doesn't do a great job and dies within a few   years so that's just the risk that you're going  to have to take because these are made locally   sometimes you can find them and they will have  an axle that's made by dexter or lippert or you   know some company that's somewhat local that you  can call and say hey i want replacement parts for   this and you can get those replacement parts now  i want to add one more thought and comment on this   this trailer is made out of steel they have these  that are also made out of aluminum they don't have   one here i would show you it looks basically the  same but it's made out of aluminum now if you cut   the top off of this and do all the modifications  that i was talking about it weakens the steel one   it desperately weakens the aluminum one and you  need to certainly reinforce that for to be safe   to go down the road is a little bit more tricky  because most people are more comfortable welding   steel than they are aluminum and so they're going  to bolt aluminum pieces in or something like that   those can easily fatigue over time all right i'm  in the middle of editing this right now and i   thought ah you need this piece of information  if you buy this aluminum utility trailer and   then you decide to bolt pieces in don't bolt them  in with stainless steel hardware a lot of people   have done that and then they are like what the  heck is happening the reason for this is because   aluminum and stainless steel chemically react with  each other in a process called galvanic corrosion   basically the electrons from the aluminum leave  the aluminum and go into the stainless steel short   version you're putting cancer into your  trailer it will eat away the aluminum and then   your frame is destroyed again so use a different  type of hardware and make sure that it's not going   to actually react to the aluminum all right back  to the parking lot now i will say some people use   this trailer they'll pull a tree drop body in  here their doors open above this rail and they   don't really modify this too much so if you like  that look it works it really does back to the shop   number four the diy welded trailer frame this  one's pretty straightforward you purchase the   raw steel brand new and you weld it together  yourself the pros of doing this is you have   total creative freedom over what your teardrop  frame ends up being and it has one purpose you're   building it for the purpose of putting a teardrop  trailer on it you're not trying to make a boat   trailer work or a utility trailer work you're  not trying to you know shove a round peg into   a square hole so to speak you are building it for  the purpose that it is going to serve so that is   a definite plus and the frame once it's welded up  if it's done correctly it should last longer than   the rest of the entire trailer in fact there are  frames that were welded together by manufacturers   and individuals right after world war ii that  are still on the road and those are the ones that   i really really am just inspired by the cons are  that this type of trailer takes longer to assemble   and design than a bolt together kit the other  thing is that it requires some level of metal   working comfort and skills and tools in order to  make this diy welded frame another con is that   it typically costs more than the bolt together  trailer frame however it's long-term maintenance   is a lot less than the bolt together trailer  frame so i would probably say that's a wash   on cost over the lifetime of the trailer the last  thing is that it has to be finished so you have   to somehow powder coat it paint it something like  that which really isn't a big deal but compared to   a pre-finished bolt together kit or the utility  trailer that we just saw you're gonna have to put   some paint on it some primer paint or take it to  somebody and have it powder coated and baked point   number five is more or less a sub point to point  number four and that's just something that we've   started doing it at overland to help the diy er  at home which is still a raw steel trailer frame   but it's a raw steel trailer frame kit that is  cut by lasers to our manufacturer specifications   and the pros of that is that it saves a lot  of time in design drilling and cutting another   pro is that it it is also something that builders  have purchased and then hired a welder to come and   just weld it they don't have to hire the welder  to design it cut it drill it and then weld it   they just hire the welder to weld it and then the  number of tools that they need to finish this is   actually less because really all you need at  that point is an angle grinder and be willing   to grind down some welds and clean it up the  disadvantages of this are essentially the same   as option number four where you have to finish it  yourself you're going to need some metal working   tools but not nearly as many as option number four  and it's going to cost more than a bolt together   kit now i know what you're thinking which  one do i prefer well i'm going to go all the   way back to my very first teardrop build in  2007 when i decided to do option number four   which is to weld up my own teardrop trailer  frame for the specific purpose of putting a   teardrop trailer body on that frame and if  you want to see more about that build and my   designs and all that it's all free it's down below  there's a link to my to my uh free plans i guess   is what we call them i would rather camp than  do a bunch of maintenance on my trailer frame   so those are the five most common diy teardrop  trailer frames that are out there and if you want   to see more about teardrop trailer frames i have a  playlist right here of all the videos that we have   on teardrop trailer frames and remember this  is your foundation this is actually the trailer   itself make sure it's built right and it's  built once and i will see you in the next one

Channel: Overland Teardrop Trailer

Views: 120,544

Keywords: teardrop trailer build, teardrop trailer frame, teardrop trailer frame build, teardrop trailer frame kit, teardrop trailer frame plans, teardrop camper frame, teardrop camper build, overland trailer build diy

Id: NKfWlGYclNQ

Length: 17min 21sec (1041 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 08 2021