There is no section for builds, nor are build threads every really posted here, but I figured some guys may be interested and could offer input from time to time, so here goes...

I've been wanting to build an offroad teardrop for a while. After many years camping in tents, a trip last June set the ball in motion. It rained. A bunch. My trusty tent that had never leaked before, decided it had enough. There were constant streams of water coming through in multiple spots and camping was miserable. After about 3 nights of this, the little lady told me to build the trailer. Woo hoo for leaky tents!

Then we came up with a plan to take a scenic drive while on the way to Florida for our wedding and take the teardrop and camp along the way. So, here we are in February, and the wedding in is April. I've never built one of these before so this could get interesting.

I've been gathering materials for a while now, but haven't started anything until today. I started with a pile of steel.

A torsion axle...

A little work done...

And finally with the axle mounted but still some work to do...


Was only able to work on it for about 3 or so hours today and that is where it ended. The frame still will get a cross brace in the center and the sides need to be finished.

The original plan was to have the wheels set into the body with only about half the tires sticking outside. However, I screwed up. When I ordered the axle, I didn't account for the deep offset on the stock Jeep wheels. They would hit the torsion arms, so I had to get some wheel spacers. This pushed the wheels out so far that my originally planned outside measurement of 65 inches would only be about 3 inches wider than the inside of the tires. 3 inches just isn't worth going through all the work of building wheel wells, so the plan is changed to narrow the cabin to fit between the tires and then standard fenders can be mounted.

Tomorrow, finish up the frame and final weld.