Flatties and trailers, do they mix?

[Guest 57plymouth]

My insanity is growing steadily...

I have this hankering for a Teardrop Camper. I want to tow it behind my 57 Ply, but said car has a Flattie and a Powerflite. It is no powerhouse for sure, but I'm not changing it. Anyway, do any of you guys pull a trailer, and how heavy is it? I think that the weak link in my chain is the Powerflite, simply from a torque multiplication aspect. I doubt it will break, but I don't know if it is well suited for pulling a trailer.

Any thoughts?

See you in Charlotte later this week!

[Normspeed]

I pull a teardrop with my 53, 3 speed stick with 4.10 rear gear. The previous owner also pulled trailers with it. Mine does just fine. My tear is heavy, being built on a welded angle iron cage, but can't tell it's back there when towing.

That said, I'm in the process of rebuilding the original transmission, and there is heavy wear on the 1st-reverse gears as well as on the countershaft gear. Maybe just due to age but maybe due to all the trailering. The flathead six has plenty of torque for towing.

[Mr. Belvedere]

Like Norm says there is plenty of torque. Which is why they use these flatties in all kinds of heavy duty applications like military vehicles, fire engines, and farm equipement. You have to be tough and reliable to be used in such applications. Low end torque is what you need and they have it, just don't expect to be passing any one, torque they got.... horsepower they don't!

[greg g]

I think the key to the trailering deal is not so much the weight, but the air. Last year we towed a fairly light weight camper trailer (2400) with our Jeep Cherokee. Had enough power to get it rolling and pull it but gas milage droped from 18/19 without to 10 with. I believe a large portion if this was from punching a hole in the air. There were probably 50 to 60 square feet of flat fronted trailer sticking out beyond the Jeep. The deal with the tear drop is is is a pretty areo efficient design to begin with and it lives pretty much in the hole already created by the car. My Aunt had one a long time ago which she pulled with her 55 Chevy 6. She and my grandmother spent about a month pulling it through the Appilachians one summer doing the Skyridge Parkway and the Blueridge deal with a side trip to the Smokeys. No problems except in a few downhill places.

One thing I remember about her's was that it had what seemed to be a God Awful amount of tongue weight. I had to move it to mow the lawn, and it was a bear to move. I remember it had the axle about a far to the rear as the leaf springs would allow, and the spare was mounted on the tongue, had to be at least 300 lbs if not more.

I would think the Power flite would be well suited to the job, but I would hook up an auxiliary cooler for the trans fluid, and maybe one for the engine as well.

Remember the 230 6 powered a lot of Dodge trucks, and Power Wagons, granted they were geared differently, but a well balanced and fairly light tear shouldn't be a problem.

[claybill]

JUST DO IT !!

bill

[Mr. Belvedere]

They towed alot heavier trailers back in the day, with weaker engines and cooling systems. An auxillary cooler would be a good idea. Hopefully your trailer has its own brakes? Everything I have read concerning powerflights has shown them to be outstanding performers for there day. In fact I read someplace that have fewer parts to do the same job as the powerglide or fordomatic and alot of fleet outfits liked them because of the durability and they were easy to repair.

[Plymouthy Adams]

back in the day the concern was not in the fact if the car can pull the trialer..you had things like dinosaur crossings to negotiate, glaciers blocking the road and the ocassional evolving man falling from a tree hitting the roof...now today with the global warming...car may overheat if you dryer vent exhausts into the garage...or you give out of fermented dinosaur juice

[Normspeed]

Yeah, the tongue weight is high on teardrops because the axle sits way to the rear. Not sure what mine weighs but I can just barely lift it off the trailer ball. After a few rounds of that, the last one being the time I sidestepped and dropped it, I now use a harbor freight swingaway tongue jack. Air shocks are a must have if you hook up a teardrop.

One thing I remember about her's was that it had what seemed to be a God Awful amount of tongue weight. I had to move it to mow the lawn, and it was a bear to move. I remember it had the axle about a far to the rear as the leaf springs would allow, and the spare was mounted on the tongue, had to be at least 300 lbs if not more.

[Guest 57plymouth]

I'm planning to build my own teardrop. Mostly because I can't cough up $2500 all at once, but I can take little bites.

I can get the tongue weight to about 150#s with the plans I have off the 'net right now.

How does one put an auxilary cooler on an air cooled tranny?

[Young Ed]

I was wondering the same thing. I would think it still has a atf pump but I wonder if there is anyway to externally hook up the cooler?

[teardrop puller]

I bought the my 49 Plymouth to pull my teardrop with. I have pulled it for short distances so far and am pleased with the torque it has.

The hardest part was making the trailer hitch. Here is a site with drawings and lots of info about a hitch.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/49-50Plymouth/msearch?query=trailer+hitch&submit=Search&charset=windows-1252

kai

[Normspeed]

There's a forum with lots of folks building their own tears. I think it's called teardrops & tiny travel trailers.

http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/index.php

[James_Douglas]

Look Here

http://www.allpar.com/cars/desoto/suburban-1951.html

[claybill]

my tear is started!...when it is done i bet the tongue weight will be 50 lbs.!!

i made the curved frame frm thinwall 1" sq. tubung..curved perfectly with the help of a good friend. now to weld in side supports, skin with sheet aluminum, 1" foam core and dress out the inside.

i didnt put my axle allll the way back like some do.. why?

bill

[Guest 57plymouth]

I was scoping out FuryLee Lape's Teardrop at the campground this weekend. His is super simple, but the axle is too far back for my liking.

This project is looking more and more like a winner!

[BobT-47P15]

Went to a small car show at a local bank yesterday (Sun). One fellow had a metal covered teardrop pulled with a 52 Chevy (6 cyl). The wheels on that trailer, which appeared to be an older one, were towards the rear. Didn't have my camera to take a pic of the thing. Had some old kitchen items in the rear compartment, was a pretty neat thing. Looked like the trailer could have been wood originally, then re-covered in aluminum later.

[martybose]

I just happened to read an article about an aircraft packrat who used to buy old warbirds, and they mentioned that he used his 52 Suburban to haul everything. There was a picture of it with a flatbed trailer that had a pair of B-25 radial engines on it! The article said he had to go down to first gear going up big hills, but he always made it home.

Marty

[Normspeed]

The wheels on my teardrop are probably at the standard location for most tears. If you carry enough weight in the kitchen it might counterbalance the rest to some extent.

[Guest 57plymouth]

Yours looks like a 40's Kit brand, or a copy of one. I am looking to build like that, but move the axle 10-12 inches forward. I think if the fender was just about at the door, it would be very well balanced.

I think the design will be close to this, but on a 4x8 frame instead.

http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=13914

Thoughts?

[Normspeed]

Near as I can tell, mine is a 1946 home built. Or it might be a 1951. I titled it as a 2001 but kept the 1946 CA pink slip.

It's based on a 4 X 9 plywood floor.

[Brad Lustig]

Mr B is about the only one that's brought this up, but I would be more concerned about the brakes holding up to the towing. Trailer brakes would alleviate that problem, though.

Also, a lightweight tongue isn't necessarily a good thing on a trailer. You need at least some weight on the tongue so the trailer doesn't want to sway around on you. 10-15% is the "standard" amount.

[greg g]

Norm, If I remember correctly, It seemed the one my Aunt had had the center of the wheel just about under where your side marker light or reflector is. Her fender line meet the slope of the roof and they converged at the bottom. Maybe her's wa a home built also. It had a built in stove and a heavy Ice box, so perhaps the builder moved the axle back to account for that weight, plus the other stuff that would be loaded into that area. The inside was just the matress, a couple of shelves, and a light or two.

[teardrop puller]

Even though I have disk brakes all around, I still like trailer brakes. Every thing stops a little straighter. My trailer is a 5X10 and tows pretty easy, I moved the axle up a little for a little better balance and have about 80 lbs of tongue weight. Easy enough to lift if you have to and the wheel does not dig into the ground when you have to roll it around. Can not forget about the trailer being off the trailer and having to position it.

good luck on your build, I am currently building hatch number 4. Maybe I will get it right this time

kai