Does anyone else find trailers poorly designed?

[rcx132]

My big gripe is that the so called 'torsion' suspensions made popular by Indespension are rubbish, with very little movement and only (slightly) effective when near their rated load.

I guessed that the torsion suspension is popular because it minimises the height of the trailer. If you use leaf springs or wishbones then the trailer must sit higher which isn't as good for loading or stability.

Would leaf springs be good? They can be set up to be very progressive, so they work when the trailer is both loaded or unloaded?

A lot of components (hitches, axles, etc.) are dated so if you use new components it's a clue that it's a new build.

So like when you wire your own house and claim it was done before regs banned that, but the cables are dated and give it away.

I had a glance at the trailer IVA test. It all seems easy except the brakes which need to be tested elsewhere and a report obtained.

 

[addjunkie]

Ive put a bike and a couple of trikes through the approval process over the years, it wasnt too difficult so cant imagine the trailer one being too bad.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Oh no, that's probably what it was :/ But it was worn as well.


Yeah how does that work. There's no requirement to date a trailer but only newer trailers must be approved. So how do you show that your trailer is from before the trailer approval was needed?



Is the trailer approval that difficult to pass if you've built your own?

From what I hear, the test is pricey as it is the same for full homologation in production. It used to that, if under 500kg laden weight, there were no rules. Above that, full homologation, now it is all trailers. Some of the DIY ones I see outside B&Q are clearly way outside the limit, so I expect that it is a reaction to those.
My box trailer is on leaf springs with Aeon rubber springs to up it's carrying power, so quite progressive. Designed for a mtre of oak firewood at (cough..) 6/700kg. Needless to say, it gets borrowed quite a bit.
The local plod are not too interested; but they tend to hang out near Autoroute payages with load cells. Couple of friends got hefty spot fines for being over the limit.
KF

 

[rcx132]

From what I hear, the test is pricey as it is the same for full homologation in production.

IVA test for 3.5T trailer is £70 ツ

I'm considering it with my brother if we can come up with a design that uses breakers yard parts for the suspension. We're at an advantage that we can get it made cheaply abroad plus we have a CAD monkey at work who can do the design on company time.

Need to check on that brake test though.

The commercial trailers look ok, but they are sheet steel, also I need to transport my planned Ultra4 racer which is going to be very wide and won't fit most trailers.

 

[rcx132]

I don't think he was referring to the uk trailer IVA, hence:



Approval for self builds 'over there' are nothing like 'over here'.

When I lived in France I had a very quick look into the legality of converting a caravan into a trailer and discovered I could buy a couple if different sized retail trailers new for less money

Things like that that make me more and more appreciate this country. I've lived in several countries now, our politics and rules are a lot less terrible than they are in other countries.