Another trailer project

[mich]

Hello Chaps,


been a few days since the last update cause I've been away for the weekend and work has been busy too, so not had time to work on the trailer until yesterday evening. I've cut the floor plywood to size now and put on the first coats of protective paint. The underside got the Hammerite/Waxoil paint, diluted so that it seeps into the grain, and the top was getting some random paint I had lying around. Again, diluted to a degree so that it would seep right into the wood. Both sides will get another coat before being mounted.

Didn't finish the wooden arches for the wheel arches though cause it started to rain when I was about to do it, so I had to move the whole operation rather sharpish into the garage...

Getting there!

 

[mich]

Hi Guys,

quick update. I figure this may be getting a bit uninteresting now, because I'm just posting pictures of the paint getting done. But hey, its all part of the project.

Floor is all on the trailer now, though not bolted down. It will get one last coat (the 3rd) of anti-slip paint. My girlfriend chipped in and painted the inside of the sidewalls.

Just gotta fabricate the wooden bits for the wheel arches and build the ramp. Everything else is DONE!

Oh.. and next month I'll get some new wheels and tires as well. The old ones are beyond usable.

 

[SC_BK]

Oh.. and next month I'll get some new wheels and tires as well. The old ones are beyond usable.

Can you not use the old wheels? Just give them a couple coats of satin black then a set of cheap wheel trims and they will look cracking

 

[mich]

Can you not use the old wheels? Just give them a couple coats of satin black then a set of cheap wheel trims and they will look cracking

I'm afraid I cant re-use the old wheels. The rims are badly corroded on the inside so I don't want to risk putting any mayor weight on those and the tires are old, cracked, remolds... the worse of all worlds ...

The rims themselves are only around £25 a pop, its the 8-ply tyres that make up the bulk of the new price, but I managed to get a pair of new rims and tyres on ebay for £112 delivered. Cheapest I could find. They we delivered today. Photo to follow. Wooohhooo!!!

 

[xboxjoner]

you might find wheels off an older style subaru will fit as this is what I used to use on my trailer and some of them arn't bad to look at either and you dont have to worry about losing or breaking trims

 

[mich]

Hello Boys!

been a busy weekend and the weather actually held up for long enough to get that little bit closer to wrapping this thing up. I'm not exaggerating when saying now that the thing is essentially done.

Initially I tried to fit the flooring to the chassis with normal self tapping screws, but the bastard things kept on snapping on me, so I searched for a better solution. Found these Heavy Section self drilling, self tapping screws, which are nothing short of amazing. They really work and they go through 4mm steel no problem.





Floor all down...


Starting on the mudguards...




Building the ramp...


Plastic mudguards in


And first part of the anti slip done... ran out of paint so I had to order more!


New wheels!

 

[mich]

Right chaps. This is my final post for the project as its now done. Its taken faaaarr longer that I had anticipated, but if anything this project has taught me to estimate the time a job will take, and then multiply that by 3x! That's at least how it always seems to turn out with me.

Now.

Ramp all done and painted in the same anti-slip paint, so I can use the brake while getting the bikes off the trailer.


Looking nice and sexy, ha? (Yes, i know. Only men could possibly find a trailer sexy....)


That's today, the last bit of anti-slip paint going on...


These are the granules that go on the wet paint and then embed themselves to provide the "anti-slip" bit...


All done!


And all the badges back on... nothing left to do!


Thanks for all your help guys and see ya!

 

[cazl1994]

you can still need to post pics of its use.

 

[brightspark]

you could do with 6 eye bolts bolted down to the chasis inside .to use rachet straps to hold bikes ect down

 

[richy_B]

I like this type of thread, a very useful reference for future trailer builds. Well done mich
Rich

 

[Robotstar5]

you could do with 6 eye bolts bolted down to the chasis inside .to use rachet straps to hold bikes ect down

Or used recessed rings that fold down giving a flat load area for other loads.

 

[brightspark]

Or used recessed rings that fold down giving a flat load area for other loads.

thats what i meant to say just couldnt think of what they were called . a C R A F T moment = cant remember a ......thing

 

[mich]

thats what i meant to say just couldnt think of what they were called . a C R A F T moment = cant remember a ......thing

Yep, I'll fit those next week. I've got 12 of the D-rings lying about, but I just gotta go out and by some high-tensile bolts to fit them to the chassis. So, I lied (a little) when I said it was all done.

 

[madkayaker]

im going to use a length of slotted unistrut down the sides of my trailer as it gives me tie down points and gives me something to bolt the bottom of the side on as my old solution is pants

 

[mich]

Right chaps. As requested, here's some photos of the trailer in action. I fitted the tie-down points today and then strapped one of my bikes onto the trailer and went for a 20 mile shake-down drive. No problems WHATSOEVER! the thing drives reaaaaallllyyyy smooth, it doesn't bounce around and the brakes work quite well. The only problem I have found is that when I got home, I tried to reverse up a small gradient into my driveway, but the trailer's brakes jammed on. Possibly because of the shock absorber in the coupling being shot?? Not sure... not really an issue to be honest. I'm not planing to reverse up a gradient with that thing.

Now. Here's a closeup of the anti-slip paint on the ramp. Really nice. Sadly I didn't manage to get this level of finish on the actual trailer cause it would have taken 2 coats, which would have meant another £60 on paint! 1 will have to do for now. It works as intended anyways.



D-rings bolted straight onto the steel angle chassis.


5 tie-down points on each side. 3 at the front, 2 at the back.


Going for a ride!

 

[Paul.]

Nice Job well done,
Re the reversing, see that lever near to the jockey wheel, that's the reversing catch, as you reverse, the drawshaft in the coupling moves back in the same way that it does when the overrun brakes operate, the catch can be pulled back as the shaft moves, this flips a lever up against a collar on the drawshaft and stops it from operating the overrun brake lever, problem is you need to operate it at the same time as reversing, a bungy strap hooked round it and back to the chassis will do it automatically for you, but dont forget to take it off before driving normally or it will disable the trailers overrun brakes.
There used to be a small add on device called a magic finger, which is just a bar with a spring on it screwed on where that oval plate is on top of the coupling, the oval plate was for a solenoid for an optional electrical reverse system supplied by B&B
The correct setting for the brake rod is, with the reverse catch engaged and the drawshaft pushed back against the stop, pull on the hand brake, there should be a 1" gap between the end of the shaft and the overrun lever, too tight and you wont be able to reverse it, too slack and the shaft will use all its travel before the brakes operate.

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

I seem to recall that on some towing gear there was a swing over arm that dropped into the space in between the tow hitch and the body that holds it ..it was used to stop you pushing the brakes on when reversing . Perhaps you could make up a removable magnetic arm to stop the anti reverse braking thing ?

Your tyres... I not only had a good spare , I had two , all my tyres were fitted with inner tubes so I could use the sticky foam kit to repair any punctures at the side of the road whilst wearing a full bee keepers suit as I usually had eight fully occupied bee hives on each of my trailers in summer , I got them punctured several times when passing through towns or exiting an apiary etc.

 

[Paul.]

I seem to recall that on some towing gear there was a swing over arm that dropped into the space in between the tow hitch and the body that holds it ..it was used to stop you pushing the brakes on when reversing . Perhaps you could make up a removable magnetic arm to stop the anti reverse braking thing ?

The old Bradley hitches used that arrangement, mainly used on commercial trailers rather than caravans, they were just a springbox, no hydraulic damper fitted.

 

[mich]

Nice Job well done,
Re the reversing, see that lever near to the jockey wheel, that's the reversing catch, as you reverse, the drawshaft in the coupling moves back in the same way that it does when the overrun brakes operate, the catch can be pulled back as the shaft moves, this flips a lever up against a collar on the drawshaft and stops it from operating the overrun brake lever, problem is you need to operate it at the same time as reversing, a bungy strap hooked round it and back to the chassis will do it automatically for you, but dont forget to take it off before driving normally or it will disable the trailers overrun brakes.
There used to be a small add on device called a magic finger, which is just a bar with a spring on it screwed on where that oval plate is on top of the coupling, the oval plate was for a solenoid for an optional electrical reverse system supplied by B&B
The correct setting for the brake rod is, with the reverse catch engaged and the drawshaft pushed back against the stop, pull on the hand brake, there should be a 1" gap between the end of the shaft and the overrun lever, too tight and you wont be able to reverse it, too slack and the shaft will use all its travel before the brakes operate.

I'm soooOOOOoo glad I am getting this info from you guys. I didn't even know that little lever had a function other than a stop. Brilliant! Thanks guys!