BIG (ish) trailer biuld

[Baloo]

Hi guys

thought l would start a build thread after a bit of prompting by DrNik today

l have wanted to build a big fifth wheel trailer like this for a long time and have steadily been collecting
parts and working out the details



clearly this isent a 5 minute job and will take a couple of years but space is becoming available in one of the barns so l might get to melt some metal soon, there are many options decisions and choices to be made along the way but most l have at least thought about if not made a decision, not least what am l going to tow it with, weight is going to be around 5 tons

any way the first plan was to use 100mm x 50mm box as the main chassis rails with a step up at the front into the bed room above the pin, for axles l dug out a pair of transit twin wheel axles with the intention of lopping the diff out of each one and sleeving the casing that way l could make them any width
l wanted, l would have those massive big drum brakes on each of the 4 wheels, hand brakes already built in and l could run 4 or 8 wheels as they are twin wheel axles, plus l have some new 16" transit wheels and tyres that are 6 ply result, what a saving trailer axles are pricy in the 5 ton range,

but that was just plan A we are somewhere near plan M now lol, turns out you cant use hydraulic brakes on a trailer over 3.5 tons they need to be air or electric pah.

this is the nearest thing l can find on the net to what l want to build, only with more slide outs,
slide outs are a bit of a double edged sword really they defiantly give you more room and create an impression of airiness but you need a set of seals to keep the rain out in the in position and the out position but it was the mechanism for the slide outs that gave me most headaches especially when they are opposite each other,

 

[DrNik]

Woo hoo, thought a bit of persuasion this thread would be a great source of weld/engineering porn...... Lol

That second trailer is a monster, should be rented out to rock stars

 

[ford34/2]

heres a couple from Canada.

Stan

 

[MCKDAVID]

you'd almost be worthwhile starting with an artic trailer and cutting it down, would have most of the starting points already.

Excellent project, keep you busy for a while....

 

[akdaka]

The second trailer is a Race Transporter. They usually have office/hospitality in the front with a garage in the rear. Pods on these trailers are usually run on bearings in a C section channel similar to a fork lift mast. On the artic trailers the roof slopes to the front of the pod draining rain water away. I will have to have a look if I have any further information.

 

[500e]

Step frame arctic trailer, then you only have to lighten it

 

[Baloo]

The second trailer is a Race Transporter. They usually have office/hospitality in the front with a garage in the rear. Pods on these trailers are usually run on bearings in a C section channel similar to a fork lift mast. On the artic trailers the roof slopes to the front of the pod draining rain water away. I will have to have a look if I have any further information.

hi any info you have gratefully received

l have pressbraked up some c sections and bought a party pack of 4" wheels to form the runners, but how to power them in and out ?
l was thinking about hydraulic rams but they have no give in them if something gets out of line or someone gets in the way they will get crushed
plenty of cheap power packs off transit tail lifts about but its messy if you get a leak, that led me on to compressed air ( which l have for the brakes )
air cylinders would be makeable l think and if l get a leak its not an ecological disaster hardly noticeable really, and l like the fact that air is springy, if some gets out of line or one of the pods hits something it will stop and the air pressure will rise, a simple pressure gauge will tell me if all is working ok.
downside l can see is the pods wont work if the tractor unit is not present, but l guess a small compressor would work in an emergency ??


l did look at full size artic trailers but came to the conclusion that they were far to heavy to start with and l need to keep to around 8 tons train weight
tractor unit will be around 2.5 tons and the finished trailer around 5 tons, plus the artic trailer l looked at had massive wheels and l want small wheels to keep lower
to the ground
l couldent really see a way to lighten the chassis on these

 

[steviec_lj]

You'd be surprised, weighed a trailer at an old job, with axles, wiring, etc and we were only looking at 4.2t.

They're only around 8t in full curtain-sider flavour.

 

[Baloo]

so adding up the cost of buying new axles springs wheels tyres and pin came to around £1250 before l bought all the box section box for the chassis
and then by a strangle co incidence this came along for less than £1k

strange co incidence because its one the three trailers l used to tow to btcc meetings 15 years ago when l was erecting hospitality units
it was a mobile bar/kitchen its got 3 stainless water tanks underneath and an aluminum chassis, but what is a bonus it has a manufacturers plate with weights
etc so its an existing trailer no hassles, all l need to do is build a camper that bolts on to it.
low part is 8m long high part 2m to that l need to add a 1.25m semi circular section of 50x50x2mm box to form the front which l should just about be able to roll on
my section roller

 

[J.B. Welding]

Amazing how a photo can trick the eye, I guess they a really pretty big wheels but looked tiny in pic, till I read its 8m long. Your lucky to find that trailer at this stage perfect with the tanks under all ready to go. Better now than just after you spent a ton of £ and time welding up a chassis out of steel!! Will take a looonnngggggggggg time to knock up anything like the examples in the other photos-lots of details and fiddly bits but once you get beyond the welding stage. Do you think you will go for sheet fiberglass panels of full on moulds and rollers? What about welding up a seamless aluminium body for that beasty-would look sweeet all polished up!

 

[mike os]

great project Baloo... hope you are going to give us a blow by blow account with lots of pics

 

[Baloo]

Amazing how a photo can trick the eye, I guess they a really pretty big wheels but looked tiny in pic, till I read its 8m long. Your lucky to find that trailer at this stage perfect with the tanks under all ready to go. Better now than just after you spent a ton of £ and time welding up a chassis out of steel!! Will take a looonnngggggggggg time to knock up anything like the examples in the other photos-lots of details and fiddly bits but once you get beyond the welding stage. Do you think you will go for sheet fiberglass panels of full on moulds and rollers? What about welding up a seamless aluminium body for that beasty-would look sweeet all polished up!

l think the wheels on the trailer are 12" with million ply tyres so nice and small to keep the finished trailer height down other wise it will never come out the barn doors when its finished
yes it was a lucky find, the sum of all the bits on it is less than half of the bits bought separately, and it all works l have towed it about,

l like the steel work bit and maybe the plumbing and electrical bits but carpentry nope ! far to soft one stroke to many and you are through and out the other side !

so once its all welded up and clad l might going looking for some one to make all the cupboards worktops wardrobes etc and just pay em,

grp ply might be to heavy, l like the stuff but i see its strength as being structural like a box lorry holds every thing square, fine if your big square box but l need to cut at least 4 and maybe 6 2m square holes in the side and as the sides are only 2.2m tall then l just robbed it of its main benefit,
l am thinking of using 50x50x2mm box section steel frame work, lots of diagonals to keep it rigid inside l can line with ply or similar and out side aluminum having sandwiched 2" polystyrene inside the walls, the out skin will probably be an ally plastic laminate called dibond as l have 6 sheets each 4mx2m left over from a job and by the time the slide outs are in there wont be any section bigger than that,

l would like to be more adventurous with the shape but compound curves unless on a woman are best avoided, l cant see how to make a front end like this unless its fiberglass then its too much work to make a mold for a one off

sticking with the race transport style looks a whole lot easier to carry out in the garage at home


as for how to work the slide outs good old DrNik sold me some electric rams that look like they will do the job just fine, 10000n is just over a ton of push l think
l need to up the travel to around 1200mm so the 300mm stroke can push on a lever to bring me up to 1200mm that will reduce the 1000kg push down to a more manageable 250kg push, and the speed will go up by a factor of 4 making the slide outs appear in the blink of an eye !! cool

being a screw thread it will also serve to lock the slide outs in place when out, usefull when parked on un level ground where you might go to sleep in the bed and wake up in the wardrobe as the pods roll back in in the night,

l am thinking of putting the door in the side of one of the living room pods so when its all parked away there is no door visible anywhere, might be risky in the event of a power failure but hey we can find a way round that,
just bought a wireless winch control of ebay complete with solenoids to work the electric jacks that way l can pull up put my hand in my pocket and the pods will fly out at breakneck speed

 

[Justme]

They look stunning.

Dont tend to see many like that in the uk.

I wonder why?

What are you going to tow it with?

What category will you need on your licence?

Have you had a rough quote for the insurance yet?

Keep the pics coming.

 

[MrFluffy]

You can buy trailer fronts to suit from the manufacturers which supply the people who build trailers up.
I was looking at these for a supplier that I found on the net as I need just a few more inches (don't we all) to get my dragbike in my box trailer, but I havent had time to follow it up properly yet.

 

[Baloo]

You can buy trailer fronts to suit from the manufacturers which supply the people who build trailers up.
I was looking at these for a supplier that I found on the net as I need just a few more inches (don't we all) to get my dragbike in my box trailer, but I havent had time to follow it up properly yet.

if you can turn up a link to front end that l could buy l would be very interested, l would have to weigh up cost and the amount of wasted space it creates inside but it dose look so much more interesting

 

[Baloo]

They look stunning.

Dont tend to see many like that in the uk.

I wonder why?

What are you going to tow it with?

What category will you need on your licence?

Have you had a rough quote for the insurance yet?

Keep the pics coming.

its like most things they are there but you dont notice them untill your interested, there are some on most big sites, can quite often see them parked up at motorway services having a break, loads for sale on ebay, heres just one seller http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/crosscountryrvltd/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

license should be your bog standard car license assuming you passed you test before 97 , that entitles you to drive up to 7.5 tons plus your unbraked trailer of 750kg giving you an entitlement to 8.25 tons

insurance is between £300 and £600 new for old strangely

l tow the one at the top of the page with this 6.5 ton iveco

the vehicle to tow the one l want to build is a bit more complex, will explain when l get a minute but it involves this or at least the body off this as usual the engine has gone pop at 55,000 mile





timing chain a little to slack perhaps

 

[Baloo]

ok l give up trying to attach pictures in the right order, going back to good old photobucket

 

[steviec_lj]

Baloo; Check these guys out for composite trailer fronts, http://www.rdjmcomposites.co.uk/

 

[mike os]

that chain is going to hurt I think,,,,

 

[MrFluffy]

if you can turn up a link to front end that l could buy l would be very interested, l would have to weigh up cost and the amount of wasted space it creates inside but it dose look so much more interesting

On their site, if you scroll down to the keyword lintons, they have grp trailer fronts and a pic of what they offer listed, but thats as far as I got to chasing up sorry.