light trailer rebuild

[brightspark]

theres such a thing as blocks of wood and a spitit level if u have a mesh deck u obviously arent going to carry anything that will be ruined if its raining if u look the wheels are in the center on that trailer the same as mine i carried a harrison lathe 50 miles in mine at 70mph the only thing i noticed was the mini tires were warm when i got home i forgot the trailer was on

 

[stucktoweld]

Ned said "I'm thinking what ill do is just build a completely new trailer, and re-use some of the hardware from this one."

remember its an old trailer so doesn't require the new build trailer type approval!! so it has to be demonstrably OLD if you know what I mean!
Bit like triggers broom in "only fools and horse" very old but several new handles and several new brush heads

 

[BBD]

That new trailer you posted looks very similar to the RedWing one.

http://utilitytrailerplans.net/

 

[ned]

type approval.... ...... ...... gah. beurocracy. the bain of civilisation.

The redwing trailer is certainly interesting. it uses all angle iron.. my first impulse was to use box iron throughout, of various sizes, bigger for the base and smaller for the rails. hmmm.

 

[BBD]

I'm using a mix if angle and box on mine. Angle also saves some £££.

I'm also going to use the same suspension set-up you have on your old trailer, the suspension units but getting braked ones, aiming for 1300 kg max load with single axle.

There are loads of builds for similar trailers to that redwing on YouTube.

Some weird people build there own trailers lol...

closest trailer I could find that will be similar to mine costs £2 - £3k. And no second hand ones around. Hopefully mine ends up similar width and height to my car and is fully enclosed with lift up lid. Well that is the plan. Steel arrives Monday...

 

[ned]

cool beans man, take some pics as you go if you can. I cant see mine using that much steel, maybe 1 length of inch box and 1 length of lighter stuff, so maybe 40 euros for steel. I'm buying it in a steel wholesale place here in dublin. the only thing with that is they grumble if you ask them to cut it.

 

[ned]

so i came up with a plan, which is to rebuild the trailer to mimic the old bed, and stick on the old skin panels, to make it look OG. this way i can avoid getting it certified, cos paperwork is gash.

made some progress, will go into more detail later when i have it (more) finished. its not welded in place yet, i was just sizing it up, im welding a central spine the length of the bed.

 

[brightspark]

the center point of your wheels is well back , being the hubs not the axle hope u dont load it up and have to un hitch it to move it otherwise u will get big b ...alls

 

[ned]

S**t, you think they are too far back? I estimated that its about 60% the way back...

its all welded to the nines right now so theres no going back!

some more pics. this is a welding forum so theres a shot of a weld that i liked

The bottom lenghts are 25 x 3mm box section and the upper lengths are 25 x 2 mm. Its a heavier affair than it originally was thats for sure. I may upgrade the indespension units to a heavier capacity at some stage, and i need a sturdier hitch for peace of mind.

Dont get the impression it all went well... nono, nono no. it all went pear shaped, but it came out alright. it is nice having something you built yourself, but there was a lot of hours went into it.

 

[CKJDJK]

Might be a problem changing the wheel when you get a flat!

 

[ned]

ha, well spotted. yeah they just about squeeze out. i might relocate the wheels a touch further in.

 

[ned]

well its not finished but its mobile. I'm interested to do a photshop vs actual comparison so here goes

actual

photoshop

now


not a whole lot of difference. however, its a lot heavier now, and the car does notice it. I had a guy in a van taking pics of it today on the motorway.
Im actually buying a celica gt4 which is going to look even stupider hauling the trailer. who cares though, sports cars are fun and this makes them practical.

bought a used makita cut-off saw, was really needed for this project, previously i was cutting everything with an angle grinder.
paid 100 euros for it, it does its job and im very pleased with it

 

[BBD]

Looks good, I started my trailer and thought I needed a cut off saw for the weekend, so hired one, kind of kept it a couple of weeks, wish I bought one. Took it back today after finishing the rest of the cuts I need.

I've literally got a week to finish mine now grrr.

 

[ned]

thanks man, cheers.

so i finished the damn thing. In the meantime i bought a new car, and had to custom build a hitch for this one too.
The original hitch was a piece of dirt, so i bought a heavy duty affair, now im 99% that the trailer is not going to decouple, ever.

peace of mind was a hard thing to achieve, for me, with this project, but ive managed it.

this isnt my house, i rent.

well its not quite finished....

I need to varnish or coat it. recommendations welcome.

Also im getting a vibration about 120kmph... lol, io know i know, thats too fast anyway... I agree. However it would be nice to sort it. I think its cos the wheels are not pointing completely straight.

 

[Robotstar5]

Think you need some aerodynamic bodywork on the trailer now to match the car

 

[Justme]

Looking at that picture of the hitch.

If it de couples will the wire loop stop the hitch hitting the floor?

Or are you relying on the raised bit of the drawbar?

I am sure you know but in the UK you cant now make a tow bar for a car as they need to be approved.

 

[cumbriasteve]

I am sure you know but in the UK you cant now make a tow bar for a car as they need to be approved.

Yes I was unsure if the post meant the towbar had been homemade or modified, if so it could lead to a nightmare if it fails and causes an accident with injury to property/vehicle or person, the claims that you may be hit with could be seriously scary and your insurance company would wash their hands of it.

I remember the article a few years back where a trailer had broke free from a Mondeo due to a some homemade part, it hit someone causing life changing injuries, court claim followed and can't remember the amount involved ( think it was about £400,000) but the driver ended up having to sell part of his farm to settle the claim.

 

[ned]

Justme I need to look at that closer, whether it hits the floor or not - your right.

hmmm yes, about the drawbar i agree with your government l ol
Ive no idea what the status of that is in Ireland, what i do know is,

I made a towbar for the toyota levin (black) and sent it through the national car test (NCT). The car failed but they made no note of the towbar.
I made another towbar for the celica and sent it through the NCT, and it passed, they made no note of the twowar.

On a personal level, I'm not worried about the towbar failing, so long as it isnt hauling over 500kg or so. I put a lot of effort into making sure its solid.
But I agree that its dangerous stuff. The trailer frightened the life out of me a few times. To be honest if i was to do it again, I'd buy one.

If it goes wrong on a busy roadway you can kiss your life as you know it goodbye.

 

[Jan]

There's a general EU ruling on the fitness of towbars based on them having the correct 'CE' markings and range of vehicle fitment. As this only goes back to 2000 any car before that should be exempt. Unfortunately Spain (at least) include all cars/towbars into this ruling and have to ban them completely on pre 2000 cars as no such 'CE' specifications exist before that date for a lot of vehicles. The UK sticks to the actual wording of the ruling, but you'll have to check this out locally for Ireland.

 

[ned]

mission accomplished, job done, tyres safely at home.

I re-enforced the bejesus outta the towbar, to the point where i would nearly (but wouldnt) pull a horsabox with it. the towbar wouldnt cave, but the chassis struts its bolted to might.