Night Train

You mean lamp post to lamp post range? Ypou will have to get your serf to run ahead with the hook each time.

Regen gets complicated though, many electric car conversions don't bother with regen as the effort cost/return isn't worth it. Also if better batteries are used, instead of bog standard lead acid, then the charging system is also complex and would further complicate the regen controllers. The Push also depends on whether the pusher trailer is used to power the vehicle instead of the ICE or if it is to power itself to reduce load on the towing vehicle. If it is used to replace the ICE power then it needs to maintain a push around corners. Sharp corners then pose a problem as it begins to push sideways and not in the direction of travel. If it is used to reduce towing load then it only needs sufficient push to move its own load. This can be achived with a 'throttle' on the over run damper on the towbar. The trailer then only drives when there is a 'pull' on the trailer hitch and brakes when there is a 'push' on the trailer hitch. I though about doing this a couple of decades ago using a automatic VW camper/beatle back end. The 'pull' would throttle up the engine and the auto box would take care of the rest. The brakes would be conventional over run and the whole thing would drive its own load as a follower, driving only when there is sufficient pull on the hitch.

As an OT aside I have a front wheel drive Skoda Octavia and I have been thinking about getting a rear axle from a 4x4 Octavia under the back attached to an electric motor with a load of batteries in the spare wheel well and the storage space under the boot floor. This would give me low range and speed for urban use and Biodiesel for long distance higher speed use.

Pushers are more popular in America I think. They have trailers with a battery pack and motor for urban 'pushing' and then they tow on the standard car engine on the freeways for long distance. See here. The risk of a pusher is it pushing the Land Rover over if the tow hitch is high and the corner sharp. It is the same problem I think the 101 powered trailer had. Also have a look at the Battery Vehicle Society Forum.

The handling comment was a bit tongue in cheek really. I improved the handling of my 1970 BGT by using uprated springs lowerd 2", adjustable dampers, negative camber wishbones and uprated rubber bushes. It ran on wire wheels and a standard engine and had incredible race handling. I do like the idea of the 4x4 MG more then the reality though.

Having restored a couple of MGB's and raced them, I can't imagine the conversion having made a standard MGB's handling any worse! I don't see why an enthusiast would be annoyed, the original body would have been scrap to warrant the conversion and the Sebring kit would only be a pattern part anyway. Besides, it is more of a rebodied RR then a 4x4 MG. I sorta like it but it could have been a little bit lower to give nicer proportions.

I've been with the AA for over 2 decades on and off. I used them a couple of days ago and the van arrived in 40 minutes. The chap couldn't fix the air leak in the diesel fuel system, though he got the engine started, and offered a tow. I eventually declined as I could limp home and then save the tow, if I needed it, to the garage the next day. Prior to that I hadn't had a call out for 7 years. All my call outs before then have been within the hour and included a lot of long distance recoveries of over 300 miles. The only bad one was in the winter of 1993 when I broke down in Snowdonia with a broken timing belt on the six wheeler. I called for a recovery at 4.30pm and at 7pm a little van arrived with a Series 3 fan belt. At 11.30pm an RAC lorry came out, called by the AA, to take me to the Birmingham AA depot. From there I was taken home to London on an AA lorry. I arrived home at 4am. The only warm drink I had all that time was a cup of machine tea at the AA depot, I wasn't far off hypothermia. I have AA relay plus though I have had RAC and Green flag. Never called out Green flag but I did once have both AA and RAC together when they first introduced the 6 calls a year limit. I needed both and alternated the calls all through the year to stay within the call out limit.

I think you can buy most of the bits on Ebay. They are fairly simple things but the wall mounted beams need to be both level and parallel. In your photo the beams are held up on legs, some I have seen are on corbels set into the wall. The winch cradle/hanger needs to run on tapered rollers to match the webs on the RSJ. Some of these are just rollers and others have a chain runner that drives the rig along the RSJ. These are available at Machine Mart as well as Ebay. If you have a mains lead to the winch then you can make some giant curtain rings around the RSJ and then cable tie the flex to the rings so that it is near full stretch at one extreme of travel and nicely bundled up at the other, like opening and closing curtains.

I currently have a big JCB mirror attached to the front of the trailer so I can see my tow bar as I reverse up to the trailer. I then had to put a light on the hitch so I could see it in the dark and then a couple of white fog lights as auxillary reversing lights under the bumper so I can see the trailer wheels when I am reversing in the dark. A camera would be easier.

That looks really good, Si, better then I thought it would be. I have been thinking about a reversing camera too. I was thinking of one for lining up for my trailer and also one on the back of the box trailer so I can still have a central rear view as if I was looking through the trailer. How simple is it to link more then one camera to the monitor and how many connections are there to the camera if I do put one on the trailer? Thanks.

IIRC The gas is meant to shield and cool the weld but in gasless the mig wire has a flux core so it produces its own shielding gas as it melts. The benefit is that it is a simple point and squirt welding tool, like a stick welder but without the 'stick' getting shorter. It is also able to weld thin sheets better then a stick welder. The downside is that the welds are not cooled as there is no gas flow and the welds may not be as nice or as strong depending on wire and metal. It also means that it can't weld other metals as flux core wires are not available in many grades and without gas it means ali welding is out too. However, gasless mig is a good point and squirt, get you out of trouble, tool for simple jobs without the need for a tiny and costly bottle of gas or a huge and heavy grown up gas cylinder.

And I thought the baboons were bad. Should have strapped a couple of them to the roof to distract the lions from the tyres. I wonder if they made a claim on their insurance?

I may well be tempted by one of these, a load of wire and one of their leather welding aprons, though I am not sure the red gaunlets will go with my complexion!

Series 3 transfer box gears used to make three speed transfer box for 6x6 with pto. Series 3 used to tow a Thornycroft Antar tank transporter.

I had a gear box to transfer box conversion that was like that. A prop shaft spline was welded to a gear and the weld bead was all of 2mm wide. Very pretty but useless with no penetration. It left me stranded on the M6 near Preston in my 6x6. That lead me to first reweld it properly and then to redesign the whole transmission system and build my own three speed transfer box.

Rubber is good and easy. Make a simple trailing wish bone so the chassis end is nice and wide for lateral location fit a wedge of rubber in between the trailing arm and the chassis and then rivit a bit of webbing strap between the two to prevent the axle dropping when you pick the trailer up. If you start with a solid block of rubber it will give the hardest ride. You can then drill holes in it to give a softer ride. If you decide to return to leaf springs then have a look at the quarter eliptic set up where the thick part of the spring is securely fixed to the chassis and the thin end is used to mount the axle (a bit like a springy trailing arm). The down side is that it will still weigh more and put more stress on the chassis frame. I would really avoid car parts as they are far too heavy and designed for something that will weigh up to 10 times as much .

That might be a bit of overkill, 10mm rebar would be more then enough for a kiddies bike trailer. It would also be a lot lighter as well. You could just make a trailing arm with a rubber suspension block like this.

You should sign up to Cycle Chat and post there. There is lots of useful information and chat about bike related stuff. You could canterlever the axle and use a rubber suspension by way of an old innertube as an elestic band. You can also get suspension units for MTB rear suspension, like coil wrapped dampers, which you can use. They are usually adjustable. If you are keen on using leaf springs then for that sort of weight you can use wood laminated together. Thin strips of hard wood glued together with the grain all running in the same direction. You can then make up the curve you want and the number of laminations will give you the stiffness. You won't need an eye at each end just put the end of the leaf into a pocket that prevents it dropping out.

Once I parked behind a Land Cruiser and got out to go to a shop, there was a good 3' space between us. The Land Cruiser then reversed into the bonnet of my car. I ran back and shouted at the driver and an elderly, 5' nothing woman got out from behind the wheel to have a look and said "Your bloody fault for parking behind me where I can't see you!". I was stunned. By the time I came to my senses she had got back in and drove off. Sadly I didn't get the number as the 3" chrome tube spare wheel carrier obsured it.

I have thought, several times, about getting a four post lift and installing it below ground level in my drive as an extension to my basement. At its highest it would be level with the drive and also have a lid on it so that when it is down at basement level the lid covers the hole. I got as far as test boring to see what the ground was like and ended up under pinning the house instead. Maybe another few years I get around to it again.

I have noticed that a few times recently I have found that my local supplier had run out by mid afternoon. They just can't make enough to cope with demand. The price has also risen to £1.06 from 95p a litre. I have taken to having a stash of jerry cans filled when they have some and then using that to keep me going until they have more. I am also considering buying 1000 litres at a time. Waste oil is being sold on Ebay at £290 for a 500 litre drum.

Nice bit of armour but I think I would prefer this Rover P5B Coupe on a 110 chassis. It is much more the sort of thing I could see myself driving. A combination of two of my favorite vehicles.

That's almost exactly the one I bought 20 years ago and it is still going strong. Never had a problem with it and very controllable up and down. Mine had a lift head cup on it that was around 7" diameter, made it very stable when lifting awkwards shaped bits. The socket under the cup is really wide and so good for adding different heads to suit differnet uses. A good one is an asymetric cradle for lifting in the middle of a front axle to clear the diff.

I've done a few in my time. The first one I didn't mark the nut and it all went pear shaped. All the others I followed instructions, marked the nut, counted the number of turns and put back as it was before and all was fine. It is not really a lot of trouble done this way.

The tyre lever