66gaza Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Havn't seen this one listed, seems well made & well thought out & looks good. http://www.tawayama.com/gear/trailer/chuckwagon.html Gaza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmud Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 I wasn't going to post up my goofy, home-built, Subaru-2wd-wagon-axled trailer, but the missile carrier design reminded me why I think my trailer has worked so well for me, and besides, I towed it from Alaska to Washington, D.C. and back, which does include the ALCAN Highway - that a was over 15,000 miles, plus I used it for years to haul wood and logs out of the woods with my old M151 Mutt, so I do know it really can hold up off-road. I've done almost NO maintenence to it since I bought it, and I have overloaded it with as much as 2300 pounds of flooring (just across town). I think it's safe, highway speed load is about 1300-1500 pounds. This seems like a lot for the torsion springs of a 1982 Subaru wagon, but after about 15 years of use, it seems to be as strong as ever. I think the success is the soft spring rate combine with the trailing swing arm style suspension. When it hits a bump, the tire swings back and up at the same time, greatly reducing the shock. The soft, long travel means the trailer doesn't take much beating on rough roads (think full of camping gear on the Alcan , think 8 or 10 12 foot logs strapped into a 3 foot tall pile driving on an really rough off-road trail, it's suffered a lot of abuse). I think sturdy, heavy leaf springs don't move enough, they instead transmit the shock up into the frame and whatever your load is. This is worse, the closer to maximum capacity the trailer is loaded. An heavily loaded leaf spring will pull more stress on a trailer then a similarly rated soft sprung trailing axle design. In my opinion. I am not saying you should use an old Subaru for your next expedition around the world - but something that has a decent amount of travel, say 6 inches or so, and a relatively soft ride, might be something to look into, and I really think having the wheel swing back with bump helps tremendously. Here's my Suby-trailer, anyway. It started 15 years ago with a free rear suspension (it's all one piece) and the big C-channel was salvaged from an old conveyor belt that was beint tossed out. The only piece I didn't have was the hitch, and I had to pay $50 to have it welded to the tongue - all told, I had about $75 into. I built a small box on top ( it was only as wide as the c-channel frame then) and took it camping behind my Cherokee a lot. When it came time for the cross-continental trip, I welded on extensions to the size it is now, and built a new, removable plywood top with flip-down sides for a "kitchen". Oh - forgot to mention, for truly knarly off-road, the ground clearance is outstanding. the box that we camped 15 thousand miles with here is the trailer, off-road - stock samurai, junk suby on a junk suby trailer - civic duty complete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted August 24, 2007 Author Share Posted August 24, 2007 Rich Simms has built a nice rig from a rapier trailer , ex mod very strong and on coils IIRC , He dont post on here , But hes on Devon forum I can get you some pics if you like ? Pics would be good, thanks Jase. Thanks everyone for your continued input here. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 http://www.devon4x4.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3416 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicks90 Posted August 31, 2007 Share Posted August 31, 2007 couldnt you just use a conventional trailer tent and reinforce the frame underneath and add a stripped out series rear axle and leaf springs? my old conway trailer tent opened out in less than 60 seconds to provide a large double bed and living room area with a full kitchen unit on the side - with optional awning that zipped onto the frame to double the living space. cost me £50 from ebay, something like attached - red lines are reinforcing 3x3 box section and spring mounts...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellow Posted August 31, 2007 Share Posted August 31, 2007 With the Conway on raised suspension, your tent will not touch the ground anymore, will it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nas90 Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Havn't seen this one listed, seems well made & well thought out & looks good. http://www.tawayama.com/gear/trailer/chuckwagon.htmlGaza I have been following this thread with much interest, not that I am considering a similar trailer to Chris's needs but interesting all the same. A lot of the trailer designs have the trailer axle quite a bit further back on the chassis than I would think suitable. Ramp-over is reduced off-road / rough road and there is an increased load on the tow vehicle rear axle. Anyone with answers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmud Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 I know the shorter the trailer, the harder it can be to back up, so the front ends up longer to help make it long enough. Also - you need a good percentage of the trailer weight on the tongue or it bounces hobby-horse style behind you. I pack the heavy stuff over the axle(water, fuel, food), and high-volume/low-weight stuff(tents, sleeping backs, clothes) goes on the forward portion of the trailer, to keep tongue weight under control. As for break over - I think the trailer will have less trouble than the tow rig in almost every situation. Certainly, even my super-short, super-low stock Samurai had zero trouble hauling junk cars out of some fairly rough trails. also - saw this guy on Ebay u.k. - interesting rig - why is the tent on a raised platform over the top of the trailer? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Offroad-Overland-Cam...1QQcmdZViewItem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nas90 Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 I know the shorter the trailer, the harder it can be to back up, so the front ends up longer to help make it long enough. Also - you need a good percentage of the trailer weight on the tongue or it bounces hobby-horse style behind you. I pack the heavy stuff over the axle(water, fuel, food), and high-volume/low-weight stuff(tents, sleeping backs, clothes) goes on the forward portion of the trailer, to keep tongue weight under control. As for break over - I think the trailer will have less trouble than the tow rig in almost every situation. Certainly, even my super-short, super-low stock Samurai had zero trouble hauling junk cars out of some fairly rough trails.also - saw this guy on Ebay u.k. - interesting rig - why is the tent on a raised platform over the top of the trailer? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Offroad-Overland-Cam...1QQcmdZViewItem Looks a very well made and thought-out bit of kit, but for a new trailer worth £17K why is the starting bid £7995 with no bids placed yet? Doesn't state place of manufacture, guess probably South Africa or Australia? 70 litre fresh water tank doesn't get 4 people very far in a hot climate! A few good ideas there for you Chris, interesting that most of the expedition trailers are leaf sprung, is this the definitive solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Baldwin Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 For some ideas check out Adventure Trailers. Tough and simple US design without the faff and bling of the megabucks South African designed camping trailers. It wouldn't be too difficult to create something similar on top of a Sankey chassis. Another couple of links to the same trailer showing far greater detail than the Adventure Trailer website. Here And here Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nas90 Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 For some ideas check out Adventure Trailers. Tough and simple US design without the faff and bling of the megabucks South African designed camping trailers. It wouldn't be too difficult to create something similar on top of a Sankey chassis. Another couple of links to the same trailer showing far greater detail than the Adventure Trailer website. Here And here Kev Excellent links, the following quote is interesting: "4. Draw bar length and weight distribution Generally, you want the distance from the trailers wheel hub to the coupler to equal the wheelbase of the tow vehicle. A little longer is ok, and will help with stability and backing, but too long will cause the trailer to track outside of the vehicles line around corners. In all cases, you want greater than 50% of the trailers weight to be forward of the axle, but not so much that tongue weight becomes excessive. A tongue heavy trailer will track properly, and handle as designed with little sway on the highway." I like the air suspension and ground clearance, having said that I was not interested in trailers, I might have changed my mind! Certainly cheaper than the Aussie or SA products and the coupler will fit the 2ins receptor on the nas with no mods and being in UK nobody, including the usual scrotes, would have a similar towing set-up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted September 2, 2007 Author Share Posted September 2, 2007 What are those doors off? The ones on the lockers? I am sure that I have seen them somewhere else so I wonder if they are a "standard" design of locker door. They appear to have the seal built in which would make for a very easy solution. Lots of things to think about re specs and what to carry, cheers guys. Agreed that the US ones cost a lot less - but you need to add a lot of extras to make a good one... On the subject of water, I propose to install a water tank over the axle. Dave, you suggest that 70l is not a lot, how much would you consider adequate - really for 2 not 4? For my own trailer I was considering using the on-board water tank primarily to provide water for a shower/washing rather than for drinking water. I prefer potable water in bottles, even if I have to fill them myself. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MogLite Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 What are those doors off? The ones on the lockers? I am sure that I have seen them somewhere else so I wonder if they are a "standard" design of locker door. They appear to have the seal built in which would make for a very easy solution. Er yeah its a cooker on wheels Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nas90 Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 What are those doors off? The ones on the lockers? I am sure that I have seen them somewhere else so I wonder if they are a "standard" design of locker door. They appear to have the seal built in which would make for a very easy solution. Lots of things to think about re specs and what to carry, cheers guys. Agreed that the US ones cost a lot less - but you need to add a lot of extras to make a good one... On the subject of water, I propose to install a water tank over the axle. Dave, you suggest that 70l is not a lot, how much would you consider adequate - really for 2 not 4? For my own trailer I was considering using the on-board water tank primarily to provide water for a shower/washing rather than for drinking water. I prefer potable water in bottles, even if I have to fill them myself. Chris Chris this one is a leafer and the American built with adjustable air bag suspension and dampers sounds so much better for expedition use. The standard trailer with no fittings, tent etc is $3999 plus freight plus vat. No price for the knock-down version which you can build yourself, personally I would buy the American trailer to get the superior suspension and then build bits into the basic design as and when I needed them. As for the door lockers, I agree seen them somewhere, it will keep me awake trying to remember! The American design has a 19 gallon tank (guess as it's American it's American gallons) which is about the same at 72 litres, so I guess 70 litres is sufficient! The tank on my quad trailer is 90 litres and I was just visualising the amount being not enough for drinking / washing / cooking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Baldwin Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 They list Frogs Island as a distributor. Maybe worth a call to see what they're offering them at in UK money?? Note that the $3,999 doesn't include the lid for the trailer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Saw this thread linked from another and thought I could add to the mix of ideas. After nearly five years of ownership, my wife and I have just sold our Desert Wolf Lynx off-road camping trailer. Built almost entirely from stainless steel (different grades for different applications), these are seriously strong bits of kit. We took ours all over Norway, on a grand tour of central Europe over the Alps and on numerous less demanding trips in the UK and found it to be an excellent design. More details here. We found camping with a trailer to be a good compromise between the flexibility of living out of the vehicle and the luxury of a 'base camp' that freed the vehicle up for other uses - particularly if you wanted to stay in one place for a few days. The Lynx came with on-board fuel and water tanks (80l and 60l respectively) and a 20l jerry can (useful for transferring fuel), twin 100 amp batteries and a National Luna 80l fridge. It also came with a 50w solar panel but we found that the twin batteries would easily run the fridge for 5 to 6 days and so never really needed it. Suspension was via leaf springs and decent shock absorbers. It was also fitted with longitudinal axle location bars, which meant it wasn't relying on the springs to hold the axle in place. An undriven axle that's pulled over rough terrain tends to want to move backwards and these bars countered that. The axle was rated at 2.5 tonne and the hitch at 3.5 tonnes, although the trailer was only plated to 1750kg gross. In practice, fully loaded it was probably only about 1 tonne (about 650kg empty). Brakes were standard Alko, as was the hitch, albeit a commercial model. Desert Wolf run a hire fleet of these trailers in South Africa and I'm told usually cover around 50000kms before being sold off second hand, so this set-up is proven to be very tough. If building one from scratch, I'd definitely aim to have the axle positioned the same distance from the rear axle of the tow vehicle as the latters' wheelbase, as it really will follow in the same tracks. The track width should, of course, also match. This makes towing both on and off road so much easier. If venturing anywhere vaguely remote, the wheels should be interchangeable with the tow vehicle for maximum flexibility. As far as tents go, Maggiolina are excellent and would be my first choice for a roof tent. However, I think you'll struggle to form a practical ground tent enclosure that would work with it. The tent on my Lynx was make by Desert Wolf, but Howling Moon make an excellent range that incorporate an enclosed ground tent, although at a price! Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 Thanks Darren, useful to hear about your setup and experience. I have seen your webpage. I am pleased to say that most of the boxes you outlined are ticked in my plans, although I do not plan to carry fuel in the trailer. I do plan to fit a water tank, batteries, fridge etc. The trailer will be an ex-MOD one with the same track as the Landrover, leaf springs and disc brakes. It also has an anti-roll bar which seems OTT. Wheels and tyres are common to the Landrover. I am planning to lengthen the chassis to allow for the vehicle to climb a very steep hill without the vehicle body interfering with the trailer body - this will give the required distance between the wheels. I am starting with a Rocky Mountain tent and will see if I can improvise awnings etc to suit - although I may end up having to change it, time will tell. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4.6v8lwt Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Have a look at the trailers on www.milspecoffroad.com maybe not ideal for what you want but look very well built and may give you some ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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