neil00001 Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Hi All, Looking for some advice on exped trailers. 14 of us intend to go to Morocco in a few years time in 3 LR's, I have 4 kids myself so space will be at a premium. Options open to me so far are:- Buy Sankey Wide track and convert to my needs Built box setion trailer from scratch either on coils or leafs Build trailer from Disco Chassis using axles and brakes I am all for the latter option, everything seems already in place, even buying a new fuel tank for the chassis would make an ideal water container. Brakes would need some work, which hitch would you guys recommend, I have seen that on the globemaster trailers they use a normal hitch, wouldnt a NATO hitch be more appropriate? Has anyone attempted building such a trailer in the past? I do expect that the trailer will surpass the 750kg so brakes will be needed, I have read in the past that the best way to have a trailer follow the towing vehicle is to ensure that the distance betwen the trailer wheels and rhe rear wheels is the same distance of the vehicle wheel base.....Is this true? Thanks for reading my ramblings Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Start with working out just how much capacity you need for the trailer, both volume and weight, and from there you can see what you need to achieve. Think about where you need to be able to access stuff as well as you don't want to unload everything to get the one thing you use most just because it only fits there in the pile. Lots of compartments may be better then one big box for instance. If you are building or adapting anything then you can make the best of the space with different access points. You can also decide on the maximum length, width and height that you can work to. If all this fits a Sankey then that is a good point to start from. If not then you can determine whether it is best to build from scratch or modify a Sankey. Whichever way you go, keeping to standard Land Rover parts, where you can, would make spares easier, especially if they are the same as the towing vehicle. One problem with using a Disco for its brakes is that they are hydraulic and currently I am sure that UK regs won't allow hydraulic trailer brakes. They will need to be rod or cable operated. I don't know if this is the same elsewhere. Whatever else you save on you really want to make sure that the brakes are the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mortus Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 im sure hydraulic breaks are perfectly fine in england? you also really need to think about the terrain your going to be traveling over. why dont you buy a old horse trailer? good strong chassis, breaks... lights wheels will be the same i imagine... and you can pick one up for 50quid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MogLite Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I don't know about hydraulics, but they do need to be autoreverse. The yanks put a solenoid in the brake line, hooked up to the reversing lights. I was looking at the back 1/2 of a 4x4 as a trailer, rather than use the tank for water, I was going to use it for fuel. Here is a link to the US valves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madmatt Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Have a read through here, http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/v...entsfortrailers http://www.ntta.co.uk/law/trailers/brakes.htm I'm no expert on HYD brakes, but as I understand it you must have a working parking brake on two trailer wheels and also a brake away cable that activates the trailer brakes and then snaps on overrun brakes if the trailer becomes detactched from the prime mover. Not sure how you would achieve this with hyd brakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 I just checked my research, it doesn't say what method the service brakes can or can't use but it does say that the parking brake must not use hydraulic, pneumatic or electrical means to hold them on. Also a Disco's brakes would be servo operated and, on a trailer, if it still needs a servo to achive the 50% braking effort then there needs to be a means of maintaining that servo assistance if it fails from the towing vehicle. This makes it difficult to use a Disco axle as it won't have any other means of braking. I found the same links as madmatt. It is simpler to use a mechanical service and parking brake that is hydraulically damped, over run and auto reverse to the maximum weight of the trailer. Note that the braking requirements change depending on the age of manufacture. That may influence you between building from scratch and modifying an old Sankey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swanny Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 hello i have used an old lynton 1ton tipping trailer. i took off the body then made a frame out of 50x50 angle then ply sides with doors at the rear and a side door. it has a false bottom to the rear with an area for cooker and brew kit so are easy to hand. it is the same track as my wrangler so were that fits the trailer does. it has a normal tow hitch and a big chain too the brakes which are the rod type the chain is also there to stop theft as fasten to the jeep with paddlock and high tensile bolt. couple of years back went up to do geral wades road and it towed great just make sure most of the wieght is to the front and then watch your tongue weight. should be good with a disco with jeep been light it was a nightmare. i looked at horse boxes they did not have enough grown clearance. swanny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacks906 Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 hi i'd personally use a sanky trailer (chassie) and hitch if you plan to use it off the beaten track strong an land rover ish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
66gaza Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 hii'd personally use a sanky trailer (chassie) and hitch if you plan to use it off the beaten track strong an land rover ish Totally agree, why reinvent the wheel?. Rapier trailers have hydraulic brakes and I think the later wide tracks have discs. My rapier also rode very smoothly even when empty as the suspension was a large rubber ball that was compressed and because there was no spring there was no need for a damper. I remember reading a while back about a Merlin offroad trailer that was being towed around the world and they were forever repairing it, sankey trailers are quite heavy because they are built tough. Gaza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil00001 Posted January 13, 2008 Author Share Posted January 13, 2008 Thank you all for your input, after lot of debate about the pros and cons and from the advice offered from the forum, looks like the sankey wins, just have to find a couple of Sankey wide rack chassis that doesnt cost the earth, Thanks again! Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GBMUD Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 I assume that you have seen my threads about trailers? Here too. I started with a Sankey for all the reasons stated above really. Ready made brakes, tough, reliable, designed for off-road, NATO hitch... Any new trailer in the UK needs to have the auto-reverse brakes. This is usually achieved by using a twin leading shoe arrangement AFAIK, this simply works spectacularly badly in reverse, although the mechanism still operates. Old trailers can go on as before - I am not sure about the legalities of modifying an existing trailer. Mine is really just a body change, the old one having rotted out. Probably needs an SVA test... If you were to go down the route of starting with a Disco chassis I can see using the fuel tank as being attractive. Keep in mind though that this means a ~70kg variation between full and empty and being behind the axle this has a direct effect on nose weight. I spent £40 on a 70l Fiamma water tank from Ebay and it will reside right above the axle. The battery will be in front of the body on the drawbar/A-frame and other heavy but static items arranged to achieve a suitable balance. Even though a trailer may be made from old Disco bits, it will still be a new trailer. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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