Hamish Grundy Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 hi, at the weekend two suspension units collapsed on my car transporter, i made it from a caravan chassis but i dont think the suspension was strong enough for my 80. i have two options. biuld a new trailer. or buy one. i have an old ifor williams cattle trailer that i was thinking i could rob the axles and springs off and make a frame for them to go on. has anyone got any pics of trailers you have biult. of have you got a trailer forsale? many thanks hamish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlykepower Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 You need to speak to Chris (GBMUD) as he built an awesome trailer with his brother (Rogue Vogue) but that is an Overland trailer. He can probably give you some advice at least? See HERE for the full thread. HTH Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 If it's for transporting a car I'd just buy a proper car trailer, bound to be some pukka ones on eBay and it's a buyers market at the moment (for everything!). If you've got a decent plant trailer then that shouldn't be hard to modify as the underpinnings will be built to take the weight, but I'm not sure it's worth doing one from scratch and I'd be dubious about using a caravan chassis as they are only a plywood box on wheels and nowhere near as robust as pukka car trailers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticbadger Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I've just bought a car trailer for £250. Proper big old beast on landrover rims, 3500kg rated. It's in a bad way and needs bearings, brakes and wiring, but £250 is a darn site cheaper than you can buy the steel and axles for so I'm happy. Caravans are normally only 1000kg to 2000kg rated, so the axles aren't up to being a car trailer. Even your 80 on a trailer will be in the region of 2000 to 2200kg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Most single axles on caravan chassis are around 900kgs, but you can get them as high as 1300kgs. A pair of 1300kg caravan axles under a modified caravan chassis should work, assuming you suitably uprate the drawbar. Sticking a landrover on the back of a single axle caravan chassis will almost certainly be illegal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moose Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 It's in a bad way and needs bearings, brakes and wiring, And some one should clean that off the big lump of metal that is currently festering on it Hamish also bear in mind the distance that you are going to trailing as well cos a good well balanced trailer fully load is a lot less stress on a long trip than one you got to keep checking and fight every mile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Hamish also bear in mind the distance that you are going to trailing as well cos a good well balanced trailer fully load is a lot less stress on a long trip than one you got to keep checking and fight every mile. This is so very true - believe me, if you have some lashup of a trailer that doesn't work properly, snakes about, etc. when it's trying to throw you across the motorway in rush hour you'll be wondering why you didn't spend that bit extra. Your insurance co might have a thing or two to say as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiddler66 Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 For what its worth, I have always found that it works out cheaper to buy an old "proper" trailer and fix it up than make one from scratch ......... andI have also found that a "proper" trailer is always safer than an improvised one.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveturnbull Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Another vote for a proper car trailer here. If your taking some hedge clippings to the tip then by all means knock up a cheap diy trailer, but for moving vehicles get a proper one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I've built a few trailers in my time. I currently have a box trailer made from a couple of Series roofs and 3mm ali sheet on a 50x50x3mm box section chassis. It is 400kg unladen and 1300kg MGM. The inside is fully carpeted for moving furniture. I also have an extending trailer that is made from two pallet crates on a 60x60x8mm angle iron chassis. It stretches from 2.4m to 4.5m so with overhang and a trailer board it can carry 7m length. It also grosses at 1300kg. Both were based on caravan suspension components with trailing wishbones, coil springs and dampers. The most important thing about making a trailer is to make sure that it is both safe and legal for the purpose. If you decide to use twin axles from a caravan for a car transporter you risk over loading an axle if you are climbing a kerb or if the trailer bed isn't level at all times. Twin or triple axles should really be load balancing to prevent overload of any one axle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamish Grundy Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 thankyou for all the replies. the trailer that i currently have was a 15ft caravan, it has twin axles and all i did was remove the body and made a skeleton frame from 40x40 box that sat on the original chassis, it worked very well and towed very well, no 'jiggling' around on the drawbar, and went around corners well. but like you all say, maybe the suspension just wasnt rated well enough for my 80. i have looked at several trailers and most seem to use similar axle set up to mine. I want to stay away from these realy. i think its going to be best just to buy a proper one, the last thing i want is to cause a crash. Next week i will try and take my 80 to the wieghbridge down the road (using my other trailer), then i know exactly what wieght i need to carry. the other alternative is i strip down my old trailer and rebiuld it. its a peak trailer but has been messed around with and has bits of metal welded all over it. we have just put new springs and axles under it so we know that is up to spec. the trouble is its just so heavey, and towing with a rrc v8 i need to loose every bit of wieght i can lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 The axles will have their maximum weight stamped on them. A twin axle caravan will likely have two 900kg axles under it unless it was a very large van, giving you a towing limit of 1800kgs, including the weight of the trailer itself. Some larger single axle caravans have 1300kg axles, but generally you cant get indispension units to take much more than this, meaning you need to fit proper springs etc, which is likely what you'll find on a proper brian james or ifor williams car transporter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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