Will C Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 I've had a bee in my bonet for a very long time to build an overland camping trailer so when the opportunity to buy a sankey came up last year I jumped at it. Circumstances and indecision about the design held me up however and I used the sankey in it's current condition to do the jobs my car trailer, which I sold to but the sankey, used to do. I have a need around the place for an open trailer so I had the notion to build a removeable box body for camping. I have finally figured out how to make the trailer dual purpose. When you get up close to these things you realise a) how big they are and b) how much the engineeriing is of the brick outhouse variety! After many hours surfing various expedition forums I found this great thread which will provide inspiration for the finished project...http://forum.difflock.com/viewtopic.php?t=40449 Not to mention JasonG4110's awe inspiring work on this forum. Taking advantage of the fine weather last weekend I set about stripping the body. I took loads of photos with my phone but now I can't find the cable for connectin to the pc so in the meantime here's one I could get with the body removed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 A bit more progress was made since this weekend. Fitted a 6*4 sheet of ply to the chassis just to keep me mobile. I have also figured out how I'm going to modify the hitch and brakes to make the trailer run more level on the back of the rangie. The sankey hitch height is 700mm for level running. The hitch on the car is at 560mm. So I've go to loose 140mm if I want the trailer to run level. I have 3 strategies to help this. 1. Modify the hitch - the push lever for the brakes will have to be moved too as will the jockey wheel. 2. Modify the spring hangers - They are very long military type and I'll have to make new ones, also the link bars for the anti roll bar will have to be shortened too. Not so simple. 3. Try running the trailer on lower profile tyres fitted to 15" rims - seems a lot of expense for a relatively small gain. Mmmmm decisons decisions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 1. Modify the hitch - the push lever for the brakes will have to be moved too as will the jockey wheel. I decided to move the hitch down to the bottom of the A frame rather than the top this gets 100mm for relativly little modifyinig. Some Piccies..... 1. The stripped drawbar 2.removing excess....(easier to remove a little at a time than putting back 3. Flipped over and opened up...... 4. The replacement plate drilled out to take the pintle bolts and welded to the bottom of the A frame... .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 22, 2011 Share Posted May 22, 2011 Good Luck Will, I used mine for camping for the first time this weekend, had a great weekend and made the whole thing worthwhile. Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Good Luck Will, I used mine for camping for the first time this weekend, had a great weekend and made the whole thing worthwhile. Jason Saw the pics Jason...it's a five star set-up. Wish I was further on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Progress continues to be slow on this due to other committments but sometimes delays can work in your favour. My good friend purchased a sankey rapier trailer recently off ebay and borrowed my Nato hintch to collect it from the UK, inside was an aluminium box he had no need for . It turned out to be an old alumimium trailer body with gas strutted lid and drop down tailgate made with proper truck body latches. He agree to drop over with it one evening so we could measure it up. A deal was struck but as the trailer was still upside down whilst I did the suspension so I couln't trial fit it. The width seem like it would fit but we knew before the auction even ended the body was too long. We dropped it on the ground as it was getting dark and left it for further exmination in daylight. Over the next few days I eyed it up from all angles and the chassis tring to figure which to alter. Meanwile I pushed on with the springs which were very rusty. The bolts were siezed into the bushings and the usual frustrations were worked through aided by the purchase of an electric impact driver. After a good cleaning of the spring leaves with a flap wheel I gave them a coat of old engine oil and refitted them together with a set of britpart RRC rear shock I happened to have in the garage. In the picture you can also just make out on the hitch mounting plate where I welded on the stand/skeg that was chopped off the old plate before giving the area quick lick of primer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 On Satuday I was under pressure (from S.W.M.B.O.) to move the trailer from where it's been sitting upside down for the past few weeks and having refitted the spirings and shocks and finished the "upside down" welding I was now ready to flip it over back onto it's wheels. This is not an easy task and took four attempts using a combination of high lift jacking and winching to get it right side up. Then I enlisted some help to lift on the body. It's very manageable for two as there is no floor in it. I was thrilled with the fit on the width of the box and feeling a bit jammy but the original idea I had of using up the excess 270mm of lenght by letting the box over hang the rear of the chassis and front isn't as simple as it first looked (what is ). Anyway it doesn't look right aesthetically and the box would hit the car in a jacknife situation. So I've decided I'll shorten the box. Having studied the thing for a couple of weeks I had already decided that shortening the box will be the simplest I will need to drill out the rivets and shorten the sides and top before re-riveting the thing back together and then making a suitable floor. I will also need to get less powerful lid struts as the ones in it are powerful enough to lift my 10 yr old sonAlex off the ground (That'll teach him to be nosey ) and they'll be even stronger when the lid is shortened. But according to the previous owner they were strong enough to lift the lid with roof tent attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie D Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Nice little alu box Will - will look good when sorted. I've a rotten bodied widtrack that I'd like to do something similar to one day. I just use it on the farm now for gathering wood and stuff. Where abouts are you - I'll pop in for a look some day when I'm on my travels? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Great solution Will, I saw that one for sale on ebay it was in the camel coloured rapier trailer it did set my mind racing about what could I do with it.... some mud flaps and your there!! Jason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Nice little alu box Will - will look good when sorted. I've a rotten bodied widtrack that I'd like to do something similar to one day. I just use it on the farm now for gathering wood and stuff. Where abouts are you - I'll pop in for a look some day when I'm on my travels? Steve I'm in Ireland Steve....County Wexford. You'd be welcome!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Great solution Will, I saw that one for sale on ebay it was in the camel coloured rapier trailer it did set my mind racing about what could I do with it.... some mud flaps and your there!! Jason. That's the one Jason!! On the ebay photo's we could only see the lid and with the rapier being an 8'x4' I was concerned it might be too wide so I didn't commit till I saw it in the flesh. My mate who bought the rapier texted me some measurements from the UK when he picked it up and it looked like it was going to be fractionally too wide but those measurements came off the lid and we didn't realise it was a box trailer body till we got it out on the ground. Both ends can be lifted out and the lid can be removed easily enough so it really ticks the boxes in terms of my dual purpose idea. I'm going to get some mudguards/wheel arches made up next and like you I want somewhere to put things down when camped. So now I have to decide with without lockers? etc. But I couldn't be more chuffed with the find. I'm also planning to paint the top of the box with the rubbercoat. Will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemoon Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I like the size of the box, would it not be worthwhile to extent the front to cope with cornering / jackknife, you might wished you had later, after all it is a heavy trailer for size of luggage area, no criticism as I have a much larger sankey camping trailer project on the go, and I need as much room as possible, best of luck which way you go. Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secondjeremy Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I think there's a method for adjusting gas struts by letting gas out - may be worth a few minutes on Google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 I think there's a method for adjusting gas struts by letting gas out - may be worth a few minutes on Google. Thanks secondjeremy, that's new to me. I will definitely be looking into that. W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will C Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 A wet Sunday evening provided the opportunity I needed to get the box into the garage and shorten the sides ( about a foot had to be removed) to fit the sankey chassis. Next the top....which looks a little more daunting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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