Off road trailer

Submitted: Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 07:20
ThreadID: 133640 Views:5471 Replies:10 FollowUps:9
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Hi all, here is my new off road trailer built in Adelaide, comes with 100x50 long draw bar, 75x50 chassis, 6 stud Landcruiser sunraiser rims, 45mm axle, eye to eye 7 leaf springs, 2 Jerry can holders, poly block hitch, 450mm sides and custom made lid by future metal fabrication, hopefully my next adventure will be to the Flinders ranges to test it out, and then maybe a trip to the Northern Territory, let me know what you think of my trailer
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Reply By: pop2jocem - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 07:47

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 07:47
David,

Pretty flash. All it needs now is a good coating of dust and a few stone chips.

Enjoy (;=))

Cheers
Pop

AnswerID: 605278

Follow Up By: Member - Stephen L (Clare SA) - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 08:58

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 08:58
Hi Pop

No you do not want any stone chips. David needs to contact Christian down at Glenelg and get one of his great Stone Stompers, then it will always look new.



Cheers


Stephen
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Follow Up By: pop2jocem - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 14:40

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 14:40
Yeah, you're probably right Stephen, it's far tooooo pretty to get stone chips or dust on that lovely paint work and polished aluminium.

Maybe one of them stone stompers and some bubble wrap (;=))

Or maybe just stick to the bitumen....LOL

Cheers
Pop
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FollowupID: 875067

Reply By: MUZBRY- Life member(Vic) - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 08:32

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 08:32
Good morning David
Nice looking trailer. How much does it weigh before you start to load all your gear? I assume there are no brakes
Muzbry
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AnswerID: 605279

Reply By: swampy - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 12:36

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 12:36
Hi
David
Great trailer good design for light to med duty use
Deep tub and looks good ,good size frame, great lid etc
7x5??
A trailer that's made out of gal sheets and duragal SHS /RHS or a trailer thats dipped in gal will last longer and there`s no re paint required ever .
A painted trailer needs to be sand blasted prior to painting for maximum adhesion . epoxy primer /eurathane top coat paint are the most durable . Most industrial equipment is paint in a similar way. Its never low cost !! [ Some trallers with lots of flat sheet metal cannot be blasted ]
Depends on the actual size but a Trak Shak trailer is a good example of how to utilize the areas in front and behind wheel arches jerry cans ,gas bottle ,agm batteries/solar stuff .eg can save doing a water tank under body.
IF u ever consider brakes go at least 50mm sq axle /parallel bearings
Mount the wiring in a gal electrical conduit to 1 light then conduit to the other light
Use heavy duty trailer wire prevents vibration breakage .
spare wheel mount ??
Ando connection to vehicle [charge cable for aux batt ]
tomo
AnswerID: 605283

Reply By: David D17 - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 19:10

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 19:10
Trailer is a 6x4, I will get it weighed, Lid is steel frame with aluminium cover which is fairly light, can be locked as well, I will get one of those stone deflectors for the front eventually before I take it out bush
AnswerID: 605308

Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 20:24

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 20:24
Trailer looks good David.
It should have a compliance plate which tells you the weights.
I have a mate's Treg 6x4 in the driveway at the moment and it has a GTM of 749kgs and an ATM of 824kgs. Yours should be similar.
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FollowupID: 875075

Reply By: RMD - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 21:35

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 21:35
Trailer looks very good.

Many trailers which have larger diameter wheels require at least a 50mm square axle and it is best to have parallel bearing ends on it. The pictured axle is a small dia outer which may not be able to withstand side forces from big dia wheels, ie, angular loadings above a certain level. Caravan regs and specs dictate the use of larger axles when big wheels are used.
At least it should have Ford outer bearings which has a larger cup/cone than the Holden ends. The hub looks small to me.
I also hope it has electric brakes to assist stopping when loaded and if used on hilly country. One emergency stop will reveal the need for electric brakes.
Happy travels.
AnswerID: 605314

Reply By: splits - Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 22:35

Saturday, Oct 22, 2016 at 22:35
It looks good David. If you are using it to carry camping gear that would overload your car if you put everything into it then that is a great ides. There would be a lot less damaged cars all over the bush if more people did that.

Just one question though: does it have shock absorbers? Undampened springs can and have caused a lot of damage to trailers in the Outback. Problems like the ends snapped off axles to wheel bearing and wheel stud problems are common and have been occurring since trailers were first used out there.

There is a bit more information about it here.wheels falling off

In an earlier version of that article before the recent update, the author said while working for General Motors in suspension development, he measured spring rebound forces using electronic equipment that he designed himself and found the forces generated by unrestrained springs releasing their energy was 35 times higher than those with shock absorbers.

I am currently building a carrying only plywood camping trailer that is smaller and lighter than yours. The single leaf springs and shocks are from a Holden Combo van. They are light weight, long and very flexible. I can bounce it up and down easily by hand until I install the shocks. Geez does that tighten them up.
AnswerID: 605317

Follow Up By: David D17 - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 07:50

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 07:50
Hi, It is 7 leaf eye to eye spring with a rebound spring on top, which acts like a shock absorber, I had a similar trailer before this and that one worked well in the outback with leaf springs
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FollowupID: 875083

Follow Up By: splits - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 12:40

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 12:40
David

Those rebound springs are still of very limited value and there are plenty of cases of trailer axles breaking with them. They rely on a couple of spring clips squeezing the leaves together to create a bit of friction. That is not as good as a quality hydraulic shock.

Most car manufacturers had ceased using friction shocks by the end of the 1920s. Even Henry Ford went from no shocks on his T models to double acting hydraulic with his A model in late 1927. He only used one transverse spring at each end and it would have been much cheaper for him to put a couple of spring clamps on each one had he thought it would have been satisfactory.

Those rebound springs are always going to have a question mark hanging over them. Some people have no trouble with them while others do. Unfortunately if metal fatigue is slowly developing in the axle or other weight supporting parts, you won't get any prior warning if something is going to break.

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FollowupID: 875089

Follow Up By: David T6 - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 14:02

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 14:02
I would also add that the drawbar is 100 x 50 and the chassis 75 x50. Preferred construction would be the drawbar material continues to the back of the trailer, i.e. 100x50 all the way back. A lot stronger and removes the weak point near the front of the box.
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FollowupID: 875090

Follow Up By: splits - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 17:37

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 17:37
Preferred construction would be the drawbar material continues to the back of the trailer, i.e

=========================

Some of the trailers that I used in the Armed Forces had draw bars like that. They were single tubes around 100 in diameter and about 5 mm thick.

I can also remember seeing many all wood trailers years ago. They usually had a single length of wood running from the coupling straight back to the rear end of the trailer. I can't remember seeing a broken one.

Tow trucks were the same. They carried two long lengths of hardwood. You slid them under a car and hooked up the rear ends to the axle housing with chains then lifted the front end of them.

The draw bar on my little trailer is 75 x 50 x 3. The two tubes run back past the front spring eye and are welded to the side rails just in front of the axle.

The front eye of the spring is positioned well below the height of the rear shackles in order to create a bit of roll understeer into the supension in corners.

The axle is 600 mm from the rear of the box while most of the heavy items like camp overs etc are above or behind it.

The spare wheel hangs under the box just in front of the axle. The ball weight will be no more than 40 kg.

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FollowupID: 875097

Reply By: Rod W6 - Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 18:28

Sunday, Oct 23, 2016 at 18:28
What did it cost?
AnswerID: 605341

Follow Up By: David D17 - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 19:40

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 19:40
$ 2800 for the Trailer
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FollowupID: 875151

Reply By: Gundarooster - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 13:47

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 13:47
Who built it, looks like a Challenge?
AnswerID: 605397

Follow Up By: David D17 - Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 19:39

Tuesday, Oct 25, 2016 at 19:39
Built by Modern Trailer, the lid was built by Future Metal Fabrication, did a very good job
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FollowupID: 875150

Reply By: Erad - Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 at 11:04

Wednesday, Oct 26, 2016 at 11:04
Friends of mine bought a new camper trailer and for their first trip, headed outback. They didn't make it to Innaminka. The spring hangers broke away from the "Chassis". It turned out that the chassis was made from about section with 1.6 mm thick walls. OK - these friends were somewhat brutal with their driving but the trailer was in no way fit for service. They patched it up in Innaminka and then came home. We took it back to Sydney and the factory fitted a heavier suspension, but the original problem of the chassis still remained. Friend has since welded some plates to beef up the area around the attachment points, but even then the drawbar is still suspect in my opinion.

You have 7 leaf springs in your trailer. I reckon that for a dedicated camper trailer, softer springing is better - less likelhood of rattling either the trailer or the contents to pieces on rough roads.
AnswerID: 605420

Reply By: Chorba - Thursday, Oct 27, 2016 at 13:46

Thursday, Oct 27, 2016 at 13:46
Looks like a nice unit you have there. Be careful of stone chips though. Painted one I had in the past ended up with a lot of surface rust after the odd trip to the beach camping.
AnswerID: 605453

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