Undersling caravan axle

i did this conversion to my boat trailer , went from 12 to 14 " wheels , Very simple conversion, might be a idea to use the same stud patten as the vehicle then the spare tyre in interchangable . Instead of having one spare for the car you then have 2 , and vise versa . I found it to tow alot better and more stable than before , withought any asisatance of shock absorbers , there are caravan stabilisers on the market if you wish to add it to your suspension.

Yours been a caravan , you may need to make more room on the wheel arches , you can add a extra leaf on the spring and retention the leafs to give you a extra inch in hight, this will give you some added clearence . Your only going up a 1" in tyre size , this will only need a extra 1/2 " clearence , since you devide the extra hight of the tyre by 2 , 1/2 inch either side of the tyre .

I hope this helps Craigs hut 2003

Gday MF
Did this to a Vicount poptop 16 footer 6 years ago without a hiccup yet! Taken it to Innamincka via Stressy track and around oz on highway 1.
Reason for doing this is height and wheel/tyre combos. The factory light truck tyre in 14 inch has a load carrying capacity of 750kg each, i put on standard 205 sr16 hilux rims/tyres that are rated at 900kg each plus the rims are heavy duty compared to hq wheels or white sunnies.
On our way around met people who have had cracked rims, presumably because they were not designed to carry 90% of the weight of a loaded van going around a corner - my van is 1100kg plus what ever i put in it, and it is a light van. Most of its weight is transfered to the one wheel/tyre in corners - anyway, i have had no problems with punctures or rims cracking in all my travels, and towing with a larger/heavier cruiser than the weight of the van means it stays put quite nicely with standard shepards crook type load carrying attatchments.
If you have an annex, it will be too short in the skirt and sides, and you will need to address the door access (extra height of 6 inches for the axle plus what ever the increase in diameter of the wheel is) AH theres another benefit - less friction/wear from slower turning wheels, and spare wheel sharing from landy to van if you use thesame stud patterns :-) (needed my van spare in the Kimberley)
Andrew wheredayathinkwer mike?

Mallefowl I would be careful with the underslinging of the axel as I think it is illegall. I have been told this so I would chk it out as you dont want it to be made un roadworthy. The reasom for this is that if the bolts break there is nothing to stop the whole assembly going under the poor guy's car that is following you.
Tom

Hi MF
Did this to my 16foot Gazal,left the standard 14" rims on. Just got back from 9000klms. mainland trek to Limmen Bight fishing camp with no van problems at all.(The Nissan was another matter)
I will quote from an article in the Geelong News by Ron Kitchen.Sept.17th.
quote (We then headed to our ultimate destination,the Limmen Bight fishing camp,along the worst road I have ever seen. As well as taking seven and a half hours to travel 300km,we also managed to bend a trailer axle so badly that we had to complete the trip on one axle - very slow going. With the help of Steve ,the guy who runs the fishing camp,we managed to get the trailerback on four wheels_the rest of the trailer is so cracked I will have to build a new frame and a new axle.) end quote.
He then went on to have a whinge about not catching any fish.
It was a good test,the U bolts never came loose at any stage.
Regards Ron

Hi MF
Did this to my 16foot Gazal,left the standard 14" rims on. Just got back from 9000klms. mainland trek to Limmen Bight fishing camp with no van problems at all.(The Nissan was another matter)
I will quote from an article in the Geelong News by Ron Kitchen.Sept.17th.
quote (We then headed to our ultimate destination,the Limmen Bight fishing camp,along the worst road I have ever seen. As well as taking seven and a half hours to travel 300km,we also managed to bend a trailer axle so badly that we had to complete the trip on one axle - very slow going. With the help of Steve ,the guy who runs the fishing camp,we managed to get the trailerback on four wheels_the rest of the trailer is so cracked I will have to build a new frame and a new axle.) end quote.
He then went on to have a whinge about not catching any fish.
It was a good test,the U bolts never came loose at any stage.
Regards Ron