On 03/08/2020 10:32, No Name wrote:
I have a 3ft by 4ft trailer, like this one:

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/tr...er-216502.html


The rear panel drops down and is unhookable and hence removable from its
hinges.

The remaining 3 sides are fixed. They are bolted to the base of the box.

I would like to try and reduce the volume of space it takes up in my
garage by essentially converting it to a collapsible trailer.

My idea is to buy a pair of 4ft long piano hinges and a 3ft piano hinge
and install them in between the three fixed panels and the base of the
trailer box.

The idea is that the two side panels can fold down flat over the wheels
and the front panel fold down onto the Tow bar arm, thus reducing the
space needed for storage in my garage.

Has anyone done this or have a better idea?

Obviously my main concern is not affecting its load carrying capacity....

S.

Piano hinges sound a bit flimsy to me. I guess most of the stiffness of
the structure comes from the chassis, rather than the connection between
the three fixed panels. I'd look at folding the side panels inwards
rather than outwards, with some sort of structure to make the front two
vertical corners stiffer when assembled. Maybe as simple as (say) two
lengths of 3x3 timber fixed to the front panel, that latch to the side
panels with antiluce fittings.