I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks

news.btinternet.com wrote:
I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would
be cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks

The back axle of a small car(a mini) and a welded angline framework welded
to the axle is basically the basis for the trailer. Frame work can be
covered in quater inch plywood.

oblong letter shape for the framework as the serves for where the towbar
mechanics will go.

Backlights could be from a scrap car and cut outs at the back of the
trailer plywood to house the lights.


--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

news.btinternet.com wrote:

I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

http://www.towsure.com/default.asp?t=6396

The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
The back axle of a small car(a mini)

(cough)

Chris Bacon wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
The back axle of a small car(a mini)

(cough)

"Wishbone" I forgot the mini didn't have an axle. :-P

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

news.btinternet.com wrote:
I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks


IIRC from a number of years ago Indespension used to supply traier
parts. I built a luggage traiter using their suspension units - you
could specify the stub axel required, depending on the hub/wheel you
could find in a scrapyard. I have no current experience.

Malcolm

On Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:29:56 GMT, Malcolm Race wrote:


|IIRC from a number of years ago Indespension used to supply traier
|parts.

Still do http://www.indespension.co.uk/
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Please quote, with quote
character, previous post sniped to only the bit you are replying to.
Threads often contain 100s of posts dozens layers deep. Other people
use different newsreaders, they do not see or do what you see and do.

HI

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 16:56:24 +0000 (UTC), "news.btinternet.com"
wrote:

I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks


Depends on how small / light you're after....

I obtained the chassis from a scrapped caravan (£20) and had it cut
down (thought 19ft long was a bit excessive !). Local garage did some
welding, I added plywood sides, hinges, lighting board and there you
go..... trailer takes 8ft x 4ft sheets flat between the wheelarches...

Resulting trailer carries between 1/2 - 1 tonne of firewood - looks
ugly but works well g. Not the lightest of things to lug around
though - original chassis is (thick) box section steel tube....

Maybe you were thinking of something smaller ?

Adrian
======return email munged=================
take out the papers and the trash to reply

On Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:29:56 GMT, Malcolm Race
wrote:

news.btinternet.com wrote:
I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks


IIRC from a number of years ago Indespension used to supply traier
parts. I built a luggage traiter using their suspension units - you
could specify the stub axel required, depending on the hub/wheel you
could find in a scrapyard. I have no current experience.

I'm not sure you can do that any more Malcolm (if you were doing the
brakes bit).

I built my 1/2 tonne braked trailer using Morris Minor stub axles /
brake drums (and it still running fine some 20 years later) but I
think now you can only use 'purpose built' trailer brake / stub axle
assemblies?

Maybe if you go for a car conversion (where you retain the donor brake
system) you can get round it (probably because it's not 'new' but a
conversion)??

Also my trailer has the simple sprung 'overrun' brake actuator and I
think new-builds must be damped ..?

All the best ..

T i m

In article
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
The back axle of a small car(a mini)

(cough)

"Wishbone" I forgot the mini didn't have an axle. :-P

It doesn't have wishbones either.

Rob Morley wrote:
In article
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
The back axle of a small car(a mini)

(cough)

"Wishbone" I forgot the mini didn't have an axle. :-P

It doesn't have wishbones either.

Damn! it must have been the Hillman Imp then?

I am getting on you know.

--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

"The3rd Earl Of Derby" wrote in message
. uk...
Rob Morley wrote:
In article
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Chris Bacon wrote:
The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
The back axle of a small car(a mini)

(cough)

"Wishbone" I forgot the mini didn't have an axle. :-P

It doesn't have wishbones either.

Damn! it must have been the Hillman Imp then?

I am getting on you know.

Am I the only one wondering how you can build a *car* trailer by using *one*
car axle.
Don't you think it will be a bit overloaded with a trailer and a car on it?

Maybe a couple of axles from a transit?

I would go with the Indespension units myself.

Maybe the OP didn't mean car trailer when he said it?

dennis@home wrote:

Am I the only one wondering how you can build a *car* trailer by
using *one* car axle.
Don't you think it will be a bit overloaded with a trailer and a car
on it?


I do hope he has a landrover to pull it then.
--
Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

"news.btinternet.com" wrote in message
...
I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks


Do you mean a car transporter trailer?

Been there done that. By law any trailer over 750kg gross weight *MUST* be
braked. For transporting cars you'll need a twin-axle trailer, with running
gear big enough to carry the weight of the trailer itself and the heavyest
car you're likely to carry. Factor in a winch and ramps to your design. I
find it preferable to keep the centre of gravity low by having the road
wheels either side of the bed the carried car sits on. I had a nasty
experience once of a hired "beavertail" one with wheels under the bed and
the car high up rolling over on a motorway - not pleasant. Towcar, carried
car and trailer all written off :-(.
Buying parts off the shelf is easy enough, but braked suspension units are
not cheap, nor is the coupling.
I've found www.trailerpartswarehouse.co.uk to be very good.


I'm currently in the process of upgrading my home-built (large) box trailer
to fully braked using 4x braked indespension units from the above company.

If you mean a small box-trailer for general use, as long as you're under
750kg loaded you can get away without braking, which makes things far
cheaper.

Alan.

On Thu, 09 Feb 2006 18:57:58 GMT, "dennis@home"
wrote:


Am I the only one wondering how you can build a *car* trailer by using *one*
car axle.
Don't you think it will be a bit overloaded with a trailer and a car on it?

Maybe a couple of axles from a transit?

I would go with the Indespension units myself.

Maybe the OP didn't mean car trailer when he said it?

Like my bike trailers (trailers I tow *behind* my cycle/tandem or
motorcycle) ;-)

I read it as a 'small goods trailer' when he used the term 'light' ..
and a car transporter trailer may be quite a challenge as yer first
trailer project .. but could well be wrong?

All the best ..

T i m

Maybe the OP didn't mean car trailer when he said it?


Sorry, I meant a small trailer - maybe 6"'bt 3' bt 18" (not for carrying a
car!).

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 20:01:54 +0000 (UTC), "news.btinternet.com"
wrote:


Maybe the OP didn't mean car trailer when he said it?


Sorry, I meant a small trailer - maybe 6"'bt 3' bt 18" (not for carrying a
car!).

Phew ;-)

I used the Indespension 6'6" x 4' chassis as a starter (easier than
sourcing / designing the base at the time) and built it up from there
(it started as a 1m high box trailer for my Disco gear, sold to a
mate, bought back some years later and rebuilt down to your 18" high
idea) ;-)

I used exterior quality ply and most of it is still original (I think
I put a new floor in after 15 years) ;-)

It doesn't get used that often these days (I also have a smaller
unbraked one for the smaller jobs) but when it does it's a godsend.
(like when I had one of those tubular 1 tonne hydraulic engine cranes
I could get it in the trailer and take it elsewhere on my own) ;-)

Also the motorcycles will go in at a pinch ..

All the best and good luck ..

T i m

Alan wrote:
"news.btinternet.com" wrote in message
...
I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Before you part with any money, add it all up and compare it with the
cost of....

The Conway Carrier (if they're still available (bit basic, but mine was
£400 new complete with 10" wheels (inc a spare & bracket) jockey
wheel, tarpaulin type cover, err I think that was it.))

Also Tony Maris at www.towitall.co.uk (I think that's the right url)
sells some pretty cheap ready built.

Also try google groups and search for uk.d-i-y +trailer +build etc for
previous threads and recommendations.

Come back and let us know how you get on.

"Adrian Brentnall" adrian-the papers and the
wrote in message ...
HI

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 16:56:24 +0000 (UTC), "news.btinternet.com"
wrote:

I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would
be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks


Depends on how small / light you're after....

I obtained the chassis from a scrapped caravan (£20) and had it cut
down (thought 19ft long was a bit excessive !). Local garage did some
welding, I added plywood sides, hinges, lighting board and there you
go..... trailer takes 8ft x 4ft sheets flat between the wheelarches...

Resulting trailer carries between 1/2 - 1 tonne of firewood - looks
ugly but works well g. Not the lightest of things to lug around
though - original chassis is (thick) box section steel tube....

There are many problems with using old caravans: the suspension was
usually designed to carry a very narrow range of weights - loading a
caravan with a few melamine plates and a bottle of blue gunge doesn't
make a lot of difference to its weight - whereas a trailer may easily
have a gross weight four or five times its tare. So it will either
change considerably in height from tare to laden, or bounce around like
a pea on a drum.

A caravan old enough to be scrapped has probably got old, seized,
worn-out brakes - and trailer brake prices are ridiculously high,
particularly from places like Indespension. They may not even be
auto-reverse, which is a real pain.

Similarly, a worn-out, undamped hitch can make towing fairly miserable.

People fit all sorts of tyres to caravans, then leave them standing,
flat, for long periods. Adrian mentioned putting a ton of firewood in
his trailer, so that's an axle load of say 1500kg. For that load, you'd
need at least 97 rated tyres, which you'll be hard pressed to find in
13", not a pair of 5.60x13 crossply remoulds with a few good cracks.
Plenty of caravan wheels won't even have the correct seat profile for
tubeless tyres.

Some caravans seem to rely on the body to provide torsional stiffness,
so trailers based on them would be flexible, to say the least.

I know a lot of people use Indespension units, or copies of them, but I
find the whole principle of them very dubious. Some of the rubber
suspension beam axles (e.g. Avonride) are almost as bad, and can easily
leave you with wheels pointing in odd directions. I think there's much
to be said for the Ifor Williams approach of sticking to leaf springs.
My next trailer will almost certainly be one of theirs, although I'd
like to be convinced that their parabolic springs are sufficiently
damped.

www.towsure.co.uk have got some sound stuff about trailers and the law,
so I'd suggest reading that and then staying under your limit for an
unbraked trailer. Or get a new one off ebay for a couple of hundred
quid.


--
Kevin Poole
**Use current month and year to reply (e.g. )***
Car Transport by Tiltbed Trailer - based near Derby

T i m wrote:

I used the Indespension 6'6" x 4' chassis as a starter (easier
than sourcing / designing the base at the time) and built it up
from there (it started as a 1m high box trailer for my Disco
gear, sold to a mate, bought back some years later and rebuilt
down to your 18" high idea) ;-)

I used exterior quality ply and most of it is still original (I
think I put a new floor in after 15 years) ;-)

I started costing it all, and decided that £200 wasn't actually a bad price
considering you get brand new chassis, tyres, bearings, etc, all galvanised
and ready to go. Sometimes DIY doesn't add up to VFM.

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 16:56:24 +0000 (UTC), "news.btinternet.com"
wrote:

I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Stick with the "light" part and it's OK. Over the weight limit though
and it gets complicated - you can't re-use car brakes, you need trailer
brakes to get adequate efficiency. Read the regs (or the precis of them
in the trailer seller's catalogues) before you start.

As it's hard to find suitable donor cars anyway these days, the easiest
route is to buy a ready-assembled axle, with rubber trailer suspension
units on it. These are also a better match to typical light trailer
weight.

2" steel angle iron will weld with a cheap stick welder, you don't even
need a MIG.

Indespension, Towsure or any of the others sell plans and kits.
Definitely get tehir cataogues first.


OTOH, Halfords et al. will sell you a cheap trailer that has
low-maintenance aluminium bodywork and for not much more than the cost
and hassle of building one.

--
Cats have nine lives, which is why they rarely post to Usenet.

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 22:58:02 -0000, "Steve Walker"
wrote:

T i m wrote:

I used the Indespension 6'6" x 4' chassis as a starter (easier
than sourcing / designing the base at the time) and built it up
from there (it started as a 1m high box trailer for my Disco
gear, sold to a mate, bought back some years later and rebuilt
down to your 18" high idea) ;-)

I used exterior quality ply and most of it is still original (I
think I put a new floor in after 15 years) ;-)

I started costing it all, and decided that £200 wasn't actually a bad price
considering you get brand new chassis, tyres, bearings, etc, all galvanised
and ready to go. Sometimes DIY doesn't add up to VFM.

How true.

I recently bought a European (forget who) made 5'x4' trailer for a
'reasonable' price.

I then gave it a 'once over' and although it was probably very useable
it's wasn't how I liked it so gave it a refurb.

I probably spent (in total) something pretty close to the price of a
new trailer (and this one 'finished' still wasn't new of course) but I
enjoyed getting to know the thing and making my mark on it.

I am now 100% confident in it's abilities and would take it anywhere
... a feeling I'm not sure I would enjoy with a new one?

All the best ..

T i m

"Steve Walker" wrote in message
...
T i m wrote:

I used the Indespension 6'6" x 4' chassis as a starter (easier
than sourcing / designing the base at the time) and built it up
from there (it started as a 1m high box trailer for my Disco
gear, sold to a mate, bought back some years later and rebuilt
down to your 18" high idea) ;-)

I used exterior quality ply and most of it is still original (I
think I put a new floor in after 15 years) ;-)

I started costing it all, and decided that £200 wasn't actually a bad
price considering you get brand new chassis, tyres, bearings, etc, all
galvanised and ready to go. Sometimes DIY doesn't add up to VFM.


Can you point me to the indespension chassis you mention as I struggled to
fing it on their website?

Also, are you suggesting that you can source new parts and build a trailer
for £200?

Thanks

T i m wrote:
On Thu, 09 Feb 2006 17:29:56 GMT, Malcolm Race
wrote:


news.btinternet.com wrote:

I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks



IIRC from a number of years ago Indespension used to supply traier
parts. I built a luggage traiter using their suspension units - you
could specify the stub axel required, depending on the hub/wheel you
could find in a scrapyard. I have no current experience.


I'm not sure you can do that any more Malcolm (if you were doing the
brakes bit).

I built my 1/2 tonne braked trailer using Morris Minor stub axles /
brake drums (and it still running fine some 20 years later) but I
think now you can only use 'purpose built' trailer brake / stub axle
assemblies?

Maybe if you go for a car conversion (where you retain the donor brake
system) you can get round it (probably because it's not 'new' but a
conversion)??

Also my trailer has the simple sprung 'overrun' brake actuator and I
think new-builds must be damped ..?

All the best ..

T i m
The trailer was a lightweight luggage trailer and unbraked

Malcolm

On Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:56:06 GMT, Malcolm Race
wrote:


The trailer was a lightweight luggage trailer and unbraked

That's ok then (and why I added the "if you were doing the brakes
bit") ;-)

I don't think I *had* to have brakes (even then) but as I had the
means and interest I though it might be a good idea (and I still
believe it was). ;-)

There are times when I 'lock out' the overrun brakes (like when it's
empty) as because they are undamped it can sometimes get a bit
'choppy' if you have to brake quickly (rather than firmly) etc.

All the best ..

T i m

On Thu, 9 Feb 2006 16:56:24 +0000 (UTC), "news.btinternet.com"
wrote:

I would like to build a light car trailer. It seems that this would be
cheaper than buying one.

Can anyone point to appropriate websites for plans and parts etc.?

Or is this simply a daft idea?

Thanks


Check out eBay, then see. Small trailers sell for penuts on eBay.

Rick