Hi All,

I am looking to fir a draw bar onto my trailer so as to make it a
little longer to accomodate a box to put my gas bottles in.

what I think I want is something that is either U section or
rectangular section so that i can bolt one end of it where the hitch
currently bolts on and bolt the hitch onto it. length will be about
600mm.

As I will be bolting the trailer end of it to a flat plate, I think
rectangular section might be needed, as if I use an inverted U then
then it might spread (though I could put a solid spacer under i
suppose.

Assuming you can make any sense of the above,

Where is the best place to buy the "bar"? Steel Stockholders? Trailer
supplier? Metal fabricators?


And what should I buy? I haven't measured the hight and witdth of the
hitch yet, but I would imagine I am wanting something like 50mm wide by
60mm high.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi All,

I am looking to fir a draw bar onto my trailer so as to make it a
little longer to accomodate a box to put my gas bottles in.

what I think I want is something that is either U section or
rectangular section so that i can bolt one end of it where the hitch
currently bolts on and bolt the hitch onto it. length will be about
600mm.

As I will be bolting the trailer end of it to a flat plate, I think
rectangular section might be needed, as if I use an inverted U then
then it might spread (though I could put a solid spacer under i
suppose.

Assuming you can make any sense of the above,

Where is the best place to buy the "bar"? Steel Stockholders? Trailer
supplier? Metal fabricators?


And what should I buy? I haven't measured the hight and witdth of the
hitch yet, but I would imagine I am wanting something like 50mm wide by
60mm high.


50mm x 50mm 3mm wall box section from any steel stock holder's off cut rack

However by placing gas bottles so far in front of the axle it will
considerably increase the nose weight of the trailer possibly to more than
your car allows and also maybe make the trailer unstable

Further there will be considerable stress at the joint of existing and new
bits. Better to replace the whole existing draw bar part of the trailer

Tony

I am looking to fir a draw bar onto my trailer so as to make it a
little longer to accomodate a box to put my gas bottles in.

Putting gas bottles at the front is bad for two reasons. Firstly, it may tip
the weight forward too much, making it impossible to get nose weight down.
Secondly, it puts a large mass at a large distance from the axle, making the
trailer much more unstable. It is far better to distribute any large masses
near the axle to reduce its moment.

If it is a large trailer and only a small weight of gas, then you might get
away with it. However, if you can contrive a way of storing the bottles near
the middle, then this would still be a superior solution.

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:
I am looking to fir a draw bar onto my trailer so as to make it a
little longer to accomodate a box to put my gas bottles in.

Putting gas bottles at the front is bad for two reasons. Firstly, it may tip
the weight forward too much, making it impossible to get nose weight down.
Secondly, it puts a large mass at a large distance from the axle, making the
trailer much more unstable. It is far better to distribute any large masses
near the axle to reduce its moment.

If it is a large trailer and only a small weight of gas, then you might get
away with it. However, if you can contrive a way of storing the bottles near
the middle, then this would still be a superior solution.

Christian.

Bah!

I think i'll have to abandon the idea of putting the bottles out front.


The original problem is how to squeeze 2 x 40L Aquarolls into a pint
pot. Putting them out front would mean adding about 400mm to the
length which would make the total length of the trailer about 3M!

I think perhaps I need to think about going up rather than forward.
Perhaps by putting some sort of rack on the fridge box and putting the
Aquarolls up there. Or maybe by finding a way to attach a set of roof
bars to the trailer so I can strap the Aquarolls up there.

I think perhaps I need to think about going up rather than forward.
Perhaps by putting some sort of rack on the fridge box and putting the
Aquarolls up there. Or maybe by finding a way to attach a set of roof
bars to the trailer so I can strap the Aquarolls up there.

I'm not sure 90kg up 2m high above the axle is much better...

From a physics point of view, an underslung attachment just fore and aft of
the axle would be best, if this can be accommodated by the trailer structure
without road safety issues.

Christian.

Christian McArdle wrote:
I think perhaps I need to think about going up rather than forward.
Perhaps by putting some sort of rack on the fridge box and putting the
Aquarolls up there. Or maybe by finding a way to attach a set of roof
bars to the trailer so I can strap the Aquarolls up there.

I'm not sure 90kg up 2m high above the axle is much better...

From a physics point of view, an underslung attachment just fore and aft of
the axle would be best, if this can be accommodated by the trailer structure
without road safety issues.

Christian.

Eh?

90K? Surely not?

Oh, perhaps you are thinking i'm going to transport them full??

No, they'll be empty during transit and while i've not checked, I can't
see them weighing that much.

Also the trailer only has sides appriox 400mm high, so I can't see the
bottom of the suggested load bars being more than 1M above the axle and
probably not even that.

Another thought might be to increase the height of the box on the
trailer 6 - 8 inches or so in order to squeeze a little more in.
hmm.... the manufacturer might even have a kit for it.

Oh, perhaps you are thinking i'm going to transport them full??

Indeed. Although I'm confused now. First it was gas bottles, now it is empty
Aquarolls. Just what are you transporting? Do you mean that you need to
shift the Aquarolls out of the way to make room for the gas bottles?

Christian.

The message . com
from contains these words:

90K? Surely not?

Oh, perhaps you are thinking i'm going to transport them full??

Some might, if they were heading for somewhere with no water supply.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

The message . com
from contains these words:


Another thought might be to increase the height of the box on the
trailer 6 - 8 inches or so in order to squeeze a little more in.
hmm.... the manufacturer might even have a kit for it.

Or another little trailer to tow behind the trailer to put the barrels in?

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

The message .com
from contains these words:

I think perhaps I need to think about going up rather than forward.
Perhaps by putting some sort of rack on the fridge box and putting the
Aquarolls up there. Or maybe by finding a way to attach a set of roof
bars to the trailer so I can strap the Aquarolls up there.

Provided they're empty, that'd be fine. Or even up front as they'll
weigh so much less than gas bottles.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

The message
from "Christian McArdle" contains
these words:

If it is a large trailer and only a small weight of gas, then you might get
away with it. However, if you can contrive a way of storing the bottles near
the middle, then this would still be a superior solution.

Panniers over the wheel arches?

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In article
Guy King wrote:
The message
from "Christian McArdle" contains
these words:

If it is a large trailer and only a small weight of gas, then you might get
away with it. However, if you can contrive a way of storing the bottles near
the middle, then this would still be a superior solution.

Panniers over the wheel arches?


Or just fore/aft, to keep the weight low. Probably not the safest thing
to have sticking out the side, though, and it might wreak havoc with the
aerodynamics.

The message
from Rob Morley contains these words:

Or just fore/aft, to keep the weight low. Probably not the safest thing
to have sticking out the side, though, and it might wreak havoc with the
aerodynamics.

Trailers don't do "aerodynamics". Except Airstream caravans of course.
And possibly those little trailers made from a top-box.
http://china-centralsupply.en.alibab...s_Trailer.html

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

In article
Guy King wrote:
The message
from Rob Morley contains these words:

Or just fore/aft, to keep the weight low. Probably not the safest thing
to have sticking out the side, though, and it might wreak havoc with the
aerodynamics.

Trailers don't do "aerodynamics".

I was thinking that they mostly sit in the wake of the car, and
extending the width might cause buffeting at the sides.

The message .com
from contains these words:

Where is the best place to buy the "bar"? Steel Stockholders? Trailer
supplier? Metal fabricators?

Go to your local back street metal fabricators and ask 'em to do it for
it. If you're near Telford, drop me an email.

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to have a join where you're thinking
of having a join, unless it's consdierably reinforced.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.