trailers

[Ian Barkley]

I have been looking at trailers for 7's and with a thought to saving both money and weight am considering building one. Does anyone have any experience of this?

 

I have penciled out some ideas for a 'space frame' four wheeled chassis which could tip for loading, and unloading. I think this could be much lighter than the Minno at 825lbs.

 

Any thoughts on sourcing suitable wheels, suspension systems???

 

Thanks for any ideas.

 

Ian

 

Edited by - Ian Barkley on 7 Jul 2001 09:54:12

[Paul Ranson]

Any thoughts on sourcing suitable wheels, suspension systems???

 

Everybody seems to use Avonride for all the difficult bits, couplings/brakes/suspension/wheels.

 

No idea what the bits cost in one off quantities. A search on google turns up mostly trailer manufacturers....

 

Paul

 

 

[Blatman]

GT towing in Potters Bar seem to sell everything, including Indespension suspension units, an alternative to what Brian James uses. I have just bought a Minno, and I'd be very surprised if it weighed as much as you say. Where did you get the weight figure fromquestion.gif With my 615 kg Westf1eld loaded, the total weight (825 / 2.25 = 366.6666) would be 981.66666kg's, yet I can move the combined load easily on my own.

Oh, it's an absolute dream to tow with too. You hardly notice the extra weight, except up hills of course, and it's easy to park and reverse.

[tony isherwood]

You could try a trawl through the archives on this. I think that (unless you are V good at self build) I would not want entrust my pride and joy ( car as well) on top of a home brewed trailer. Also from memory, I think that a trailer of the capacity to take a seven has to be hydraulically braked and have a certificate / plated. (could be wrong on the last bit).

 

FWIW I built a 4 wheeled goods trailer using mini hubs and wire operated brakes. After a repaint and tidy up of the trailer, I was stopped by mr plod ( Faulty break light, rectified by a slap of the hand on the lens) and asked how old the trailer was. I said about 15 / 20 years and that I had just tidied it. The conversation went along the lines that I would not be able to do that now as the regulations had changed.

[Paul R.]

I have recently built a trailer. It was built to carry my 7 and also to be used to carry another race car (not at the same time!).

The criteria was that it should be the largest trailer to fit in a standard single private car garage and fit through the normal up and over door. I measured up a minno and also the PRG equivalent and made a cross between the two. In fact the trailer is a little longer than both. I was fortunate to obtain (from a caravan manufacturer) 2 full width avonride type axles along with hitch. I had the runways folded by local engineers from 5mm sheet steel (cost £60).

I was fortunate to obtain the parts at a very cheap price. Had I not done so, I would probably have used Towsure (in Sheffield) as they are much cheaper than others. Suggest you obtain a copy of their catalogue (tel no. 0114 234 0542 or 0114 234 1656).

If you need any dimensions, please feel free to e-mail me.

If you do decide to build, suggest that you have it galvanised (cost me about £150, but well worth it). If you do go for galvanising, make sure you design the trailer with no closed box sections, to enable galvaising to flow around and out.

Paul R.

 

[Graham Perry]

I have built about 6 trailers over the years of various sizes. It used to be very cost effective to do this, either getting the parts from GT towing or D Irelands in Norfolk, but with the various changes in legislation re the braking systems used,I don't this it is any longer cost effective to do so. I wanted a new car transporter for my Caterham two years ago and when I priced up the bits it came to within about 250 quid of a discounted new trailer and then there was my time, and the welding etc. For small trailers ie up to about 1/2 tonne unbraked you can still build them cheap, but anything bigger where brakes are needed it was better to buy new. In the end I bought a PRG that they made to my spec, like Paul R it needed to go into a garage so needed to be a specific width. It was worth every penny.

[Ian Barkley]

Thanks for all your comments and contacts. I am now completely torn between the idea of building a trailer or buying one. The legislation issues are new to me and I will have to investigate further.

 

Thanks Ian

[rjc]

Don't build your own unless you want keep it for life. I had a friend who works in a Trailer business make a 7 by 14 ft flatbed twin axle trailer with an awning, that would also take the car. I've used it Twice to take the Caterham to Track days in France and Belguim and countless times to get wood, transport piano's, help people move etc.

 

(Moral, trailers are best if they can move other things as well as cars !)

 

Because we used avonride type suspension instead of leaf springs I now cannot sell it. (I'm moving to a place where I cannot store it, it's too big for a garage - way too big !)Comercial purchasers want the carrying capacity of leaf springs, car persons don't want something that big.

 

I should have paid the money and bought a Minno, you can sell them if you need to, the cost saving eventually was negligible.

 

 

[ian c]

there is a company advertises in the manchester loot.....

"building your own trailer ? then buy one of our old caravans for 200 quid..........etc, "

 

something along the lines of it being cheaper to mod a caravan chassis .

 

not sure on lagality of this , i am NOT recommending it !!

 

ian c

[Graham Perry]

I wouldn't contemplate mod'ing a caravan chasis. The suspension units and tow hitch on a caravan chassis have a very low weight limit often only as little as 300 kg but matched to a large Chassis. The amount of strengthening required is enormous and in the end is would be quicker to build your own. Adding Steel may take away 50kgs of the load ability as well . Who wants a 12 foot trailer with a quarter tonne payload, not me. Having said that there may be scope in a twin axle caravan for a car transporter, but again the weight limit would probably be very low. I have looked at numerous trailers made this way over the years and not seen a good one yet. (Customers used to bring trailers to my fathers garage to fix as he din't mind working on them)

 

Edited by - Graham Perry on 10 Jul 2001 07:06:22

[Baby Bucket]

Ian,

 

Just to confirm that the Minno weighs 375Kg and the brakes are operated by rod and cables (not hydraulic).

 

As regards Blatman being able to move the combined load easily on my own, he must be a lot fitter than me. The small slope on my drive means that it is impossibe to move with Baby Bucket attached (except downhill wink.gif.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

 

PS Does anyone hire Minno trailers ?

 

[sclemow]

Baby Bucket,

I'm suprised you can't move your minno and seven together.

I've found the same as Blatman, easy to push around and tows like a dream.

As mentioned previously one of the biggest advantages of a minno is that it is dead easy to sell afterwards

cheers

Simon