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Car trailor design plans

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:33 pm
by ludacris
Does anybody have design plans for a car carrying trailor or where I can download them from. Thanks.

LudaCris

Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:45 pm
by Gutless
Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.

Image
Image

Peter

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:00 am
by bigfella13

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:00 am
by PJ.zook
Has anyone made one from an old mallard caravan chassis? Ive got one of em lying around is all, well its still got the rest of the body on it and full of my junk, but its sitting right where i will put my shed eventually so it will be trashed.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:10 pm
by badger
i kno of a guy that made one from a millard caravan chassis. it worked great for his zook.
then he leant it to someone who towed a gq about 5k's with it. it bent

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 1:39 pm
by zagan
Gutless wrote:Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.

Peter
why did you do the ramps angled?

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 3:11 pm
by Mark2
zagan wrote:
Gutless wrote:Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.

Peter
why did you do the ramps angled?
My guess is that it was to keep the COG as low as possible while still getting the width advantage of putting the load over the wheels instead of between the wheels.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:25 pm
by want33s
PJ.zook wrote:Has anyone made one from an old mallard caravan chassis? Ive got one of em lying around is all, well its still got the rest of the body on it and full of my junk, but its sitting right where i will put my shed eventually so it will be trashed.
By the time you reinforce the caravan chassis to carry a car it will be one big ugly HEAVY mongrel thing.
Much better to keep the axle/s & springs from the van and build a new trailer.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:32 pm
by RED60
Mark2 wrote:
zagan wrote:
Gutless wrote:Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.

Peter
why did you do the ramps angled?
My guess is that it was to keep the COG as low as possible while still getting the width advantage of putting the load over the wheels instead of between the wheels.
Don't get me wrong Gutless, it's a fine trailer. However any that I've had a hand in, I always make them as versitile as possible ie have sides and fully sheeted bottom so they can be used for more than 1 purpose.... there is of course a down side, every bastard wants to borrow it to move house, take a big load to the tip bla bla.... :D :D as has been said, find 1 you like and start measuring..

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:26 pm
by CRUSHU
Gutless wrote:Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.

Image
Image

Peter

That is nearly 100% what I'm thinking of building for my F150, although I will need to make it a bit wider, and mount the clearance lights on the side.

How does it go strenght wise?

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:35 pm
by macca81
i have been thinking about designs for trailers for our rover crews mudbash buggy... will be doing it for my BP Award (for those in rovers or have been rovers you will know what i mean).

until reading this thread i hadnt worked out how to keep the COG low without having the trailer 2ft wider than it had to be. this looks the goods.




is that the ramps sitting in the middle held down with the ratchet? how well does it handle on the road?





outa curiosity, has anyone put stands on the corners of trailers to stablise it all to be able to work on it? like a jockey wheel without the wheel, or chassis stands or anything like that?

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:04 pm
by CRUSHU
I would need to make it nearly 5m long, and 2.4 wide.

Are you allowed to have the tyres overhanging the sides of the trailer? not the body of the truck, just the tyres. outside edge of sidewall to outside edge of sidewall is about 2.45m on my F150.

I would also make the tyre tracks over the arches narrower, and run another set of tracks in between the arches, for my race car.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:33 pm
by Mark2
bigfella13 wrote:saw this on ebay the other day
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/How-to-build-a-C ... dZViewItem
He's sold a lot of plans recently - looking at the feedback. I suspect a lot of people underestimate how much $$$$ is involved in just the steel alone, let alone the axles, wheels, braking system, lights, coupler, paint etc.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:39 pm
by just cruizin'
You should be ok with the tyres overhanging, the excavators do it all the time with thier tracks over the edge. Make sure your are within 2.5m though as this is the maximum legal width of a vehicle other then that you need "Wide Load" signage and I think a special class on your licence

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 9:43 pm
by CRUSHU
Yes, I measured a few times, to make sure it was less than 2.5 m wide.

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:17 am
by KiwiBacon
Gutless wrote:Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.
Peter
Nice job, do you know what it weighs?

All the hire companies around here have trailers that are all variations on the same theme. They're also around 700kg plus.

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:30 pm
by Gutless
Mark2 wrote:
zagan wrote:
Gutless wrote:Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.

Peter
why did you do the ramps angled?
My guess is that it was to keep the COG as low as possible while still getting the width advantage of putting the load over the wheels instead of between the wheels.
Bingo :armsup:

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:33 pm
by Eddy
Weight is always a bit catch22-ish

To get a trailer to carry 2-3 tonnes it's usually nearly a tonne itself. Takes a fairly cunning design to rectify that situation.
The gutless one looks like it may be fairly light ... under 600 maybe??

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:37 pm
by Gutless
RED60 wrote:
Mark2 wrote:
zagan wrote:
Gutless wrote:Most companies keep this type of info close to heart. My suggestion is that you find a trailer you like and start measuring :D

I made this one last year for the GF's brother. Its 3.6m bed, 2350 wide, and regitered to 3.5t.

Peter
why did you do the ramps angled?
My guess is that it was to keep the COG as low as possible while still getting the width advantage of putting the load over the wheels instead of between the wheels.
Don't get me wrong Gutless, it's a fine trailer. However any that I've had a hand in, I always make them as versitile as possible ie have sides and fully sheeted bottom so they can be used for more than 1 purpose.... there is of course a down side, every bastard wants to borrow it to move house, take a big load to the tip bla bla.... :D :D as has been said, find 1 you like and start measuring..
I hear ya! Its caught me out a few times having such a purpose built trailer, but thats what the customer wanted :D

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:55 pm
by Gutless
macca81 wrote:
is that the ramps sitting in the middle held down with the ratchet? how well does it handle on the road?
Ramps are held down in centre. This trailer tows like an absolute dream!!! I have towed heaps of differnt car trailers and this is by far the best i have used.

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:00 pm
by Gutless
Forgot to mention that the trailer only weighed in at 600kg with spare and ramps!!

With a zook on the back you hardly notice it at all :armsup:

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:18 pm
by KiwiBacon
Eddy wrote:Weight is always a bit catch22-ish

To get a trailer to carry 2-3 tonnes it's usually nearly a tonne itself. Takes a fairly cunning design to rectify that situation.
The gutless one looks like it may be fairly light ... under 600 maybe??
A cunning design it is indeed.

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:14 pm
by Eddy
:cool: so ... the decking? is it ally or gal?
?and smooth!? I'da thought maybe checker at least.
Any issues with traction when loading?

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 3:26 pm
by Gutless
Eddy wrote::cool: so ... the decking? is it ally or gal?
?and smooth!? I'da thought maybe checker at least.
Any issues with traction when loading?
Steel floor. Now has 1.6 ally checker plate on top of that for grip :D

The floor was painted in a nonslip paint, but when an oily comp-smashed rig was loaded, there was little grip so on went the checker plate.

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:03 pm
by Eddy
:cool: Any danger of getting my grubby little fingers on some drawings? :D

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 6:24 pm
by Gutless
Eddy wrote::cool: Any danger of getting my grubby little fingers on some drawings? :D
I've had a few people ask now. Perhaps I'll put them on Ebay :D

And on that note, someone raised the point earlier that people often overlook the cost of steel when making a trailer of this size. With axles, lights, suspension, wiring steel, paint and brakes this trailer cost about $4k to make. I have quoted on this exact trailer for others in the past and not had even as much as a nibble :D Few people are willing to part with the $6 - 7k for them ;)

Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:33 pm
by Ruggers
down the centre and even for the wheel tracks i used expanded mesh, you and still use it for carrying over stuff its light and when you wash off the mud it just falls though the mesh gaps,

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:59 pm
by Mark2
Are rocker/load sharing springs worth the extra $$$ over dual slipper springs?

What brakes do people recomend? - electric? hydraulic override? mechanical override?

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 7:23 am
by CWBYUP
Just buy the plans off e-bay like i did !!!

Nick

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:03 pm
by ludacris
CWBYUP wrote:Just buy the plans off e-bay like i did !!!

Nick
Why not email your plans to me to save me a couple of $$$$. :finger:

LudaCris