Thread: Camper Trailer WIP

Looking forward to seeing the progress. I love a good trailer build thread.

If you haven't already, read through Dazzler's build or the start of mine for some tips. And if I can be of any help, let me know.

Yonnee,
I have read daz's & your trailer build threads, Couple of great Trailers there as well as great threads.

I was already aware of the lateral welding on RHS, but there is still plenty I don't know, I might take you up on your offer.

This will be my 3rd trailer, but the other 2 were both very heavy duty. Trying to keep the strenght up & the weight down on this one could be the trick.

I'll post some more pics soon, I nearly have the chassis finished now, just need to find a little time.

Steve

Gidday Ticky,

I'll be watching with great interest as I want to build one of these as well. I have been looking at doing this for quite a while now. Can you tell me what size the trailer is and what camper tent you intend using on it. Are you going to get it made or buy one alreadyt made and just bolt it on.

Would it be possible to provide dimensions for your trailer.

Cheers

Michael.

Michael,

The tent assy is in the big box in Pic 5 of my first post. Everything is there ready to bolt on. I bought it on ebay new, & it fits on a 6 x 4 or a 7 x 4. Mine is a 7 x 4. There are several very similar ones to choose from & they all start to look the same after a while, but the one I went for has the annex floor attached to the annex, not just laying under it.

I have bought the springs, axles & brakes from here http://search.stores.ebay.com.au/Tra...aravanQQsofpZ0

The RHS, 2.5 for the Chassis & 3mm for the draw bar, I bought in 8m lenghts localy. The hadest part I found was finding some one to do the pressings at a good price. I had the sides & 1/2 the floor pressed as 1 piece to join on the centre of the chassis. The front is fixed & the tail gate swings.

below is the dimensions for the chassis. The sides will depend on what tent you buy & what guards you use etc.

Hope it helps.

Steve

The chassis is nearly finished, just have to flip it to weld the other side in the down hand position. The top welds have been ground flat so there will be no lumps or bumps in the floor. Hopefully, the springs, Axel & Brakes will arrive in the next day or so but I still have a bit to go on with in the mean time. The draw bar should not take too long.

Originally Posted by mcchaddy

Gidday Ticky,

I'll be watching with great interest as I want to build one of these as well. I have been looking at doing this for quite a while now...

Cheers

Michael.

Michael, Be sure to read this thread http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=62544, inparticular, pages 3, 4 & 5 relating to where NOT to weld the drawbar.

I may be suggesting something you have already done, but if you are not sure what I am talking about, please read the thread.



I also have to put in the water tank brackets, Not sure if I will install a water tank or not, but the brackets will be in place if I decide to.

Here is a pic of the almost completed Chassis.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Steel has been orderer and I'm looking at a few differnet tents to suit the trailer. WHat size rims and tyres are you using on your trailer. What finish do you plan on using on the trailer.

I read the other threads, especially the one about not welding across the drawbar. Had a quick look at both my professionally built boat trailers and they are both welded across the drawbar.

Cheers

Michael.

Hey Mike,

I think the thing to remember when looking at proffessionaly built trailers, is that most of them are built in jigs, with a pallet load of parts all cut by machine to the same size etc. You don't need to be a 1st class welder & certainly not a boilermaker to put one together under these conditions.

If you owned a jop like this, & you employed 1 good welder to set up the machines & 3 or 4 with little or no previous welding experiance, you could turn out a dozen trailers a week without a problem.

The threads you read are giving you the correct advise. RHS should only be welded laterally, where possible. (another can of worms has just been opened) If you can get a good strong weld along both sides of the drawbaw under the front, then I would not recomend welding accross the top. The top can be & should be sealed with a paintable sealer, & the drawbar will intersect the front rail of your trailer at an angle, giving you a greater weld length than across the top anyway.

Wheels & Tyres: I bought a set of 4 Commodore Club Sport wheels & Tyres out of the paper for a pretty good price. They are 16", as I have a VY Berlina with 16" mags. My first preferance was Berlina Mags, but I could not get any at a reasonable price, so I decided to go for any 16" commodore Mag.

On the subject of wheels etc., My spare wheel will stand up infront of & across the front of the tool box. I decided to spent a couple extra dollars, about 60 I think, & buy a 10" commodore Stub Axle & Disc brake hub to mount it on. This will give me, not only a spare wheel, but a spare set of bearing already mounted in a spare hub, & all I need to change it on the side of the road is a wheel brace & a shifter. With a bit of luck, my worst case is, I wasted $60.

AS for the Finish, My brother has all the spraying equip & has sprayed a few cars. I will be finishing it with car paint to match my car, Silver. The underside will be Chassis black. I thought about dointg the tar etc, but decided on black paint. I think it should look nice with the mags etc.
The inside centre seem will also be bogged up before painting.

Steve

Originally Posted by mcchaddy

Hi Steve,

I read the other threads, especially the one about not welding across the drawbar. Had a quick look at both my professionally built boat trailers and they are both welded across the drawbar.

Cheers

Michael.

Just goes to show you that even some "professionals" don't know what they're doing when it comes to building trailers. However...
Most boat trailer I know are built with the chassis and drawbar in one piece. I'd be interested to know who built it (and how), there should be a build plate / I.D. tag somewhere on the chassis with the manufacturers name.

Originally Posted by Ticky

The chassis is nearly finished, just have to flip it to weld the other side in the down hand position. The top welds have been ground flat so there will be no lumps or bumps in the floor. Hopefully, the springs, Axel & Brakes will arrive in the next day or so but I still have a bit to go on with in the mean time. The draw bar should not take too long.


I also have to put in the water tank brackets, Not sure if I will install a water tank or not, but the brackets will be in place if I decide to.

Here is a pic of the almost completed Chassis.

Steve

Looking good Steve.

A tip for your drawbar...

Wait for your spring hangers and set them up first using the standard set-back rule, and then measure and cut your drawbar length to suit so that the drawbar ties into the spring hangers. This is so the longitudinal pull on the drawbar is pulling directly on the hangers/springs/axle rather than via your chassis.

Yonnee,

Great tip, lousy timing.

The draw bar is on, & so are the spring hangers.

While I think your tip is valid, I'm not worried about the towing stress. I believe there is more than enough strength in the chassis to cope with the stess' involved as the trailer fully loaded will be less than 1000Kg.

The drawbar is welded to the underside of the front cross member with a 6mm fillet on each side, & at the the back of the drawbar there is another crossmember with a 10mm fillet on each side. Bit of over kill I think, but an elephant is only a mouse build to my specs.

The towing stress' will be transfered to the lateral members just in front of the spring hangers. I still like your idea though.

More pics

Pic 1. Just seeing what it will look like

Pic 2. Looking forward. The 2 galv beams are not part of the trailer, just supports.

Pic 3. The spring hangers are located & welded, as are the water tank brackets & the draw bar. Not a lot to show for a full days work.

Pic 4. The draw bar is fairly long, extending nearly 1500mm from the front cross member. This is to allow me to put a tool box on the front as well as the Spare Wheel assy and an 8" swing up jocky wheel.

Pic 5. 50 x 50 x 3 angle water tank brackets mounted flush with the bottom of the trailer @ 630mm Centres.

Coming along. I hope to pick up a mig welder this week end. I have done about all I want to do with a stick now, & it is time to start welding some thin stuff.

I have to do a good job of this, My 18yo son laughed at me & told me that a home made trailer would look like a hillbilly trailer & I should just go & buy one. No way can I prove him right.

Steve

I got a bit more done this arvo, I started by painting the top with an auto primer. Then I positioned the front pannel & held in place with a clamp. On went the sides & floor & I set some stops along the outside edge of the trailer. A lille bit of clamping & dogging to line every thing up & a couple of tacks to hold it all in place.

Starting to looklike a trailer now.

Steve

Originally Posted by mcchaddy

I read the other threads, especially the one about not welding across the drawbar. Had a quick look at both my professionally built boat trailers and they are both welded across the drawbar.

Hi Michael,

If I can have 20 cents worth here I would like to highlight the reason for the emphasis on not welding across the draw bar. It is possible under long term conditions to fracture to occur at this point.
Fracture mechanics is a whole subject in itself, but I will try and simplify what it is and why we are trying to avoid it.

Consider the loaded tailer as a flexible unit. As kids we may have taken a piece of tin plate a flexed it back and forth until it broke at the line of the bend.

Think of the weld across the draw bar as the failure point.

Given the wrong set of conditions trailers with such welds have flexed in a similar fashion, cracked and failed with disastrous results.

Also something I will throw in. In assembling your trailer members by welding.Tack everything, to be welded , in place first.

The assembly as a whole resists the stress distortion raised by the welding, far better than a bit by bit welded assembly technique. Try to place your tack welds in such as position for easy removal (by grinder or chisel) in the event you do make a a fubar.

Repair of any mistake, is much easier and less stressful that way.

Secondly don,t over weld as that is the next common cause of distortion. Weld beads need to be not very much wider that the wall thickness of your tube section.

cheers
Grahame

I welded the floor from the under side today, & now I remember what it is I don't like about welding. Any way, it's done now, so that is probably the worst part of the job.

I also worked on the rear stands, capping the tops & rounding off with the grinder, welded on a couple of 50mm sq plates for feet & rounded off the corners, & I drilled an over size hole in the bottom so the bolt will go into the tube in the UP position. Even if the bold gets a little lose, it will have to nearly unscrew all the way before the stand can drop.

I welded on a big chain link to the bolts, to make an over size butterfly screw, to avoid the use of a spanner.

Then I made 4 @ 45 x 45mm caps to weld over the ends of the front & rear cross members, sealing them up. Lotts more gringing & rounding corners & edges. It's still going to hurt if anybody walks into these things, but at least they should not need stiches.

I still have to grind the centre floor seam on top where I have stiched it, & I still need to stich the front. Then I think I should be almost ready to tackle the guards, swinging tail gate & the front tool box. The Springs & Axle are ready to bolt up, but I think I will leave that for as long as I can.

I am still not sure about the water tank. I am thinking of getting a water filter instead as we will mainly be staying in caravan parks & I can still carry 60lts in jerry cans if we go bush. Need to give this more thought.

The jocky wheel that was delivered is the wrong one. supposed to be a swing up & it is a clamp on. I will sort that out tomorrow.

So far, I am happy with the way this project is turning out. Looking forward to seeing the trailer painted & the tent fitted, the it will be back to the woodwork to fit it out .


Steve

Looking good Ticky!