Thread: Folding trailers

Hi All. First post, but spent quite a bit of time reading various section on this forum, so I joined to see the photos.

I am contemplating refurbishing my Dad's trailer which is registered here in Vic.

He built it in the 60s and it has a main round drawbar about 80mm with which ties to a cross bar near the front spring hangers and inch angle side stabiliser type jobbies on it from the apex of the bar to the front of the frame. The balance of the frame is inch or inch and a half angle with additions by me about 10 years ago made out of remnants of the Doncaster Shoppingtown Telecommunications MDF (inch and a half angle).

It was originally designed as a camper trailer firm him and Mum and is the size of a double bed mattress, so an odd size of 1370x1870 or thereabouts.

I replaced the non weatherproof chipboard about 15 years ago with gal sheet which is now starting to get a bit of tinworm.I also replaced the 1 7/8" towing coupling at that time and have since put LED lights onto it that are a little more protected than the original ones.

The trailer is not really big enough for what I want to do with camping and dirt bikes etc and it is a PITA to store as it lives on the front lawn and the missus is not keen on looking at it.

The death knell came when one of the wheel bearings was a bit loose and I mentioned it to Dad and he said, "no problems, just go to Repco and get a front wheelbearing set for a Mark 1 Zephyr". Yeah, right. We tightened it up and it is OK though.

The springs are enormous but really soft based on the lathe I had in there (about 500KG) which dropped it onto the bump stops. It towed OK, but I was very cautious with it.

Anyway, enough about that. I have been seeing these folding trailers on the intarwebs and have been reading plotting scheming and planning with the view that if I clean enbough crap out of the garage, I might be able to get a folding trailer in there.

I have done a search of the forum but have found no mention of a folding trailer here unless it was for a boat.

I dont like the look of the Harbour Freight Chinese units as they look flimsy, despite many good reports about travelling 100,0000 miles carrying 10 tons and never had a flat tire etc.

I reckon it would be simple enough to construct, with a steel frame and maybe ally checkerplate or steel checkerplate on the deck, Socketed sides and front using 40mm tube with pins and R clips and a big hinge just after the rear spring hanger made out of pipe. Couple of fittings to put casters on it when end up to move it about etc. The drawbar I haven't figured out just yet, because of the length, but maybe it can be socketed too.

Am I a mad scientist or is this doable?

I have been looking at the Single Axle non braked trailer kits from Huntsman products and they seem reasonable. 750KG is all I would need.

SINGLE AXLE NON BRAKED - DIY TRAILER KITS

All insights or opinions appreciated.

Cheers

Fred.