Thread: Tassie Tiger Trailer Reno

This sounds like an interesting refurb.
I do hope you'll document it here
Cheers
Jim

Morning Yonnee,

re the above post and your reply regarding the alterations to the existing draw bar. Is the 6' 6" measured on the angle or in a straightline from the front panel of the trailer body to the coupling? The photo below shows the difference in the two measurement points.

Attachment 189138

The white marker shows the length measured on the angle from the beginning of the existing draw bar at the point where it is attached to the second cross member of the trailer chassis. The grey longer marker shows 6' 6" measured from the front panel of the trailer body.

Other photos show the various components of the trailer and the stage it is at at the moment.

Attachment 189134

Attachment 189135

Attachment 189136

Attachment 189137

As you can see the axle does not have wheel hubs as such.(If I understand my terminology correctly)

Your continued advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

The questions are starting to come thick and fast now Yonnee That's the trouble with rainy days one tends to spend too much time on the web

Re the axle change, hubs, electric brakes etc is this the sort of thing I should be looking for?

10 inch Electric Drum Braked 45mm square Axle Assembled! TRAILER PARTS | eBay

They talk about 10 inch electric drum braked. My existing rims are 14 inch so a bit confused

How does that price stack up?

Cheers
Wayne

Ok here is another find from ebay

eBay Australia: Buy new & used fashion, electronics & home d

This one would appear to have everything you mentioned in your first answer Yonnee plus 9 leaf springs as opposed to the 5 leaf ones that I already have that came with the trailer. Freight could be a killer though Would the bigger springs lift the trailer higher eg. it currently sits level with tow vehicle when connected? Do I need the bigger springs? Will my 14 inch rims fit?

Your thoughts?

Wow, so much so quickly.

My 6'6" measurement was from the from of the existing cross rail. The extra length over my normal 5' is so that when you add your 500mm wide box across the front, you'll still have 5' from the front of the box.

What you have on the end of your existing axle are hubs. When brakes are added, they're called hub-drums or brake hubs. 10" is the diameter of the brake shoes, also the inside machined diameter of the brake drum.

I would suggest buying the axle either fully assembled, or at least with the brake flanges welded on. Without a jig, these are very difficult to get exactly right, which is critical for correct brake operation.

There are so many traps for buying this stuff on ebay, as there is so much rubbish being sourced from China. Chinese copies of brakes, drums, couplings and bearings, all mostly inferior to the quality product they're copying.

Yonnee responses regarding the draw bar length.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tassie Tiger
Hello Yonnee thanks for the welcome

Some sound advice there which will need me to rethink things and get the tape measure out. Just a clarifying question. The new 6'6'' draw bar - is that measurement along the angle or off the front of the trailer in a straight line to the coupling?
I usually allow around 5' from the front, straight out. I place a jack stand at this point and then measure from there back to the spring hangers. This gives me a cut length for the drawbar beams themselves. I'll usually then round this to the nearest 50mm.

TT response
So with regard to my photo above the white marker is at exactly 5 feet from the front of the trailer. My cut length will be 2050mm(sorry about the mix of measurement types)

Quote:
The axle point is placed 1/2" rearward of centre for every foot of main body, excluding drawbar. So a 6' x 4' trailer, the axle should be 3" to the rear of centre. My suggestion to just lengthen the drawbar and add the box on front will only add to the towing stability and reversing capability of the trailer while only adding a small amount of ball weight, but this can depend entirely how you pack/load the trailer.


TT response
No probs with any of that Thanks Yonnee I will start getting the materials and tee up my welding mate to make the changes to the draw bar

Originally Posted by Tassie Tiger

Morning Yonnee,


Attachment 189135

I have a bit of a concern now seeing this picture.

There doesn't seem to be much of a chassis rail running from front to rear. I would say it's a piece of angle iron wrapped round the corner of the floor & side. To up this trailer's capacity to 1450Kg, I would remove the hangers, trim back the cross rails and add in a length of SHS down each side (bring it up to the same level as the front cross rail). Also, with front cross rail being angle iron, the drawbar is usually welded across the front, which is a big no-no.

Originally Posted by Yonnee

I have a bit of a concern now seeing this picture.

There doesn't seem to be much of a chassis rail running from front to rear. I would say it's a piece of angle iron wrapped round the corner of the floor & side.

TT: Correct see photo below which shows how the current drawer bar is attached. The angle iron is 50x50

Attachment 189164

To up this trailer's capacity to 1450Kg, I would remove the hangers, trim back the cross rails and add in a length of SHS down each side (bring it up to the same level as the front cross rail).

TT: So that would mean using 50x50 SHS? If I did that would that then mean once the springs were reinstalled the trailer would sit higher than the tow vehicle?

Also, with front cross rail being angle iron, the drawbar is usually welded across the front, which is a big no-no.

TT: not sure what you mean re this?

Originally Posted by Tassie Tiger

So that would mean using 50x50 SHS? If I did that would that then mean once the springs were reinstalled the trailer would sit higher than the tow vehicle?

You could use either 40mm or 50mm SHS, and yes it will raise the trailer slightly, by 40 or 50mm. The problem with building a chassis from angle iron like they have, is all the torsional rigidity in the structure of the trailer is in the sheet metal, guards and tie rails connecting everything together. Adding two rails front to rear, and tying them to the cross rails, will greatly strengthen the trailer so it will comfortably handle 1450Kg.

When trailers are built form angle iron like yours is, the cheats way to attach the drawbar is to weld straight across the front of the drawbar beam where it touches the angle cross rail. Who ever built yours has put a little thought into it by putting the SHS in where the two meet. It doesn't really matter as you're going to remove it anyway, but when you re-attach, make sure the welds are only run longtudinally down the drawbar. Any weld across the drawbar at this point will lead to cracking of the drawbar around the weld and eventual failure.

Ok thanks for that clarification Yonnee

Have investigated axle kits a bit more and it would appear nearly all the stuff comes from China. I can buy a kit from our one and only trailer parts supplier down here which is basically the same as the one ebay for $600. The price down here is $790. Freight on the one on ebay is $50 so I am considering whether $140 extra is worth paying.

Have priced the steel for the draw bar and chassis frame modifications. Now I know why I work with wood. Got a welding mate coming for a meal on Thursday and a look see at what I want to do. He recently built his own boat trailer so he should have some useful tips as well.

Thanks for your input to date and hopefully I can keep you up to date on how it all progresses.

Cheers

Hello Yonnee if you are out there Hope you had a good Christmas?

I have been fiddling around with the axle kit that arrived just before Christmas looking at the assembly of the electric brakes. The backing plate has not come attached to the axle and I note from your earlier post that this can be a problem as one needs a jig to be able to get the position of the plate for welding to the axle exactly right.

Your advice on positioning the backing plate would be very useful at the moment.

Response from Yonnee via pm

"Hey TT.
The trick is taking the time to get the mounting plate not only square with the axle, but central to the axle (if it's a sloppy fit), and then the correct setback. For the backing plate/brake assembly to be in its correct location for optimum performance, the front face of the mount plate needs to be 22mm back from the lip where the inner bearing journal meets the seal journal."

Ah um er........sorry but I don't understand the terminology re bearing journal and seal journal

OK, I'll go slow...
The axle is machined from a solid length of steel. The "journal" is the surface machined on the axle that either the bearing or the seal run on. Starting at the outside the axle has a thread cut into it. Then the outer bearing journal, followed by a taper, then the inner bearing journal, then the seal journal.

Ok I'll take some photos of my axle and label what I understand to be the various "bits" you are talking about. Might take me a little while to get back with a post.