Thread: tilt car trailer build

looks like a great trailer well done! I will be stealing some ideas off that for a caravan chassis I have that will be converted to a car carrier.

The diagonal RHS that is under the alloy plate...what size is that and is it handling the load of the car ok?

Cheers

the rhs is 75 mm x 50 mm x 3 mm sunday will be the big test as it's race day and its about a 150ks round trip will give a report on how it tows when we get back .
only things to add are a couple of jerry can holders and a tyre rack i bit later down the track

cheers dean

Hey, is that an air con on your shed roof? That's not fair. There should be a separate category for trailers built in air conditioned workshops! No wonder it is such a good job! Congrats and enjoy your talent and workmanship.

lol yeah the air con come off the house when we changed to a bigger unit even tho it's just a tin shed with no insulatiaon atm it makes a big difference . on the look out now for a small slow combustion heater its getting cold in there at nights now )

yeah the swampy is the go. Got one on the workshop at work.

Certainally knocks off a few deg inside.

hi all just a update
trailer has now clicked over 3 trips to the track and to rescue a mate about 250 ks away so its now done around 800ks .
i got under it yesterday just to check nuts bolts ect ect and found the u bolt nuts around the axle where a little loose i suspect as the springs settled they had worked loose only half a turn each but i took them right off and used loctite on them and better quaility spring washers than was supplied with the axle kit .
i adjusted the brakes just a tad and took some slack out of the handbrake cable and checked the whhel bearings for looseness all ok there.

so far im very happy with it it tows very straight and true no chasing the steering wheel its so quite no rattles or thumps when going over potholes only thing to add is some jerry can holders and a tyre rack a bit later on .
i had been given a electric brake controller but we fitted that into a friends ute so he can use the trailer as well till we finish his trailer and i bought a tekonsha I Q model come with all the wiring from the unit to the back of the car and under bonnet hardware $ 110,00 bucks of ebay . i fitted it up into my ba in the tissuie box area out of the way but in easy reach of both driver and passanger .
so thats it for this build very happy with the final product and save a bucketload of money in the process .
about to start one identical to this one in every way for my friend who helped me with this one " thanks travis" and have a order for a more basic one from a club member just straight axles no drop axles no tilt steel floor ect ect .
so what started out as a project to save some money has ended up making a few bucks lol
thanks for all your advice along the way

cheers dean

Looks great

I had similar problems with my U bolt nuts coming loose. I loctited them and also put an extra nut on each one to be sure. They aint going no where now

Got a call from the old boy a few months ago. The nuts on one side of the tandem came loose and whole square plate was hanging by one nut. Axle was still secured on the other side, but tyre hit its mate on the other axle.

Fortunately the trailer was empty and he turning a corner at snails pace. Every U bolt now sports 2 nuts.

yeah ive been giving this some thought during the dayi think i will go and get a set of nylocks and use those as a second nut between springwashers and loctite on the first nut then add a nylock nut to lock it all in place thay may do the trick last think i want is to lose a axle with the race car on top .
cheers all

Half the problem is, that even when using spring washers, they dont properly lock onto the fish plates due to the slotted holes. Ideally, you need thick flat washers first, then the spring washers, then the nuts. Either one nyloc nut, or two standard nuts and 'lock' them together.

have just finished the second trailer now only difference was the owner wanted 3 inch drop axles and not the 4 inch like was fitted to mine and he went for falcon rims instead of commy as his tow car is a falcon .apart from that there a pidgon pair he is happy witht he way it tows and come in a fraction lighter than mine by 8 kilos so his weighs in a 682 kilos.

have a order for a third one so ordering the steel for that one and then im calling it quits for a while to reclaim my weekends back for a while lol.

cheers dean

hi dean

Been reading on up on ur posts thanks for the info and pics
Just a general question what kind of mig welder did you use to build this.
If I remember correctly you once mentioned a lincon 180 also the maximum thickness that u welded for ur trailer would have been bw 6-8mm right?
Will a 115Amp weld be enough ?
Your help and advice will be greatly appreciated as i am kinda new to welding

sorry about the delay omer
havent been on the pc much yes i use the lincon 180c welder and i love it the thickest part of the trailer is 10 mm thats the brackets for the pivot points and the drawbar cupling plate . it welds them with no problems altho i lay a couple of welds to get a good weld on it .i dont think i have ever cranked the machine up more than 3/4s on any weld ive done so far with it .
i used to have a big old cig trans mig that was 4 times the size as the linkon but didnt weld half as good it finially blew up one day in a fantastic show of fireworks lol .

just a bit of a update this trailer has just done a adelaide to perth and back in the last couple of weeks loaded with a car each way . still very happy with the way it tows and the way the tilt works . only issuies so far are a couple of the stick on reflectors i used have fallen off so i have pulled the rest off and pulled the double sided tape of and used sikerflex and stuck them on none fallen off and lesson learned .

and a bit of a strange one about 200 ks from home on the way back from perth pulled up to get some fuel and could smell hot brakes on one side of the trailer the other side was perfectly normal .

let it cool down for a while and pulled the wheel and drum off "electric brakes here " and all the brake linings and disintergrated all what was left was the metal backings the linings where bonded too have no idea what caused it could not feel it dragging with the tow car ba falcon wagon . so i pulled the brake wire out of the trailer plug and come home without the brakes .

we have put a new set of brake shoes in and used the trailer since and all seems good so put that one down to what the heck catorgery .

the second trailer we build the owner is really happy with and has used it about 6 times for race meetings that one was a copy from this one .
we have all the bits to start number 3 and hopefully the last one when the owner gives the go ahead to start he has paid for all the materials and stuff so it can all sit in the shed till he is ready for it .

all in all they have been great to build i have learned heaps very happy with what they cost on the road but time to reclaim my shed for other projects have a race car to bar out for next season and i really should do some stuff around the house to keep the mrs happy "happy wife happy life lol " .
till next project cheers dean