[SEL] Tandem Trailer

[Peter A Forbes]

On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 20:42:12 +0800, you wrote:

>Hello All, I remember a while back, there was talk about Tandem Trailers.
>I'm in the process of building one, and I need some help with the
>configuration of the spring hangers and a method/style of a tailgate. The
>springs I've seen, some are hanging down and some are up on the shackle
>side, with the spring shackle in the up position it looks like the rocker
>will hit the spring, the way I'm inclined to do it is have the spring
>hanging down from the rocker, and the shackle plates angled back, so when
>the weight comes off ( i.e. going over a bump) the axle, the shackle will
>hang straight down and won't flip over above the rocker? Also where to mount
>the Rocker mount in the centre of the main frame or just back of-centre, I
>think the idea is to have a positive weight on the draw bar, if I have the
>rocker mount in the centre of the frame, won't the weight of the draw bar
>(and spare wheel) give it the correct positive weight I need? The Tailgate,
>I'd like to incorporate a ramp in it as well, so it will be fairly long, or
>high when in the up position, how would I do the hinges? I don't have an
>idea on this one, I was going to build the trailer, and then work out what
>to do. This trailer is going to be use for my engines and/or a Section Car
>(Speeder) or would it be simpler to just have two ramps, but how do I attach
>them to the end of the trailer easily? to take the different widths of the
>Engine trolleys. Any help would be great.
>Andy........

Have a look at the way we put our trailer together, it gives a lot of
constructional details and pictures, plus the various upgrades it went through
up to the present day:

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Trailer/Trailer1.htm

and an article we did for the newsgroup:

http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Trailer/Trailer.htm

As regards configuration, you need to have a relatively long drawbar in relation
to the trailer or you will get wagging problems, especially if the vehicle you
are towing with has significant overhang between the rear axle and the tow
hitch.

Static weight on the hitch needs to be about 112pounds at all times, any more
and you'll get the towing vehicle weight carrying capacity being affected, any
less and the trailer will bounce about on the hitch. Ours is neutral since we
extended the rear of the frame, and it rattles a bit with no load on.

Rear loading ramps as part of the tailgate are fine, but they also make very
good air brakes!  no further comment :-))

Hinges we can buy over here for the tailgate, see the close-ups of ours.

We use rubber suspension beams with integral hubs and overrun brakes. The
capacity of the trailer is 2600kg gross, the trailer itself weighs just over
600kg, but is built rather more heavily than most as we made it to carry engines
and such rather than distributed loads. Heaviest item we have carried is a
Lister JK4 50kW genset, which was probably a fair bit more than its rated load,
but it towed very well with no problems.

Fastest we have towed is much more than anyone would normally want to go, and we
have never had any stability problems.

All of our towing vehicles have had short overhangs at the back with a
relatively long wheelbase, so reversing direction changes are slow and easy to
correct.

Peter
  
--
Peter & Rita Forbes
Email Address:
diesel at easynet.co.uk
Web Pages for Engine Preservation:
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel