Post by jeepster on Sept 10, 2012 16:19:38 GMT
Cant afford that lucious looking dual swingbeam trailer, with all those lovely wobble rollers and that has a whopping £1600+ price tag???
Then why not do what I did and simply build one yourself! ;D
I have been unemployed over a year now so money is extremely tight here. The only way to get the fancy high-tech trailer I wanted was to make it myself.
I started out with the braked axle and hitch from an old Knott caravan chassis that I picked up for £60 on ebay. The axle has a capacity of 1100kg and it has built in torsion rubber suspension for a very smooth ride...ideal for a boat trailer axle.
Then I bought the steel I needed from my local steelyard. This was the most expensive part because the price of steel is at an all time high right now. The total price for the steel required is about £200.
Next I got the best paint I could possibly get for the price to protect the steel from rusting...Tractol 927 from Smith and Allan. (2.5litres for £25 plus delivery). It contains 90% pure Zinc so its almost as good as having the steel hot dip galvanised, but at a tiny fraction of the price.
I had already bought the 28x Bramber BR1 blue and white wobble rollers I wanted on ebay several months before with this project in mind...They are about £3.50 each.
I cut all the the steel by hand with my 4.5" Skill angle grinder.
Before painting I cleaned off the grease and millscale with a rotary wire cupbrush in my 2200watt Hitachi angle grinder and used nail varnish remover (which is basically just Acetone) to chemically clean it.
On larger areas the paint was applied with a mini gloss roller and smaller, fiddly areas with Tesco no bristle loss paintbrushes.
I used an old Oxford oil cooled arc welder (the really heavy ones with copper wound transformers) and good quality Lincoln 6013 rods.
I started by making adjustable position brackets to hold the side rails to the axle, via U-bolts:
Then the side rails were cut and shut to get the required 20 degree bend and fitted to the axle brackets. Then I fitted the hitch to the end of the side rails:
Next came the four swingbeam support brackets followed by the two swingbeams themselves:
Then the equaliser arms were fitted to the swingbeams via L brackets and U-bolts. The eight galvanised L brackets were sourced direct from Indespensions boat trailer factory in southampton via the post.
They were expensive parts...£6.50 each plus postage! But I had to have them to complete the project so I splashed out for them.
I also spent £20 on the 14 roller arm pivot brackets that were welded on top of the equaliser arms...I got these made up specially at a local engineering firm because I could make them easily myself...Then I fitted the wobble rollers:
About 2 weeks later it was ready for the road:
And finally, after sorting the brakes out, I could finally take it on the road for it first test run:
Total outlay was a little over £300...A saving of at least £1300 over a commercially made trailer with equivalent design and capacity! ;D
Then why not do what I did and simply build one yourself! ;D
I have been unemployed over a year now so money is extremely tight here. The only way to get the fancy high-tech trailer I wanted was to make it myself.
I started out with the braked axle and hitch from an old Knott caravan chassis that I picked up for £60 on ebay. The axle has a capacity of 1100kg and it has built in torsion rubber suspension for a very smooth ride...ideal for a boat trailer axle.
Then I bought the steel I needed from my local steelyard. This was the most expensive part because the price of steel is at an all time high right now. The total price for the steel required is about £200.
Next I got the best paint I could possibly get for the price to protect the steel from rusting...Tractol 927 from Smith and Allan. (2.5litres for £25 plus delivery). It contains 90% pure Zinc so its almost as good as having the steel hot dip galvanised, but at a tiny fraction of the price.
I had already bought the 28x Bramber BR1 blue and white wobble rollers I wanted on ebay several months before with this project in mind...They are about £3.50 each.
I cut all the the steel by hand with my 4.5" Skill angle grinder.
Before painting I cleaned off the grease and millscale with a rotary wire cupbrush in my 2200watt Hitachi angle grinder and used nail varnish remover (which is basically just Acetone) to chemically clean it.
On larger areas the paint was applied with a mini gloss roller and smaller, fiddly areas with Tesco no bristle loss paintbrushes.
I used an old Oxford oil cooled arc welder (the really heavy ones with copper wound transformers) and good quality Lincoln 6013 rods.
I started by making adjustable position brackets to hold the side rails to the axle, via U-bolts:
Then the side rails were cut and shut to get the required 20 degree bend and fitted to the axle brackets. Then I fitted the hitch to the end of the side rails:
Next came the four swingbeam support brackets followed by the two swingbeams themselves:
Then the equaliser arms were fitted to the swingbeams via L brackets and U-bolts. The eight galvanised L brackets were sourced direct from Indespensions boat trailer factory in southampton via the post.
They were expensive parts...£6.50 each plus postage! But I had to have them to complete the project so I splashed out for them.
I also spent £20 on the 14 roller arm pivot brackets that were welded on top of the equaliser arms...I got these made up specially at a local engineering firm because I could make them easily myself...Then I fitted the wobble rollers:
About 2 weeks later it was ready for the road:
And finally, after sorting the brakes out, I could finally take it on the road for it first test run:
Total outlay was a little over £300...A saving of at least £1300 over a commercially made trailer with equivalent design and capacity! ;D
