Thread: SWB SIII becomes a trailer

Gidday, I nearly took the same path, but decided to work on my existing off-road trailer.

Ditch the Shorty springs, and fit SIII Long wheel Base Springs. She will Sit Better.

Cheers.

My reasoning prety much followed my abohrance of letting something that could be usefull go to waste. No-one was interested in getting the parts out of her once I had her pulled apart and someone, might have even been you, threaded about building a trailer or converting a rover.

So Im doing this on a "Cause I can" whim. Once its finished I'll probably have to flog it off because DHA being about as useful as sadam housein during an oil crisis wont want to move it.

Since I started the planning and the sitting round it drinking and guestimating Ive found a home for the front Diff and the gearbox.

Does anyone want the firewall, its in moderate condition and I dont have a use for it.

hi there,
thats a great set of plan you have there, good luck with the conversion. can't wait to see how it turns out.

Today saw reasonable progress Firewalls out and half the stuff to be cut is out...



First chalkings of the remaining chassis is on but im not happy with it so tomorrow will see a do-over before any more action with MR 5 inch grinder occours.

As a plesant surpise I seem to have guessed it right, in its existing form in the next pic ;-



With one arm I can rock the thing back on the rear springs till it grounds out on the tow ball from the front memeber where its painted red. Although my bicep spring gauge is in dire need of recalibrating Id guess I could lift it with about 20kg of lift.

From the gearbox support member I can lift it with both hands as Im aiming to have the draw bar end at about the engine mounts I should have about the right amount of downforce on the towhitch without any need for balancing while empty...

can I jag it or what?

Saw one in Gloucester a few days ago. This one had everything from and including the fire wall back complete with roof. Looked interesting but don't know what it was used for.

Originally Posted by numpty

Saw one in Gloucester a few days ago. This one had everything from and including the fire wall back complete with roof. Looked interesting but don't know what it was used for.

That would probably work for a LWB as the rear axle is further forwards but Bug 2.0 is Ex SWB... I thought of it but didnt have a hope in hell of getting the drawbar downforce right.

Unfortunately the problem with a swb tub for a trailer is that the ADRs for small trailers require the axle to be at the centre of the load carrying space or further back - and you can't do this with a swb tub unless the wheel arches are refashioned. A lwb tub would do it nicely, however. One possibility I have contemplated would be to join parts of two swb tubs so as to have tailgates front and rear - you could play with where to cut them off to get the axle where you want. I plan eventually to make a double ended trailer like this but using a lwb with the back panel etc from another tub attached to the front.
I would make a chassis from RHS - the Landrover chassis is far too heavily built for a trailer without the weight of engine, gearbox, fuel tank etc, and similarly the springs are too heavy - you would at least want to take some leaves out. Also, I understand that leaving the diff in place would not be approved. And remember that if the maximum loaded weight is over 750kg you need to have brakes.
john

Got this covered...

By leaving some of the chassis on at the front I can put limited storage there, it will probabley be storage for things like sand ladders but counts towards load space for the layout of the trailer.

I can leave the diff in so long as its not driven by the wheels unless I make the trailer driven (yep that crossed my mind) since the intended towing vehicle has a sailsbury rear the axles are different so I will simply pull the half shafts, put your hand up if you want em. The diff is staying in the housing as a spare front diff.

In any case I still have a mechanically braked trailer axle with rover hubs on it beside the garage I can substitute if need be and the springs were going to be the last thing I touched once I got it loaded as its intended to be loaded. as a minimum I will be fitting the brakes up as over runners.