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Blknight.aus
14th October 2006, 08:07 PM
Finally the work commences.

Heres the plan for the chassis mods, I havent decided what Im using as the draw bar but suspect it will RHS.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/ (http://imageshack.us)

The plan is to turf everything forwards of the tub font, cut and bend the chassis from just in front of the spring hangers and level with the firewall to make the Aframe with a draw bar in the middle. The tub will remain, for balancing the spare will be mounted on the tailgate, a segmented baffled water tank will be placed in the well and a fuel tank will be underslung at the rear. The existing Axle housing will remain but the half shafts will be removed.

The logic is to keep the spare front diff for Kermit in the trailer axle housing.
and heres my start point after I salvaged everything I
wanted off of Bug 2.0, I'll miss her, she was a faithful bus but Im glad I got her off the road.

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5028/pa140042ct1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Today saw the front end pulled out unbolt the spring bolts and heave ho...

Found 1 broken spring bolt and several cracked leaves in the right spring. The cracks were all in where the ubolts hold the axle to the springs... Not entirely sure if the damage was from my unexpected ditch jumping foray or previous damage.

Hopefully tomorrow will see the firewall off, the chassis hacked and ready for bending to shape.

mr_sav
14th October 2006, 11:13 PM
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.

Blknight.aus
15th October 2006, 06:22 AM
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.

chunk
15th October 2006, 06:39 AM
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.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Blknight.aus
15th October 2006, 07:50 PM
Today saw reasonable progress Firewalls out and half the stuff to be cut is out...

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/8083/pa150043qj7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

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 ;-

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/1779/pa150044nv0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

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?

numpty
18th October 2006, 06:58 PM
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.

Blknight.aus
18th October 2006, 07:14 PM
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.

JDNSW
18th October 2006, 08:24 PM
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

Blknight.aus
18th October 2006, 11:14 PM
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.

JDNSW
19th October 2006, 06:02 AM
Sounds OK. I am investigating the possibility of making a light trailer using a LWB tub. Not very seriously - I already have two registered trailers, one a tandem flatbed 10' x 6'6", the other a 6'x4' box, but with front and rear drop gates, which makes it much more useful, hence my suggestion. The big drawback with braked trailers is that they require annual inspections - I have to take mine into town for this every year; its not so much the cost as the hassle - when you take a trailer to town there is hardly anywhere you can park, making it hard to combine with the other things you need to do in town.
I haven't actually got to looking at weights, but I think it should be possible to build a trailer from a lwb tub with a light RHS chassis that can be unbraked and still have a useful legal load (and very useful overload!). But it certainly would not have a Landrover chassis, diff or axle housing, and possibly not even hubs, although I think you could turn a bit of excess weight off them. Wheels of course would be Landrover, probably swb with small section tyres but there would be enough mudguard clearance to use the towing vehicle's spare in an emergency (I have this on my 6x4 trailer).
I also have a Landrover chassis based 9'x5' flatbed tandem farm trailer.
John

Blknight.aus
19th October 2006, 03:03 PM
On the front of whats lighter....

I Normally use 4mm 75*75 RHS as the frame steel, call me a nut I like my stuff that I dont want bending and flexing, bending or flexing.... :)

I just grabbed the cross member I cut out and compared to the same length of my normal box steel, the chassis is lighter....

the rules on braked trailers vary from state to state but from what I gleened while talking to the vic roads guys re this project as long as I dont need the brakes by law they dont need to be inspected.. As im aiming for a max weight on the trailer of <<550kg I dont need them but I do want them.

numpty
21st October 2006, 01:40 PM
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.

The one I saw was a SWB. Agree re drawbar weight.

JDNSW
21st October 2006, 01:58 PM
On the front of whats lighter....

I Normally use 4mm 75*75 RHS as the frame steel, call me a nut I like my stuff that I dont want bending and flexing, bending or flexing.... :)

I just grabbed the cross member I cut out and compared to the same length of my normal box steel, the chassis is lighter....



Which shows that for a light trailer weighing a lot less than the Landrover, you don't need that strength. You don't need all the crossmembers/brackets/bends etc, and for example you could save a lot of weight on the rear crossmember since you aren't planning to tow 3500kg (or anything legally) behind it. My feeling would be that 75x50 3mm would be plenty - properly designed rectangular section would be better than square. And you could probably go thinner than that except that more care would be needed in stress concentrated areas, plus you need to allow for rust, even if you aren't planning on having any. Ideally you would get the whole chassis dip galvanised, but that would add considerably to the cost and also constrain the design. Probably not worth it unless you live right on the coast.
John

Blknight.aus
6th November 2006, 09:47 PM
Got a little more work done on this project today, but not as much was on the impropmtu plan...

The plan was to go up and hack the chassis and get the first bends in....

dragged up all the gear, hooked up all the extention leads and fired up the 9 inch.... ummm no... tripped the circut breaker...

quick check of the leads and Ive killed my extention lead... and Im not in the mood to go shoping for another 15 amper today...

SO away with all the gear and out with the high lift repair kit I bought 3 years ago in townsville and repair the highlift jack thats been dragging around with me for the last 3 postings..... now to test it... lift up the back of whats left of Bug 2.0 and Bug 2.0 is now riding on a pair of second hand truck tyres we procured for about $10 at a garage sale.

Now shes ready to roll down closer to the powerpoints so work can commence again... when I get motivated enough.

Blknight.aus
6th December 2006, 08:32 PM
One of my first problems was due to the amount of crud on the chassis, (mounts rust, etc) i needed a set square and a 45degree angle marker so heres how to make a cheapy that makes chalking lines realy easy.


as a bonus it also comes with a built in calibration checker.

first grab a piece of a4 and fold it on an angle thusly.. so you have a little rectangle over hanging one of the short sides of what is essentially an isosilies(2 sides the same) right angle triangle, accuracy counts

1115\


in this form your set you can do 90degrees and 45 degrees but its a little unwiedly so fold over the small retangular edge like so

1116

Its a little easier to use but how do you know its accurate?

simple fold over the little triangle that now sticks out, if the gap between the lower edge of the triangle when its folded over and the edge of the paper is parallel your all square.

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(Ive coloured the back piece of the paper black and placed the whole thing over another sheet so you can see the edge comparison)


Hey presto, neat and tidy 45 degree and right angle indicating set square, and it even bends to conform to minor deviations in surface level.

to use it for chalking ,simply place it down over what needs marking, line it up then rub the chalk along the edge on the flat, you will wind up with quite a wide chalk mark with one very definate edge...

now on with the butchery of Bug 2.0

Blknight.aus
6th December 2006, 08:56 PM
Work started again to day, Bug 2.0 was dragged down the hill yesterday in preperation for today...

The early AM post...

work started at around 0800 after breakfast and feeding Alex. The inital markings out were done after much swearing and cursing at the fact that due to the proximity of stuff I wanted to keep and the rise in the chassis rail I couldnt get my set square in. (previos post took care of that.)

11191120
so by 0900ish I had it all marked out and ready to cut but the cloud cover had gone and the exposure to the sun in the full clobber (boots, overalls, heavy gloves, eye and ear gear) was making for early headaches after the first bit of cutting so..

1121

problem solved on with work... at some point

1123

that occoured much to the amusment of my wife and the neighbours.. I found out by SWMBO tapping me on the shoulder with a huge grin on her face...

so by about 1100sih all the major cuts were done I was running short on cutting wheels and it was too hot to work comfortabley so I ducked into the garage to put the starter back in kermit and pull the aftermarket seats out.

1122

From there it was off to the shops for more wheels, a spare roll of gassles mig wire, lunch groceries and a bit of a perv till it cooled down.. as a distraction while running my mobile off the hook to finally find a 1kg roll of wire at the local repco I spotted a 2 inch diameter boost gauge for $19.99 been meaning to get on so now big red has a boost gauge.

Blknight.aus
6th December 2006, 09:09 PM
The afternoon post
after many delays, lunch, distractions, dinner, playtime with Alex settling Alex and my compulsory hour of tv to watch whos line and futurama work recommenced to the slowly setting sun...

about 1930ish saw the last of the cutting done and a balance check made, bugger me if it isnt nearly perfect, where it sits ATM with just the junk in (took the spare out) if you hold the chassis (whats left thereof) in a postiion and let it go it sort of hesitates before gracefully accelerating down to sit onto the jackstands...

so after that the first bends were made and the chassis rails were twisted in to get alignment eyeballed

1124

And that shows how its going together to be welded

2000 ish saw the welder out just as the sun dissappeared over my fence leaving me with about 30 minutes of usable light

1125

with the frame in the basic shape and the easy welds on to hold it in place it was time to call it and pack up everything..

After pulling the shade down and clearin up some stuff between the trailer and the garage this is the days progress

1126

The main draw bar will extend out to about where the pole with the glove on top in the right of the pic is standing vertically.


and thats it for now, ITs back to the drawing board to work out the details for the front end and the drawbar...

next year should see it getting a draw bar and tow hitch which will be just enough to get it towable for my posting to Amberly. thats just out of brisvagas near ipswitch apparently.

harry
24th July 2008, 12:07 PM
and thats it for now, ITs back to the drawing board to work out the details for the front end and the drawbar...

next year should see it getting a draw bar and tow hitch which will be just enough to get it towable for my posting to Amberly. thats just out of brisvagas near ipswitch apparently.

and we are well into next year now, how's progress?

Blknight.aus
24th July 2008, 12:39 PM
progress has been abandoned, IVE got too much on my plate and with the LWB that I procured off of dobbo recently Im going to do it all again but using the LWB tray over a custom frame and make a camper out of that.

This SWB trailer is up for grabs for nix+ whatever it costs for me to get it to your place if anyone wants it. no lights no rego but it would make a good farm hack trailer or project for someone to finish. I still havent removed the half shafts so if you want a pair of rover rear halfshafts they come with a complete rover rear axle assembley including the Diff most of the rear tub (I want the tailgate for the LWB), the suspension and half the chassis.

harry
24th July 2008, 04:16 PM
progress has been abandoned, IVE got too much on my plate and with the LWB that I procured off of dobbo recently Im going to do it all again but using the LWB tray over a custom frame and make a camper out of that.

sorta doing that myself, still very much work in progress, damm rain, coulda done a bit today.

LOVEMYRANGIE
6th August 2008, 12:59 AM
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.

My trailer uses D1 frt spindles and hubs minus discs, but fabricated a "diff" that is essentially just a 3" steel tube axle with 8mm thick end plates much like the spindle mounts on a diff. Mounted on S2 leaf springs and shocks with RR steel rims.
The frame was a modified boat trailer that had a breakback and towed a 15ft tinnie. Changed it a little bit and added a Hilux single cab well body tub.
I think you might find the chassis and diff will add an enormous amount of weight overall and probably isnt needed.
Looks good though! I am looking for a SI, 2 or 3 tub to put on in place of the Rollux one i have now. Kind of keeps the theme going....!

Blknight.aus
6th August 2008, 05:49 AM
The diff is staying in the housing as a spare front diff......

and how do you put a spare pumpkin in a 3 inbch axle tube?

Blknight.aus
19th August 2008, 10:42 PM
shes gone to her new home....


bye bye

Olive Drab
24th August 2008, 07:57 PM
got the trailer home,tub off scratching all the mud off the chassis give it a paint. have thought about addressing the issue of axle under centre of load space. While finishing her off ready for the road is first step, few welds to do some paint and lights will see it done. Have started to mock-up a front section would hope its going to resemble LR. basically it will be:
front panel possibly cut out of tub or not
triangular front section using same radius as wheel arches swept up at the front.
thinking maybe hard-top lockable with a roof section for the tub and a bonnet for the section over the A-frame one or two pices not sure yet prob be two, the fab of the front panels will prob send me insane.
Will have pics up when daughter brings camera over
thanks to Dave for the trailer, and the concept, having heaps of fun with it so far

Olive Drab
19th September 2008, 03:50 PM
finally got a camera here is the chassis finished.
final assembly is being delayed so I can get some good pics of the build sequence these will follow