Thread: Get these blokes off my front lawn

Originally Posted by Disco Pom

Here's a couple of pics of Edd's beast on the trailer..

... Just interested to see if anyone can spot something obvious in our attempt to tow this monster home..

Should we have loaded it facing backwards ?..or further forward on the trailer ??

cheers,
Richard

Richard

Did the trailer have electric brakes on both axles?

(If it didn't then what you missed was the fact that the GTM was overweight and illegal.

In respect to the loading putting the 130 on backwards would have reduced the clearance on the P38a, particularly a problem when doing tight turns. The best thing you could have done would have been to transfer stuff from the rear of the 130 to the front of the trailer, starting with the spare wheel.

A good way to load a trailer, is slowly (using a Tirfor is great) and watch the balance of the trailer. Initially it will be rear heavy lifting the suspension on the tow vehicle, as the load comes forward it should come to balance, then you need to go about 6" - 12" forward to have it slightly front heavy. Checking that the rear of the tow vehicle is basically level, not bum down.

Having a decent amount of weight in the tow vehicle would have also helped, but again that would have needed to be balanced. If there was any camping gear etc in the tub you could put as much as possible in the P38a.

With an unbalanced trailer and no electric brakes to cancel a fishtail I would imagine it was a nightmare journey to Yass.

Diana

P.S. For Sydney based members, Macs Hire at Riverstone has a tri-axle plant trailer with electric brakes on all axles and a break away system. The trailer is rated at 4 ton GTM and uses a pintle hook (rated at 5 tonne - where most 50mm tow balls are only rated at 2 tonne). It is very long, which is good for 130s etc and at a rate cheaper than most regular car trailers. (I can loan members with an RRc and ARB rear step bar a pintle jaw if needed.)


BTW. My RRc has uprated rear coil springs with polyair bags, the reason the car is not sagged in the rear)

It is hard to see but the back of the rangie is a little high - but does the air/pump suspension thingy cancel that - indicating not enough weight on the tow ball.

In a coil spring car the rule of thunb I use is to mave the car forward enough on the trailer so that the rear of the tow car squats down as if you have three full sized people sitting in the back seat.

NEVER tow with a front engined car loaded backyards - the weight of the engine can take charge and cause the wobbles and worse.

Garry

I unloaded the rear into the Pajero.

We didn't use the trailer winch but my winch to load it and also help secure it. There would have been room to move an inch forward but I was trying to balance the trailer. Trailer brakes were us and we even stopped on the side of the road so I could tighten them as it was obviouse they were doing nothing (Cable brakes). They wern't much better afterwards.

I'm getting a plant trailer with selfe contained electric brakes to try again. It's about the same size but has a full backed ramp. Also plan to travel at night so the roads arn't as busy. Semi's were the only ones to think ahead and with that much water on the road it was just an accident waiting to happen. The rig has long range tanks ect so is quite heavy. Gestimate with the gear was at least 3 tonn if not more. Unladed it would still be 2.5T.

when you load it next time disconnect the trailer from the car and chock the wheels then winch onto the trailer till you get the balance just right. IMHO just right is when one strong person can lift the tow hitch by themselves. Then secure the vehicle so it cant possabley move.

Dave

Have to agree with you about securing the vehicle. In the pic with the S2B on Mac's trailer, you can see that all wheels are secured fore and aft to the trailer. You can also see the chain that is secured to the front axle and tightened using a turnbuckle. There is a similar pair of chains and turn buckles to the rear axle. This way the vehicle can not move either forward, aft or sideways on the trailer.

By only securing to the wheels and axle housings instead of the body you remove the bouncing the load can have on the trailer. There will be body movement but the running gear is solid on the trailer.

The cost of Mac's trailer was $100.00 from late Friday arvo till opening time Monday morning = 1 day's hire. How could you argue with that.

Diana

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

The cost of Mac's trailer was $100.00 from late Friday arvo till opening time Monday morning = 1 day's hire. How could you argue with that.

Diana

THat price would have been good. Cost as $100 for 24 hrs. Was considering winching all the way home. See you in a month?

Got to laugh or I will start panel beating with a jack hammer.

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The easiest way to move it. Edd give them a call tommorow

Borrow some REAL TALL tyres and reverse all the way home
Andrew