Thread: Building a trailer from a Series tub

IMO the part of he chasis most likely to be in reasdonable condition is the bit you don't need for the purpose. if however, the rear of the doner chasis is in good condition, then it would be a shame to chop it! sell the vehicle to someone who wil love it or use the money you would have spent on it to buy a pre-built trailer!

I am at the planning stage of doing this. In my view the chassis is far too heavy, although I have done this for a farm trailer.

I am planning to make a new frame to go under the tub, and also a new axle. (you are likely to find issues with registration authorities using the original axle, although there is no good reason for this).

I am planning an unbraked trailer to avoid the annual inspection, which means minimum mass is important, but less of a problem if you are making it braked.

John

Maybe a new chassis/frame is the way to go, and mount the tub straight on it. If I do that, I'll probably use one of these AL-KO Australia : Vehicle Technology : Products · Axles · Independant Rubber Suspension (IRS) axles like others have done.

How much should I pay for a decent tub?

foz.in.oz as made one

Quite a few people have done this. Anyone who goes to swap meets in SE Qld. would have seen the Land Rover tub trailer of Kevin Baker, the Lucas (and many other) electrics man. A good one was made from two Series III 88" tubs fitted together front end to front end on a tube frame and a braked axle with LR wheels.

I am with JD on this. You will be far better off measuring up and drawing a square tube frame to fit under the tub. Will be much lighter.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Quite a few people have done this. Anyone who goes to swap meets in SE Qld. would have seen the Land Rover tub trailer of Kevin Baker, the Lucas (and many other) electrics man. A good one was made from two Series III 88" tubs fitted together front end to front end on a tube frame and a braked axle with LR wheels.

I am with JD on this. You will be far better off measuring up and drawing a square tube frame to fit under the tub. Will be much lighter.

As a further comment on my plans, I intend to fit the rear section of another tub to the front of a lwb tub to have a tailgate at both ends. Also solves the problem of having a neat front.

John

I've done this with a Rodeo ute tub, and the total mass and braking question is important, as JD has said. We went unbraked, 750kg total mass, if memory serves. We used (roughly) 40 x 20 box section mild steel and purchased a new axle, wheel hub assemblies, leaf springs, etc., from a trailer parts place and used Ford steel rims. Total cost, registered in WA, was around $1500 including $500 for the tub (which was brand new, from a ute converted to a tradie back-end). The other important issue is the requirement that your load space in front of the axle be equal to or greater than the load space behind the axle. Not sure how a Landy tub stacks up in this regard, but almost all ute tubs have the wheel arches too far forward for the purpose, and therefore to get such a thing registered as a trailer you need to add load space at the front, which is generally done by adding a large tool box on the draw-bar. Certainly putting two together as JD suggests would solve the problem, and you could go twin-axle using both wheel arches that way also.

Hope that's helpful.

Cheers,
Lane.

Originally Posted by Ranga

Maybe a new chassis/frame is the way to go, and mount the tub straight on it. If I do that, I'll probably use one of these AL-KO Australia : Vehicle Technology : Products · Axles · Independant Rubber Suspension (IRS) axles like others have done.

How much should I pay for a decent tub?

you should have a look in the trailers section... never know what you might find especially as there are now 2 tub trailers in there that ive built, one with an alko irs and one with leaf springs.....

cheers phil