Thread: Drop axle on caravan

Originally Posted by bacicat

Hi Neale, sorry to hear about your job but to answer some of your questions - my van is around 16' long and 7'6" wide (very wide) so similar in length to yours. The axle I used is a one piece heavy duty unit running ford bearings and gives a 1,400Kg rating. My van was already running 14" rims, so the LT tyres I've fitted are rated to 925Kg each. This gives me a good fudge factor above what it actually weighs - which is 1260Kg over the axle and 150Kg on the draw bar for a gross mass of 1410Kg. This was weighed fully loaded, 2 full gas bottles, full water tank, food and clothing for a week, so I know this is my maximum weight.

Thanks Gav, my van is 15'6" by 6'10", so very narrow. I almost don't need extended mirrors as I can see about 20m past the van and if I give it a wiggle (a truckies trick) I can see behind me easy. I had to buy tyres urgently because it was hot and I had to drive from Frankston back here, and didn't have time to look around for the best bargain. My tyres are rated to 760kg each so if I get an axle like yours I am still OK.

Cost of the axle, with new over ride brakes was around $400 IIRC, but it could have been a bit more, I really can't remember and I don't keep receipts. Fitting this, and using slightly higher profile tyres gave me a lift of nearly 5 inches from where it used to be - a real arse dragger. Now I have plenty of clearance, and it tows level, even behind the 101 and other 4wd. (Actually was towing it home with the 101 today from Wombat)

I have found a similar axle to your pic for $460 down in Braeside, so that should give me about 4" lift. Mine drags it's arse as well and the water tank is more round shape than flat and the outlet is about 130mm off the ground.

The timber floor on mine is the factory floor and is in reasonable condition. I have no plans to replace the floor or to paint the underside for the time being. My theory here is that it has lasted more than 40 years without being painted, so I'm not going to add weight down there for no appreciable gain. It has only been towed in the rain once since I've owned it, so it doesn't get wet very often. I still have sections of the chassis to clean and paint yet, but that's about it.

After walking around in mine for the last couple of days, I am going to have to remove the open area floor and fit some new ply. At one stage today I thought I was going to go through the floor. Don't know if I will paint it or not yet.

Your van probably isn't insulated - as Chucaro said, Franklin vans are made of a composite material with a foam core, so they are by their very design. Insulation keeps the condensation out and is worth doing IF you're going to pull any wall sheeting off. Insulation does very little in keeping a van cool when it's hot, or vice versa, so if you're going to be living in it when you take it North, fitting an AC would be a good idea if you're camping where there is power.

If the insulation doesn't keep the van cooler, then I won't bother fitting the insulation, just more work. It looks like it has had a lot of condensation as the corner timber is water damaged. So I might fix that up and then leave it as is. I have plans of using a portable air conditioner while up north, they are good for about 22sqm, so should cool the van pretty well.

Head over to the Classic Caravan Forum - Home | Classic Caravans - and have a look around and start a thread up on yours - there are heaps of good people there (Including a few of us from here ) that will be able to offer other advice.

I spent most of yesterday over there looking around, only two posts on Roma vans. Read the whole lot of millard1399's rebuild of his van, that was amazing. I did notice a few of the same user names from here.

If you're up for more reading, the full rebuild of my van is there - all 240 odd posts - My new (old) '75 Franklin. | Classic Caravans

I'll check that one out, I like your shower mod

I update this thread with more detail. And more often than I do with this one.

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Originally Posted by bacicat

And for a bit of an update about the van, the shower was great and there is plenty of room on it. The HWS is a bit of a bitch to get set properly, I found the temps changed day to day so adjustment was needed each time we used the shower, but I'm getting my head around that, and for what it cost, I can live with it. It did a power of work over the last few days as it supplied hot water for others to shower with, and did really well all in all.

A quick shower uses around 3 litres, and a full shower, and washing your hair (well, my hair) takes around 7 to 8 litres, so I'm pretty happy with that. We topped up the shower tank (it's just a 20 litre drum at the front of the van) from the local mineral spring a couple of times so we were showering in mineral water the last couple of days - did I say I like Glamping?

So with all my hair it would take the full 20lt, maybe more.

Originally Posted by Chucaro

The Franklin has foam sandwich construction so it has insulation.
The Millard has aluminium frame and I am not sure if it has foam in between the aluminium cladding and the inside lining.
Few mwmbwrs here are also members of the Classic Caravans forum
When you have time visit the site, there is a lot of info there and a great bunch of people willing to help.

Joined the caravan forum and made a post in the general section under the user name "Reluctantvanner"

You can check out the ebay ad pics, until I work out how to get the pics off my SD card.

Originally Posted by Corgie Carrier

Joined the caravan forum and made a post in the general section under the user name "Reluctantvanner"

You can check out the ebay ad pics, until I work out how to get the pics off my SD card.

You are welcome mate, I am there as Gitano.

IMO specially in Qld the best shower system is one of these painted in black.
Just fill it to 1/3 with water and leave it on the sun to heat the water and when ready pop it up with cold water. It is one of the best ways to administrate water.



Fit one of this and will be set

Originally Posted by Chucaro

IMO specially in Qld the best shower system is one of these painted in black.
Just fill it to 1/3 with water and leave it on the sun to heat the water and when ready pop it up with cold water. It is one of the best ways to administrate water.



Fit one of this and will be set

It also makes a great fire extinguisher for grass caught up under the car, round the mufflers as a dry powder will not put out a smouldering grass fire, also use mine to flush the Porta-Potti instead of the useless flush system

Thought I'd post a quick update on the van as it's been a few months. The van's now been on the road over a year and I've worked out we spent over 30 nights in it in that time and towed it over 8,000KM, so not a bad effort considering it's not finished.

Anyway, just recently I decided to remove the old bed and seating area as the bed was made by some previous owner out of chipboard - which weighed in at 67KG when I removed it! The seating area was just plain uncomfortable and the width of the seat was too small. The new seat is 100mm wider at the base, and a straigh 3 seater couch now, not an L shape. Pics below show where I'm at as of tonight - pretty much finished the seating are, new paint, down lights - Mick, let John know he has something else to catch up on now.. Also the batteries and inverter were repositioned and rewired. Still have to recover the seats, I'll post pics once I do this.

So, just the bed area to go now and the interior will be close to how we want it. Then all I need to do is reseal the rest of the windows and paint the outside - hopefully I'll have it done by this time next year.

Looks nice , it will be more comfy that with the original dinette seat.