Thread: 'Car' trailer ideas - thinking outside the box.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Getting tyres on a single axle that will give you a 4T capacity is going to be the trick. The Mazda/Ford light trucks had 13"duals but I don't belive you'll get them to 4T the most I have found on 13s is Hankook LT at 750kg single or only 560kg as duals. You are going to need a load rating of at least 100 so while they are available in 14's finding dual rims in that size is going to the the problem. You will likely have to go to 16s in which case there are any number of rims and tyres but it will make the axle height of at least 12"giving a relatively hi CoG, or a large height differential between the mudguard and deck/wheel ramps.

For a light tare weight trailer I have been considering something along the lines of a boat trailer with ramps on either side to support the wheels although this means that road grime will be sprayed up under the vehicle while towing. Of course this could be solved by lightweight infill panels like thin gauge alloy being careful not to place loads on these panels.

As for the drawbar, the cattle carrier we used on our farm had a truck and dog, where the drawbar was a sliding arrangement. When the locking pin was released the drawbar telescoped in under the trailer so the truck and trailer crates were touching and the cattle could walk between the dog and truck. You could do something similar.

If you made the trailer in a beavertail design, you could reverse the trailer into a corner and park something on top to save space. Sort of like a set of truck workshop ramps.

I can get my hands on something like the below axle for not much/nothing. I can get 385/55R22.5 tyres that have a diameter of 39" that have a load rating of 3,500Kg each, so using a 5 tonne axle like this and those tyres will easily see the job done.

Whack the trailer between the wheels and you could end up with a tilting trailer to make loading easy.

They look like S cam brakes to me. Full air, the breakaway operates by the loss of air the brakes come on.

Not sure if you can get electric over air, but you may be able to operate them with a vacuum system, but remember air brakes need to be inspected by a HVIS inspector (truck inspector).