Thread: SWB SIII becomes a trailer

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

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.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

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

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.

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

PC060162.jpg\


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

PC060163.jpg

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.

PC060164.jpg
(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

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.)

PC060166.jpgPC060167.jpg
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..

PC060168.jpg

problem solved on with work... at some point

PC060171.jpg

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.

PC060169.jpg

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.

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

PC060172.jpg

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

PC060174.jpg

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

PC060176.jpg

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.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

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?

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 LW, the suspension and half the chassis.