Hi

I'm thinking of building a car trailer. I could get away with a single axle trailer for a Beetle but my son is getting more serous with his Skyline drift car and its a bit heavy for a single axle.

The trailer I borrowed for Valla is a single axle but it also tilts which is really handy for low cars.



I think rocker springs would be the best rather than slippers.

So any thoughts, dos & donts would be helpful.

Steve

Would definatly advise you to build a twin axle trailer. Many people on this forum tow long distance with a single axle but i think in a blow out or puncture situation a twin is allways safer.

As far as spring choice, i personally use twin slipper springs, but rocker or load share is better, especially when going up and down gutters.

Also make it long enough so that when your car is on the trailer it doesn,t stick out the back, nice insurance in case some fool rear ends you.

When designing my trailer we tack welded the axles in place then loaded the car on to check and adjust for spot on balance and ball weight.

A well balanced trailer is a pleasure to tow even at high speed after a long day racing.

Cheers Col

My trailer with my best pit crew.

Col

Probs an obvious point, but make sure you get ramps and the approach angle shallow enough; nothing worse than having to scrape to put it on trailer,

I had this problem with hire trailers; therefore I bought mine.

Wish I had a custom trailer made but time and $ were too good, http://giccampertrailers.com.au/car-trailers/ 

I got the 14ft beaver tail.

It tows really well, the car goes on without having to back it on, only complaints are it's a bit too wide and also heavier.

If I get another I'd go with an aluminium dual axle that was the same width as the tiguan.



Cheers

Shaun

My advice also is to go for the dual, and agree with pretty much all the points above.

Definitely echo the points about approach angles - I had to redo the ramps on mine cos I got sick of always scraping.

Also I think MUCH better to be able to drive on forwards.

I was with H at Valla at the weekend, his tilts like a boat trailer and so the car dosn't scrape going on or off

I used to think duel axel was the way to go. Last trailer was duel axel with rocker springs. Now ive got a single and I wont go back. So muck better to tow and to move around when not in use. Mine is 3m long (not including the drawbar) and my ramps are 3m making loading low cars easy. I use good light truck tyres so blowouts are not so much of a problem, towed a few thousand ks with no dramas. Not to mention fuel aconomy

As stated above rocker springs last longer and tow better over bumps than slippers. As one wheel goes up it pushed the other one down and vice versa keeping the trailer more level.

I've used both types as I borrowed Greg Mackie's trailer on 2 occasions and it was lighter, smaller and easier to tow and move around when not in use.

Single axle should be ok, those Nevco trailers are single, but have a HUGE ball weight spec for the tow vehicle of 300kg

http://www.nevco.com.au/nevco/index.php 

hey
mine is a tandem, with slippers that tilts
make sure your drawbar is nice n long as to all but eliminate fish tailing = quick speed on the freeways
I made some long ramps for really low vw's n works sweet as, they also slide on the rear of trailer sideways to accomodate different with vehicles
my ramps long and short make up the deck of the trailer thru the guts do I can carry many varied different freight (bit crazy only having it exclusively for cars)
I set my trailer up to carry vw's on facing forward as they are more areodynamic n my trailer sits nice n level which means do much easier to tow
as u know I've carried many vw's on the east coast n I'm super happy with it
put a winch up front as cars don't always run n an Ali box for jack, straps n raincoat etc
good luck with your endeavors
cheers pauly

Hi

Thanks for the input guys. I agree that single axle trailer are much easier to move around and are light weight, but if I want to tow my sons Skyline legally I musty go dual axle.

I've borrowed a dual axle trailer that Vintage use for their drag car, I think it has no springs so if you have the trailer not connected to the tow car and you want to move it around the draw bar digs into then ground when go over a dip in the ground, I think this would be the case with slipper springs like Col uses on his trailer.

Steve

I trailer I used to use was a little different. It was like a box trailer, so th deck went over the trailer wheels, with small humps (7cm) in the deck. This made it very narrow, but the car sat higher on the trailer. Found it was pretty good to tow with and being narrower was good at reversing down drive ways.

As the deck was higher, it had a full tilt mechanisim and long ramps (design for landcruiser offroad race car), though wasnt as good as a beaver tail, but saying that we had no problems getting a evo 8 on it, with about 2cm to spare down each side.

it also had cage's/sides so it became a huge box trailer.....

How I miss that trailer

hi i build caravan chassis for caravans i would definately go dual axle. we made my trailer with the beaver tail and it is fantastic. we also
have electric brakes and they to are also fantastic. if you go electric
brakes and need a controller i have 2 brand new ones ill sell you on
cheap.

The tilting trailers look great for loading cars with low ground clearance, unless they have a very extended front splitter. Most of them are hydraulically operated, but it doesn't need to be that fancy; with careful design they could be completely manual.

hth

Hi

The tilting trailer that I borrowed for Valla in the top picture relies on the weight of the car to do the tilting, its hard to see in the photos but the ramps have a stand on them that prevents the trailer tipping too far.

Thanks for the offer type3vw but I bought a Voyager controller on eBay very cheep. I don't I will go without electric brakes when again.

Steve

I found some better photos of the trailer with my bug on it

Steve,
I have a single axle trailer, it tows great, its light and easy to move around, It has Kombi front disc brakes with an overide master cylinder.
It is only good for a bug as I set up the balance for a Beetle. I've done a lot of miles with it, I had it doing over 130 k's down a long hill, no wobbles at all.

Steve, there is one 'golden rule' for a trailer - whether single or dual axle......make sure the draw-bar is long enough. If you draw a line from the centre of the tyre contact patch [front tyre, in the case of dual-axles], pass it through the centre of the tow ball, it should end up in FRONT of the rear wheel of the tow car. I've built a few trailers, and found this helps to keep 'swaying' to a minimum, providing the trailer is loaded properly. Electric brakes are good.

Edit.....And ALWAYS carry a spare wheel!

yep you got it. but in a really confusing way had to read it 3 times

Quote:

Originally posted by whathaveidone yep you got it. but in a really confusing way had to read it 3 times

I was going to contribute 1000 words, but...

hth

SPOT ON!!!!

don't forget the extra toll on toll roads for the extra axle

Hi

I thought that it was the height of the load that cost extra, maybe its both.

Steve

http://www.m5motorway.com.au/tolls/ 

Hi

Mongrels so even with a two axle trailer you still pay a toll if over 2 metres in height and I bet I don't get cash back either.

Steve

If you are after ideas this is my trailer...Essentially its a huge box trailer. The sides are 400 deep, the front and the tailgate both fold down to give a total length of 3.8m, and 1.8 wide. It fits a beetle on it but you cant open the doors, you have to climb out the window. My drag car has a removable drivers door anyway so its not an issue. Its good because its not as big as a car trailer and you can close it up and carry tons of stuff in it.... Its rated at 2 tonne but it can take alot more.

Hi

That's a nice useful trailer.

I often thought it would be a good idea to make up module that you winch onto a car trailer that was like a normal box trailer but with wheel barrow sized wheels.

I found some tilt trailers made by Elf in Sydney that look to be well priced, need to do some sums on the cost of steel & running gear etc needed to build my own.

Steve

They look nice and light.... Oh yeah mine tilts too, but brad (buggy brad) who built it, loaned it to someone who lost the pins to lock it down, brad then got the shits and welded it shut.