Race trailer build?

[Kickaha]

I would think in that situation you would park the trailer in the trailer park wouldn't you? Or what would you do..
Haha - who is going to nip into town with my car and trailer? lol no one thats who.. take your own damn car.
I have a blonde mrs prob same thing as an airhead.. oh sh*t sorry you said airbed, no.. what are those?

Muppet

He's talking about what happens to your gas supply if you have to park it out of the pits, or if you run out of gas how you have to take the whole trailer to top it up rather than just a can

[gatch]

For the fuel. You could have a partitioned section, that houses 5? 20 liter jerry cans. Have your pump drawing out of the jerry cans. No welding up a tank, easy to remove in case of emergency or if you aren't allowed your trailer in the pits etc.

[Fast Eddie]

Muppet

He's talking about what happens to your gas supply if you have to park it out of the pits, or if you run out of gas how you have to take the whole trailer to top it up rather than just a can

I know he was lol.. (he sounded a bit anti so thought i'd take the piss)

well we don't park it out of pits at chch or timaru. but if we do then I guess we bring gay old jerry cans to that race day/location eh.
Fuel tank and pump is removeable whenever we wish.

[Fast Eddie]

For the fuel. You could have a partitioned section, that houses 5? 20 liter jerry cans. Have your pump drawing out of the jerry cans. No welding up a tank, easy to remove in case of emergency or if you aren't allowed your trailer in the pits etc.

yip also good plan.. we already have tank and all the bits to do it which is the main driving force

[tigertim20]

regarding the wheels.
if you go with 14 inch steelies, youll save coin in the long run. TWL on teviot street sell trailer wheels, steel rims with second hand tyres (but with lots of meat) for less than you would get just a retread from a tyre shop.
thats where i used to get them when i built trailers.

[DEATH_INC.]

If ya go with a stepped axle (easy enough to make) then you free up the wheels and tyres....I'd run 17's with something like a 235/45 or something similar. Good load rating as you're starting to push it at near a ton and only 2 tyres, and still common as muck, every shitty old commodog and falcon uses 'em....or even if ya run 14's you can use commercials, cost a bit more to start with but'll last forever on a trailer...

[Fast Eddie]

If ya go with a stepped axle (easy enough to make) then you free up the wheels and tyres....I'd run 17's with something like a 235/45 or something similar. Good load rating as you're starting to push it at near a ton and only 2 tyres, and still common as muck, every shitty old commodog and falcon uses 'em....or even if ya run 14's you can use commercials, cost a bit more to start with but'll last forever on a trailer...

oo, some support for 17's haha! i want them just cause they look better and the tow cars have got 17's

but 14's did make sense with tyre choice and cost.. although that doesnt bother me tooo much, what i was more worried about was leaf springs plus low profile tyres will have the thing bouncing around and getting airborne..

[geoffm]

Put a pipe socket on the side/ rear and buy (or make) a small crane - run around $200 on trademe and good for 250kg or so. Very handy if you need to lift or load something. Use a windup trailer jack for the weight supporting leg by the crane. With a pipe socket, it is removable, so you don't have to take it - set it up so it folds down and latches to the side of the trailer for transport.

Don't forget a good jockey wheel for the front.
Built in ramps, or at least a carrying facility for them. I have a ramp fixed to the drawbar of my trailer with bolts with wingnuts on the top (no tools needed) and it is so handy.

Get the frame sandblasted and hot dip galvanised. Mine is panted with cold galv paint, which works, but not much cheaper than proper galv, which is a lifetime thing.
Get bearing buddies for the hubs - makes keeping them lubed easy.

Lots of tie down points of course - including some flush in the floor.

We have a a 2kVa inverter in the campervan, runs everything, even the microwave for a short while.

[Mental Trousers]

You will need a BBQ and bar fridge also.

Better idea than an onboard fuel tank and more useful, Phil can stock it up for when he hits the deck

Me, I'd put a fridge in, somewhere to plug a jug in, a sink to do dishes and one of these:

http://www.multikaicooker.co.nz/

BBQ or a decent cooked meal anytime.

I'd also build it so it was the same frontal dimensions as the towing vehicle and put a pop up roof on it. You can build it long if you need the volume but frontal area has a huge affect on how much gas you use but it's going to weigh pretty much the same either way.

[speights_bud]

as others have said about building trailer as a basic one and get reg sorted, it doesn't even need to have a solid deck. I bought mine as a flat deck type and i built it up from there.

register from new if you can, initial reg cost gets you plate etc and 12 month warrants for 5 years i think. its almost cheaper every 5 years to re-register than pay for WOF's

[Fast Eddie]

Put a pipe socket on the side/ rear and buy (or make) a small crane - run around $200 on trademe and good for 250kg or so.

Lots of tie down points of course - including some flush in the floor.

We have a a 2kVa inverter in the campervan, runs everything, even the microwave for a short while.

Yip, lots of tie down points. very good point. haha a crane might be getting keen, we have a winch to winch the sidecar up into the trailer easy enough. will have onboard ramps which slide under trailer.

Me, I'd put a fridge in, somewhere to plug a jug in, a sink to do dishes and one of these:
I'd also build it so it was the same frontal dimensions as the towing vehicle and put a pop up roof on it. You can build it long if you need the volume but frontal area has a huge affect on how much gas you use but it's going to weigh pretty much the same either way.

Not bad ideas, we have gas bbq or coal bbq. both portable/small. A sink you recon.. bucket will probably have to do this time. Yea know about frontal area, not too sure how we going to go about it, width is dictated by the sidecar really, will be 1.9m wide.. will see how wide the audi is. its a fairly substantial sedan but prob not that wide.

This is really a budget trailer above all things, just trying to add some cool touches to what is a budget, cheap as we can trailer haha. we have a lot of stuff lying around/freebees though.

as others have said about building trailer as a basic one and get reg sorted, it doesn't even need to have a solid deck. I bought mine as a flat deck type and i built it up from there.

register from new if you can, initial reg cost gets you plate etc and 12 month warrants for 5 years i think. its almost cheaper every 5 years to re-register than pay for WOF's

Cheers

[FJRider]

... we have a winch to winch the sidecar up into the trailer easy enough. will have onboard ramps which slide under trailer.


Cheers

Have you thought of putting a horse float type rear door/ramp instead of ramps that are extra to carry ... ???

[Fast Eddie]

Have you thought of putting a horse float type rear door/ramp instead of ramps that are extra to carry ... ???

yip, tis a smarter Idea - just thinking that the height of the fold down door may restrict the angle of the ramp and cause the sidecar to bottom out.. we think we are going to need some pretty long ramps (up to 3.6m haha!) so we can winch it on and off without bottoming the sidecar out.

Will have to sort that out once deck is finished and rolling on wheels so we can see its height and what angle we need the ramp to be at to avoid bottoming out.

Kickaha linked me up to some drop axle technical websites so will look at making a drop/step axle to lower the trailer.

but then he also pointed out the trailer itself may start bottoming out..

grrr..

any calculations/formulas I can use here to figure out trailer minimum ride height to be able to still get in and out of gas stations/driveways/curbs/speed bumps?

cheers fellas, some good points have been coming up which is what we need

[FJRider]

yip, tis a smarter Idea - just thinking that the height of the fold down door may restrict the angle of the ramp and cause the sidecar to bottom out.. we think we are going to need some pretty long ramps (up to 3.6m haha!) so we can winch it on and off without bottoming the sidecar out.

Either a curved (fiberglass ??) panel on inside of the door so it rolls over the lip, or ensure the door area can take the bike ... then raise the door to level to roll into/out of the trailer.

[Fast Eddie]

... then raise the door to level to roll into/out of the trailer.

yea thats worth looking at if we can't make a ramp solution that avoids bottoming out.