I've been looking for a trailer and thought about making my own one using a caravan chassis. Has anyone done this or built there own one ??

 

Bet you could if you set about it in the right way.

You mean a trailer to driver a car onto?

 

I've seen a few that have been made using a caravan chassis

Yeah, car transporter/trailer

 

If you fix one up yourself dont you have to take it somewhere for testing or checked over?

 

No i wouldn't think so.

 

easy using a chassis but not sure how much weight they can carry. Ive just weighed up the pro/cons of bulding my own as a upgrade from the one I have now, for the proper parts and a solid trailer that I trust to put a car on, parts alone come to £1000, then add on your own labour time. Depending what u want to carry on it, be easier buying a used one.

EDITED BY WEBTEAM

 

Martin from MEFmotorsport has built about 3 of his own in the past.

Simple box section tube, some indespension hubs, a bolt on tow hitch and your away.

You can normally buy plans for them off Ebay etc, but his were designed in his head for specific purposes.

 

Dont use an old caravan chassis as they are too heavy. As Tony says make it out of boex section and buy the suspension units for it.

Graham

 

I'm after a trailer as cheap as poss. Its for me and my mates to tow our Suzuki SJ 4x4. So the heavyest it would need to carry is no more than a 1000kg.

Been looking on ebay for cheap ones that need a bit of work, but even they go for quite a bit of money.

 

Would a bog std. A frame not do?

 

no dont use a caravan chassie ive was going to mate one but
was told by a mate of mine thay bend easy as there not made
to carry alot of weight

 

No, cause the 4x4 is not tax, tested, and insured so can't have all 4 wheels on the road..... We could use a dolly i suppose but was preferable after a trailer.

 

4x4 can only go a trailer cant it unless you remove one
prop shaft

 

Its got selectable 4x4/2wd

 

that would be o.k then

just by some axle's and make your own you can by the plans of
ebay to make one from £1.99 to £10.99 depends on what type
you want

 

you dont need tax , mot and insurence if towing on an a frame

 

Actually, you do.

If all 4 road wheels of a vehicle are on the road, then it is a requirement that the vehicle is fully road legal.

However, if towing on a dolly, or suspended tow, with only 2 roadwheels on the ground, then the vehicle is classed as a trailer.

 

If you need a driver in the towed car to steer it, the vehicle must be street legal.

If it's attatched to a steerable A frame it becomes a 4 wheel trailer, no tax etc required, you've just got the problem of having something with a suitable towing capactiy to pull it and a licence that covers that combined weight.

A caravan chassis would need to be 4 wheel unless you are only towing a stripped out track car, the suspension won't take the weight of a modern car.
Let alone the chassis which is only designed to carry a big aluminium box.

I've used a caravan based trailer before, they bend.
I've built a car transporter with proper suspension, they are expensive to build.

The cheapest way is to buy a used car transporter trailer,

Actually the cheapest way it to hire one, they are ususally only £40 for a day and you won't have storage problems.

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a brian james one went down here for only 400

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Trailer-Car-tr...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-TRANSPORTE...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-TRAILER-OR...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/146-x-411-FLAT...QQcmdZViewItem


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-TRANSPORTE...QQcmdZViewItem

 

weve got an old horse box converted to a trailer that might be ok with the sides grinded off, a few years ago we were going to convert it to take a small tractor to local shows, the tractors wheels are set out wide and i cant get the nuts undone only just though about turning it into a fezzy trailer

 

never seen so much scrap iron in my life

 

Lee@Fusion built his own.

 

focusv8 your wrong

for an a frame the car must be legal as 4 wheels will be on the
road its final

you dont need a road legal car for it to go on a dolly as stated
because only 2 wheels are on the road

 

This is correct as my Dad ect use to do Racing and Trailing with the AWDC years ago with Olds jeeps and landrovers and there was a big thing back then about this as alot was using A Frames

Is fooking silly as its using the same idea as the trailer but then thats the law for you they like to make things a right pain for use

 

A bit of information I missed out of my previous post was that you can only tow an unbraked trailer if it weighs less than 750kg.
There are very few cars in the UK that would come in under that weight.

Some cars without an engine in may come under 750kg.

Towing with a Dolly is only permitted for LOCAL recovery, its still an unbraked trailer, unless the dolly has brakes on it.

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This is try But a AA bloke told me once he went all the way to Wales with a car on a A frame Or is that because its behind a Van

 

Must be because its AA. and their A frames are probably braked and approved.

Plenty of people on here claim to drive around at 140mph, doesn't mean its true or legal.
.

 

my trialer was built using In old twin axel caravan chassis does work ok for what I need it for.
just wish I could have got a brian james trailer for the same money

steve

 

Max legal speed when using a Dolly is 20 MPH or 40 mph on a motorway.

Must have been a slow trip to wales for the AA man..

Some info here: http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/a-frames.shtml

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Bloody must have been (And theres arnt braked i had a look @ it )

I got told if using one dont go over 50mph as a rough guide

But tbh i normal borrow my m8s trailer alot easyer