My new car trailer

[UltraWomble]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tilt-bed-car-trailer-/221762198391?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item33a20e9b77

Suitable for very small shite only.

[phil_lihp]

^^^ Good idea. I want to see a multi-wheel Rover R8 ASAP please. If that doesn't test a head gasket, nothing will.

Love the idea but it'd have to be running a T-series turbo engine really.

[twosmoke300]

It would never rust with a T Turbo would it?

[phil_lihp]

Less HGF worries too! Unless you count the oil seeping out of it.

 

If I find myself with a spare half hour when I get home I'll have to try drawing one now just to see what it'd look like.

[KruJoe]

Sorry Phil, I couldn't wait.

 

 

Vulgalour can sleep easy.

[phil_lihp]

Well? You've got that red one and a welder, Now you have a design too so get to it!

[KruJoe]

Ha ha, I have the blue rear half from the Bollox sawn-off too, I'll need all three back ends to make that. Will you give me a Rover Metro to go on it if I do?

[phil_lihp]

Yes, I will find one and donate it to you if you build a roadworthy car transporter out of an R8!

[KruJoe]

Deal!
(Though I don't think it's gonna happen any time soon, fret not.)

[Mr_Bo11ox]

ITS TRAILER TIME BITCHES! YEAH

 

I am gasping to tow some old shite around with this trailer. But, I won't until I am happy that it is in a condition that will convince your average traffic copper to get OFF MY BACK AND CHASE SOME REAL CRIMS etc etc. So Last night I had a look at the brakes on it.

 

 

What I learned, is what I strongly suspect is golden rule #2 of buying cheap old trailers (#1 being, 'all cheap old trailers have knackered brakes), which is that the axles on this thing are made by some 'golden age of british manufacturing' midlands-based outfit that went bump years ago, and for which parts are non-existant. Sure enough, these axles are the work of world-leading brummie metal banging shitehawks 'RUBERY OWEN' and the brakes are made by long-divested automotive supplier LOCKHEED (not Lockheed Martin the US fighter jet manufacturer). A quick google turned up several steam rally/vintage caravan beardies asking where they could get bits for this stuff, and being told they'll have to make it themselves or get a new axle. GREAT

 

Basically on this trailer there is a hitch with a brake rod giving you the ability to tug some brake cables, and there is a drum brake on each wheel, fortunately with nothing seized up and healthy brake shoes, but essentially nowt in between so thats what I've got to magic up, a load of cableage.

 

 

The brakes are designed to have a simple, single cable (inner cable only, no outer cable) pulling straight outwards from the back of the drum. You can see the broken cable stub sticking out through the hole in the radius arm. to the left of the above pic you can see a stop for the outer cable, welded on the axle tube. Heres the end of the inner cable:

 

 

5/16UNF thread, good old imperial shite. No hooks or nipples or whatever, the cable screws directly into the actuator in the drum.

 

This pic below shows the rectangular hole in the backplate where the cable comes through before passing through the hole in the radius arm. There is supposed to be a rubber gaiter on there, but I tore it (it was knackered anyway to be fair)

 

 

So, No trailer parts suppliers have any cables like this, and i havent even started to think about the front end of the cable yet.

 

I went to the Indespension trailer shop today to see what they had that could be adapted. The lad in there was fuppin hopeless. I told him what I was up to, he took one look at my cable and said 'we aint got owt like that', I said i flippin know that, I though i could adapt something using clevis pins or threaded bar or whatever but it was too much for him to think about. He was nevertheless quick to tell me how many points i'll get on my licence if the brakes are not up to scratch (3 per wheel, I call bollocks, how do you evaluate which wheels have knackered brakes?) and said he could sell me a new axle for 350 or did I want to buy a whole trailer as he could do me a good deal including 0% finance! Eh? Who comes in to buy a brake cable and goes out with £2500 of flippin new trailer on tick? twat

 

 

So the best idea I can think of is the following, I'm throwing the floor open to the shite community to see if they have any better ideas though:

 

1) buy some 5/16" threaded bar off ebay:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-16-UNF-threaded-rod-studding-bar-12-about-30cm-Zinc-Plated-/151370843352

 

2) buy some 5/16 clevis fork thingys, one for each wheel:

 

 

These seem to cost like £6-8 each and I need 4!!!! These seem well expensive.

 

Anyway that will give me a clevis connection at each wheel to fasten to at least. Then I reckon, as trailer brake cables all have nipple ends, maybe I can use a Morris Minor handbrake cable insted? I have no idea how long these are or owt

 

 

These have a clevis connection at the wheel end (might need a bit of bending to get them to join up) plus some adjustment at the other end where they meet the compensator. PLus the outer cable is a lot shorter than the inner, which siuts this set-up as I need a fair bit of exposed inner cable at the wheel end to stop wheel articulation fucking up all the cable angles.

 

FUCK, my computers playing up, hang on a sec

 

[scruff]

I've had a few odd cables and fittings from these folks, they are pretty helpful and unlike indespension man will know what the fuck you're on about. http://www.tecni-cable.co.uk/

[KruJoe]

I reckon you're on the right track with this, r-kid.

[OwdChina]

Yo Boll..........I'm not seeing how the shoe actuator works, any pics of inside of drum ?...........5/16 and 8mm are very close, I would be running an M8 tap where needed and ditching the unified thread. Why does this have an American thread anyway ?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Its not american, its like an old Morris oxford or whatever

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I cant show you how the actuator works, but it does work OK. Its on the right in this pic

 

[OwdChina]

Ahh Ok. Just assumed it was Yank cos every thing here is UNC or UNF....... On older stuff. I always found the most common English thread was Whitworth......... Anyhoos making it metric will make for an easier life. 

[OwdChina]

So I'm thinking there is two cables on per axle with a central pivot, and the pivot is operated by the hitch actuator, so six cables/ rods combination in all ?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

well, theres two cables per axle alright, so four 'short' cables, then I'm thinking they need to feed into one of these things:

 

 

to which the forward brake rod attaches in the middle.

[catsinthewelder]

Would it be very naughty to weld whatever handbrake/clutch cable you use straight onto the old UNF ends?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Perhaps not naughty, but quite difficult I think. I'm not sure that cables weld very easily

[twosmoke300]

I think some knott cables have threads or clevis a on the ends

[Richard]

It's just possible we have some of these clevis fork things at work, we've got 300 years worth of shit lying around. I'll have a look tomorrow.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

yeah they do, metric threads though and they expect the backplate to have a feature that engages with the outer cable

[OwdChina]

I see the idea with that but it looks a bit crude. Do the four cables have an outer sheath or are they free float......erm, I mean do they need a cable stop to adjust tension...........like a throttle cable?

 

edit; just seen above

[Mr_Bo11ox]

yeah they need a cable stop for the outer cable, then the threaded end of the inner cable is where the adjustment happens, as it passes through that brackety thing

[twosmoke300]

Just thinking . Could corsa handbrake cables be any good? They don't have an outer for the bit that runs along the axle . You could possibly even use the nylon guides that they run in too. . Cheap as chips from the factors too . They have a short section that goes into the drum which might be able to be adapted

[dave21478]

They need to have outer sheaths. There should be a plate usually welded to the front axle where the four cables come and fit into which holds the outers. All that is easy enough to make up yourself - what might be hard is what hold the outer sheath at the wheel end....hard to see in the pics how that was rigged up originally and whether it would be easy to adapt a different cable to fit it.

 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo Dave, the outer sheaths ere originelly secured on the axle about 18inch inboard of the wheel, you can see the stop on the axle in one of the pics

[twosmoke300]

My mistook , I thought you said that they only had an inner

[twosmoke300]

Are any of those turnbuckle wire tensioner things the same thread as the actuator ? Could provide a suitable mounting point for a normal wire rope