My new car trailer

[twosmoke300]

A quick google does show that 5/16 unf turnbuckles are available so you could screw the rh thread bit of that into the actuator and you would be left with an eye to put what ever type of cable you wanted on

[OwdChina]

Nice one dave21478, pic says a thousand words etc. That's the way to go, you might need to modify the drum side retainer but caravan spares places should be able to provide cables that are close enough to do what you need. Tap the shoe actuators to the nessesary size.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

A quick google does show that 5/16 unf turnbuckles are available so you could screw the rh thread bit of that into the actuator and you would be left with an eye to put what ever type of cable you wanted on

 

Thats exactly what i proposed to do

[twosmoke300]

Great minds eh!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I just ordered a couple of 5/16 clevis thingys, some threaded bar, spare 5/16 nuts, and i will get a cheap Morris minor cable i think snd see if it can all be made to fit.

[dave21478]

Gotcha - you arent going to find anything modern thats even close - everything I can think of since the early eighties has the outer sleeve fitting to the backplate.

 

I think your plan is sound....threaded rod / bolt into the actuator and weld on one of those clevis things and lash up a fitting to a regular cable. Cable length is going to be an issue though as I would guess your outer cable on the front axles must be really short.

 

I know bicycle brake inners and outers can be bought by the meter - I wonder if there are larges sizes available? Then use wire rope fittings to make loops in the wheel end to connect to your clevis and a similar arrangement at the compensator.

 

Alternatively, I got a load of stainless steel cables made up by these guys....

http://thecableconnection.com/wire-rope.html

(was an architecture job, fancy balcony railings) they could make up pretty much anything. I wasnt paying though, so no idea on wallet impact.

[dave21478]

edit - no it wasnt them, thats a USA-based company. fecked if I can find the UK one I used now.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

IN other trailer news, I have established that the wheels are on a 4.5" PCD. They look like ancient Austin A40 wheels or something, plus I have for 3 x 13" and 1 x 14"!!! if anyone spies a set of matching 13" 4.5/114.3 PCD steel wheels PM me!!!! I think quite a lot of japanese shite uses this stud pattern.

[KruJoe]

I might be able to sort you out with 4 or 5 steelies, Boll.

These 13's are Suzuki Swift 4 x 114.3mm

offset 35-38mm

CB: 60

Not sure how wide the rims are, but they'd be happy with 165's on.

 

What's your centre bore like? 

[Lankytim]

Doh that wheel didn't fit then! I have a set of 5 triumph TR7 alloys I'm about to scrap if you're interested?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Thanks LT!!!! Are they 13" or 14"??? I have a feeling they're a different PCD again though are they not?

 

I just remembered I have 4-off old RWD Mitsubishi sigma wheels lying about that might do the job as well.

[Lankytim]

They're 13s and are 114.3 I think.. same as Marina?

[Jikovron]

usefullish banal trivia , it is a 3.75" pcd on tr7s a la carte marina cars,,, however marina vans, stags and tr>6 has the 4.5 pcd

[EssDeeWon]

One owner 36,000 mile Rover 214Si with new headgasket and shit loads of other stuff for £250

 

Would fit nicely on the trailer

 

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=215868

[DSdriver]

I've just caught up with all this malarky and It occurs to me that all this cable stuff looks a lot like dinghy/yacht rigging and that is where your search for stuff should be leading you. What is the diameter of the actual cables cos I have got a load of guard rail cable sitting in a locker. Take it to a rigger and get the ends swaged on.

[Lacquer Peel]

One owner 36,000 mile Rover 214Si with new headgasket and shit loads of other stuff for £250

 

Would fit nicely on the trailer

 

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=215868

 

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/ff496/Zaps93/1993%20Rover%20214Si/DSC_0063_zpsnd89nzer.jpg

 

Wow!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Its flippin ace that isnt it, almost worth buying the car for

[seth]

Triumph 2000s have 4.5" pcd 13" steels. If that helps....

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Cheers Seth! I see MGB rostyles could be an option too, as 165/70 14 van tyres are slightly cheaper than 165/80 13's. I am gonna see if I still have these Mitsubishi wheels and see where that leads I think, not sure if they're 13" or 14"

[worldofceri]

Hey, I was daydreaming earlier and remembered the Argenta has a towbar fitted (although no towball).

 

Back when it was in my custody I got as far as pinching the towball of my Mum's car as I had a trailerful of crap to take to the tip or something and, I guess, I thought it would be more 'fun' to use the Argenta than the S40.  But, anyway, on fitting the 'ball I found I couldn't hitch up the trailer as the bumper was in the way.  I'd have needed a drop-plate or a great big spacer and supa-long bolts.  I seem to remember testing the electrics and they were bob-on.

 

So clearly, for maximum  shite points you really need to be dragging the Pony down to Musée_Bo11eux behind the Fiat.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Alright shid kickers

 

Anyone remember this trailer? I brought it back to the unit and dumped it in the compound as I knew it was yet another project which I could do without. Well this weekend I pulled it out and had a look at the brakes again.

 

 

Basically all the brakes were fucked. The drums themselves were full of oil & grease, mechanisms half seized up, and all the cable actuation rusty/knackered/not present. The lad told me he'd fitted new brake shoes - this was a blatant lie. What a twat.

 

 

I took each drum off and cleaned everything up with thinners & brake cleaner. Took each backplate off to fit new rubber boots and actuatro clevises. This is what i took off:

 

 

Of course, new pukka Lockheed rubber boots are NLA, so i used some generic balljoint boots off eBay:

 

 

Cleaning the drums out: Used a whole can of brake cleaner and about 2l of thinners. I think the linings probably have a bit of oil in them but I have cleaned them up as best i can. Some of these supposedly 'new' shoes are about 60% worn so theres not much adjustment left and I could do with some more, sadly proper Lockheed shoes seem to cost £50 for 4 which I can't bring myself to pay. They are an 8" drum so presumably some other old BLMC shoes of some sort can be adapted. Anyone know what other old clunkers have 8" drums?

 

 

Cleaned, greased and adjusted the bearings. This one looks knackeerd but fortunately these are available and cheap.

 

 

I bought a load of new noggins for making up the cable linkage:

 

 

Started to put them together:

 

 

Here are some of the shitty old cable bits I removed:

 

 

I bought 4 Morris Minor handbrake cables to use as brake cables. These have a handy end stop with a thread on it so you can fasten them securely. I made up some lugs and welded them onto the axles (they are welded on the lower side). The threads are some old imperial job so I bought some suitable nuts off the bay:

 

 

Bt the time I was done with that lot (10 hours' work!!!!) it was looking alright:

 

 

At the front end of the cables I need to make up a bracket to secure the outers to. For that I need a piece of Angle iron which i need to scrounge from somewhere. But I am quite hopeful that this is actually gonna work and result in a decent 4-wheel brake system. The MM brake cables are a little short and I think they will have a bit of an extreme curvature on the fwd cables but I will grease them up and hopefully it will be OK, I think it will.

 

I bought 4 Rostyle MGB wheels & tyres off the bay for a quid. The tyres are scrap and have been used with inner tubes, which has resulted in the wheels needing some TLC too:

 

 

 

That can get sorted though. They fit OK fortunatley and will alllow me to use 165/70 14C 6-ply tyres (renner kangoo size) which will give the trailer a little more height which i think will be welcome. These wheels are flippin HEAVY.

 

Then I need to add a numberplate light, some side reflectors and some lashing points and then I thnk it will be in a condition where I will chance using it on the road!!!! Moral of the story: Try and keep calm when buying an old trailer so that you can knock it back if its a load of old shit, saving yourself hours of grief.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Just spotted these on the bay. Morris Minor front brake shoes.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MORRIS-MINOR-FRONT-BRAKE-SHOE-LATE-/170286029110

 

Have to say they look EXACTLY what I need!!! £17/set, there must be a catch.

[dave21478]

Nice to see some progress on this. I was thinking about it the other day - does the camper have a towbar and what weight would it pull? That would be an Autoshite worthy combo for hauling some obscure sun-bleached tat back from Malaga.

 

As for the brakes, as I was sitting listlessly on my trailer wondering how to pretend to work for the next 6 hours the other day, I noticed that it uses one of the simplest designs of compensator I have ever seen, certainly the easiest to fabricate at home....

 

 

The main brake rod is over-long and slides through a bit of tube welded to the axle out of shot at the bottom to prevent the whole lot drooping and dragging on the ground.

 

The brakes on yours are not autoreversing, so every time you back up you will have to get out beforehand and flip a wee latch somewhere on the hitch to prevent it compressing and pulling the brakes on when you push it backwards - This latch should automatically disengage when you draw forwards again. Its best to rig up something (I used to use a strategically inserted 4 inch nail in its mechanism) to prevent this for those inevitable 19-point turns in some narrow cul-de-sac or taking six attempts to reverse it round a corner and through a gate.

[DSdriver]

In the old days, when brake linings were made from asbestos and cow shit pressed together at high pressure, the accepted way of dealing with them when they were contaminated with oil or break fluid was to boil them in a pan of water for a couple of hours.

[dieselnutjob]

Years ago I built my own trailer.  From memory I'm sure instead of that fancy balance bar it had pulley wheels with cables that one pulley wheel could pull on one cable that went to two things in a balanced way.

 

Maybe I used a pair of normal balance bars (for single axle trailers) and used one cable in a U that pulled them both, but with the U running a on a pulley wheel to balance the forces.  The pulley wheel would have been pulled by the hitch.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Been back up the garage today. Bit more drilling, sawing and welding and now i have this:

 

 

Its only a flippin fully functional 4-wheel brake set-up!!!

 

 

The cables were too short to all point in the same direction so I've got it with two acting forwards and two acting rearwards. Still operates all 4 brakes the same though. When you tug the handbrake lever upwards it properly locks the wheels now!!! Flippin grade A.

 

 

Need some thick M6 washers to put on all the cable adjustments and to slather it all in 'police lubricant' (copper grease) but no VOSA bandits are gonna be able to pick holes in that, it works bob-on. CA$HBACK

[twosmoke300]

Well done that man , good to see a trailer made safe again . There must be so many car trailers without brakes . They tow so well when they work well . You barely need the car brakes as you can feel the trailer brakes come on as you lift off the gas.

I rebuilt the brakes on one the other month and someone had done bits in the drums ( badly ) but failed to notice that the rod that hooks up to the hitch had rusted off so the brakes wouldn't work at all . Customer not happy with the previous garage and I gained a happy new customer 😄

[dieselnutjob]

I never would have thought of pushing on the outer rather than pulling the inner.

 

That will properly confuse someone at some point.  Which makes it brilliant.

[cobblers]

That's actually quite an elegant setup, Certainly a lot better than the £250 affair my mate bought from Solomatic to make his A frame push the brake pedal down on the van he was dragging. He reckoned this would make him totally legal to tow anything he wanted.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Been chucking more money at this this week - a new wheel bearing, 4 new tyres, a set of additional red/orange/white reflectors, 4 pukka heavy duty lashing points and M10 bolts/nuts/washers to fasten them on with plus a set of proper recovery wheel strap things, it owes me the thick end of £800 now!!!! So much for a cheap trailer. At least it will be reasonably well sorted i suppose. I want to make some new ramps for it as the ones it came with are ridiculously heavy and complete shite. I can barely pick the bloody things up!!! I have an idea for some lightweight ones using some thinwall box section i have lying about and a bit of corrugated iron.

 

Still have a vague plan to shift the Pony to France on it in a fortnights time.