luke
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| posted on 24/1/12 at 05:30 PM |
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Box trailer brakes
Hi all,
A friend of mine was offered a large twin axle box trailer for £50 and took it. The trailer had been sat for a couple of years used as storage and
before that had been used to transport Go karts.
My friend asked me to tow it home for him as he doesnt have a towing license, and at first glance the trailer looked in good condition. but when
towing i realised there was problems with it. It was obvious the brakes were shot and after a good investigation we found out the hydraulic ram on the
coupling had split, the pull rods were rusted and fallen out off their fixings on the underneath and all 4 actuators in the hubs were shot.
Now after much googling ive worked out these are made by Lockheed and getting pretty rare for parts with an actuator costing £36 a piece. Its going to
cost over £300 to repair all the brakes without the cost of all the little jobs that need doing too. So were looking for cheaper ways round it.
I cant seem to find a conversion to a more common and cheaper system so could i convert it to only being braked on one axle and leave the other axle
free running? Its going to be used by a scout group for transporting camping equipment so will be carrying weights up to around 1 tonne.
A good deal is always too good to be true!
Thanks
Luke
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T66
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| posted on 24/1/12 at 05:38 PM |
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I dont know the regulations - but what weight is the trailer ? Is it a massive twin axle ?
Check the trailer regs, it may not need any dependant on what your intentions are with it.
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owelly
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| posted on 24/1/12 at 05:55 PM |
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If its over 750kg it needs trailer specific, auto-reversing brakes fitted to all the road wheels. Try looking for a single 1300kg alko or a pair of
600kg axles. Or sell the trailer to me...
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
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matt_claydon
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| posted on 24/1/12 at 06:25 PM |
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Regs require that all axles must be braked
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luke
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| posted on 24/1/12 at 06:30 PM |
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Thanks guys, didnt think about the regulations!
Think i will have to try to repair the actuators first before replacing then!
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dhutch
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| posted on 24/1/12 at 06:59 PM |
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If its an older trailer with an older 'sprung' non-damped non-autoreversing coupling would/should/could be ok to replace it like-for-like
and or with a used item which would have a cost saving over a over a modern coupling. That said, bought new there is not much in it and there is
reason why they are not used anymore and you dont want to buy something else shot.
Braked axles/suspension units arnt cheap, and again you might be able to find some used units.
Links to trailer parts warehouse (no connection, not always the cheapest, but otherwise a good site)
http://www.autow.com/trailer-parts/trailer-couplings/spring-braked-couplings
http://www.autow.com/trailer-parts/trailer-couplings/braked-couplings
http://www.autow.com/trailer-parts/trailer-suspension/suspension-units-braked
http://www.autow.com/trailer-parts/trailer-suspension-axles/full-beam-suspension-axles-braked
But yes, in short, the running gear of a trailer is the costly bit! And you dont really want to be taking risks, especially if the towing vehicle is
going to be full of scouts!
Daniel
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