[atari4x4]

cheers jimmy, it's pretty basic but it works well.

it's just my theory if the wheelbases are similar the things going to track better in corners, a longer trailer wheelbase will make it want to cut teh corners more & with ramp over angles etc if the car can clear it without dragging it's guts the trailer should be fine. behind the shorty you could almost forget it was behind you when as you knew it was going to be tracking in the tyre tracks left by the wheels, no need to swing wide or turn late to avoid the trailer straight-lining the corner.

the other thing is a nice & high drawbar/towbar height so it's not dragging itself through the slop, sand etc if you're crossing ridges, ruts etc etc.

don't know if you cunce still read books, but growing up i read a book on Kurt Johansen "The Son of the Red Centre" He's the guy that pioneer the road train concept & is in the National Road Transport Hall of Fame for he achievements back in the day, & well worth the read. one of the most mindblowing things i remember reading the book was the self tracking trailers he built to haul 44 gallon drums... so simple yet brilliant. i built many a lego self tracking trailer years before ever having a car.

Quote:

Few men have a life as diversified as that of pioneer Kurt Johannsen. Born at Deep Well, south of Alice Springs, in 1915 Kurt is a true son of the Red Centre. He acquired his driving licence at 11 and by the time he was 15 was driving his own truck carting night soil.

Kurt's career spanned that of labourer, fencing contractor, mailman, aviator and inventor but his greatest achievement is his adaptation of the self-tracking trailer and development of the world's first successful commercial roadtrain cattle haulage.

Utilising a Diamond T980 (Ex US ARMY issue), Kurt built a roadtrain the likes of which had never been seen before. The bureaucrats questioned his sanity and property owners scoffed at the idea but Kurt persevered and was soon putting the drovers out of work. He lengthened the chassis on the truck and fitted it with a crate, and then built three trailers using ex-US Army bren gun carriers. Kurt used the principal of the self-tracking mechanisms on the AEC roadtrain to develop his simpler but more effective version on his own trailers. Self-tracking meant the trailers could follow exactly in the tracks of the prime-mover.

The main disadvantage was, that if you staked a drive tyre, you were highly likely to stake several others down that side of the roadtrain! The trailers were to travel an incredible 2,000,000 miles before they finally retired. Kurt Johannsen is a foundation member of the Road Transport Historical Society and in 1992 donated $500 to kick start this museum.

[Jimmy!]

pete_79 wrote:

The main idea is to match the trailer axle with to the car's. So the trailer tyres run in the car tracks and are not pushing new tracks (increasing drag).
I tried to get pretty close to the Jimny's wheel base with my drawbar length. From the rear wheels to the trailer wheels is 100mm longer then the car's wheelbase.
If that's what you where asking?

Yep cheers, I got the axle width sorted, that was a given, I'm just curious on the wheelbase length, all I know is that long drawbar tows nice and reverse sweet. And a short bar would be better offroad for ramp over.
Might make drawbar today, so I'll use the vitara wheelbase as a starter and see how it looks mocked up.
Vitaras wheelbase getting extended very soon, so I'll take that into account too.

Cheers for the tips duuudes!!

[Jimmy!]

Might do some reading up on Kurt johansen just for shits and giggles too, sounds interesting, fill in some time when work is slow.

[sideways]

atari4x4 wrote:

Kurt Johansen "The Son of the Red Centre"

Ordered.

[atari4x4]

sideways wrote:

atari4x4 wrote:

Kurt Johansen "The Son of the Red Centre"

Ordered.

I know you'll enjoy that book, might have to hit up the old man & pinch his copy again, makes Tom Kruise "The Outback Mailman" look like Tom Cruise the actor... another good read is "Don't tell me I can't do that" by Dick Johnson.

Enough about books, back to trailers, got to dust off the old girl & start getting ready for beachport, hasn't been used in a few months over winter... the camping weather has arrived.

[atari4x4]

pulled the camper out & gave it a quick scrub, hasn't been used since march or april, was a bit grubby & a few small spider webs (probably freeloaders from beachport), opened it up thinking the worst.. nup all good. canvas & everything is all sweet, no mold, no bugs, no spider webs, sweet.


giving it the once over, found this... variable rate leaf springs?




not too sure why it's done it, it's done a few kms, but most of them are hard kms, swapped it out for a new one & bought another one as a spare. i'm guessing the spoa & the small spring perches aren't helping. plus the fact it's only a 3 leaf pack. might have to go to a shackle leaf?

[zukenutter]

maybe just a faulty leaf?

[atari4x4]

might be a faulty spring, just seems strange that it broke right on the edge of the lower spring perch. i'd moved it back a bit in that pic to show it a bit better.

i've got a spare just in case and it was nice using the axle stands that i carry on board to do it.

[christover1]

I only have 1.5 leaves, now I'm worried

[suz_rolly]

atari4x4 wrote:

giving it the once over, found this... variable rate leaf springs?

I personally think your problem is the spring perch on the axle it is rounded so as you apply pressure from the top bracket it is exerting a pressure point right in the middle if the spring, looking at the fracture of the spring being on the center point this is the definite cause in my opinion!!
Make new flat perches should resolve the problem

[atari4x4]

yeah it's not the most ideal set up...

the spring sits on the small flatter section in the centre & the edges are rolled to wrap around the axle a little. new perches were my thoughts also, was thinking something cut from thick walled RHS like the replacement spring perches people make when doing NT/WT swaps? 40mm hole saw & some angry grinder will probably be getting a workout.

oh & it was originally spua & i had moved the broken section back so you could see the break.

[zukenutter]

I think your NT/WT perch idea is the go. Is the rounded perch welded on, or just clamped in place by the U bolts?
I originally had mine just clamped bot no matter how tight the U bolts were they'd still slip causing the trailer to crab. I put it down to the rolling undulations and constant weight shifting during long high tide runs on the beach. Mine are now welded in place.

[atari4x4]

the perches are clamped on, might have to do some cardboard assisted drawing & work out what i need to make up cut them out & get them tacked on.

oh sideways, my u-bolts aren't too long, they're bumpstops.

[sideways]

[suz_rolly]

Just don't make the perch to long or you will hinder the spring arc and create a harsh ride which will cause stress somewhere else

[atari4x4]

was thinking of matching the length of the u-bolt plate or do you think that's a bad idea focusing the stress point top & bottom?

bladdy leaf springs, should just drop a vitara 3 link in it & be done with it.

[christover1]

Mine will be coiled in the future.
Just carry spare leaf until you coil it.
Not an engineer, but what you said makes sense, I'd stick to normal size locating plates.

[suz_rolly]

atari4x4 wrote:

was thinking of matching the length of the u-bolt plate or do you think that's a bad idea focusing the stress point top & bottom?

bladdy leaf springs, should just drop a vitara 3 link in it & be done with it.

Yea match the top plate or even 5mm shorter would be good

[atari4x4]

they'll have to stay how they are for this trip, but i'll be keeping an eye on them for sure.

have always had a few issues with the old school lights & the festoon globes rattling around. i'd solderd a set of globes in ages ago & they stayed put. but was in stupid cheap today & they now do the retro only thing cool on a defender round trailer lights in LED's. grabbed a full set & got all MCMTV on them & plasti dipped them so they've got a good chance of surviving the elements... might even track down clear lenses from the round reverse lights you can get as the LED's are coloured for the full altezza rice spec.

[Perram]

That's mad

Too bad about the leaf.

[atari4x4]

Finally made room in my carhold for the tent trailer, the garage has been a shambles since I built the blagon 2 years ago & it hasn't had anything parked in it for 6-7 years!!!

[jason_sgt]

Atari,

It's people like you that make me regret not having any useful skills. None. Couldn't do this if my life depended on it.

Awesome looking trailer. Do you have next of kin or can I shotgun this when you kick the bucket???

[shakes]

How can you put atari and useful in the same sentence?

Between some careful thinking, measuring three times, repeating at least once the odd semi-relevant youtube tutorial you can do anything these days. Your farrrrrrr better off to have a crack, learn something but still potentially fail than to sit on your hands and say you couldnt do it if your life depended on it.

Think big but start small.

[atari4x4]

thanks Jason, I work on computers all day & if I can do it... anyone can, just need to use your imagination & then go from there building your skill set as you learn.

@ shakes

[jason_sgt]

shakes wrote:

How can you put atari and useful in the same sentence?

Between some careful thinking, measuring three times, repeating at least once the odd semi-relevant youtube tutorial you can do anything these days. Your farrrrrrr better off to have a crack, learn something but still potentially fail than to sit on your hands and say you couldnt do it if your life depended on it.

Think big but start small.

I'll have a crack at anything. Good thing about my Vit is there is always something needing doing. Between here and my trusty manual I usually nut things out. Not up to the fabrication side of things yet! Need a proper shed first.

Atari, you get one compliment a month. After that I charge per pick-me-up. I have a 1900 number if you're interested.

[jason_sgt]

Also, you said tent was from ebay, care to link me as I like the look of it?

I'm tempted to have a crack at this!

[atari4x4]

tent came from this mob on ebay, i hit him up & did a deal outside of ebay & saved a little, but it looks like the price has dropped a fair bit in the few years since i bought mine.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RT01-RIPSTOP ... 1c4627f171

[sideways]

atari4x4 wrote:

tent came from this mob on ebay, i hit him up & did a deal outside of ebay & saved a little, but it looks like the price has dropped a fair bit in the few years since i bought mine.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RT01-RIPSTOP ... 1c4627f171

454 watchers

2 sold

Please call us on xyz plastered all over the ad.

Nah that guy never does deals outside of eBay.

[jason_sgt]

atari4x4 wrote:

tent came from this mob on ebay, i hit him up & did a deal outside of ebay & saved a little, but it looks like the price has dropped a fair bit in the few years since i bought mine.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RT01-RIPSTOP ... 1c4627f171

So it seems to have held up alright. You still happy with your choice?

[atari4x4]

jason_sgt wrote:

atari4x4 wrote:

tent came from this mob on ebay, i hit him up & did a deal outside of ebay & saved a little, but it looks like the price has dropped a fair bit in the few years since i bought mine.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/RT01-RIPSTOP ... 1c4627f171

So it seems to have held up alright. You still happy with your choice?

Yeah it's still sweet, the quality is on par with the brand name ones from TJM & ARB.