Road Home Made Trailer

Mur Huwcun

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North West Wales
this is excellent advice, im not sure its specific to round or square axles i dont think it is but lots of manufactures offer 10 stud wheel drum but the brake shoes within are tiny compared with proper commercial shoes,

get proper commercial axles.

Yes I’v no specs to go by either but I’m yet to see square axles with the 200 or 220 wide shoes! A lot if these ‘commercial’ axles dont have S cams either.

EDIT: a quick google turned this up.


Interesting that they class the square axle with flat cams and 400*80 brakes as an axle for trailed appliances or lighweight trailers!! NC class them as axles for 16tonne low loaders!!!
 
Yes I’v no specs to go by either but I’m yet to see square axles with the 200 or 220 wide shoes! A lot if these ‘commercial’ axles dont have S cams either.

EDIT: a quick google turned this up.


Interesting that they class the square axle with flat cams and 400*80 brakes as an axle for trailed appliances or lighweight trailers!! NC class them as axles for 16tonne low loaders!!!
One thing to be aware of with proper commercial axles is over braking the trailer by the brakes being too good. Easily taken care of with load sensing, but you'd need suspension to be able to do it.
 

Bumble Bee

Member
Arable Farmer
The only part I don't intend to fab myself is the chassis as want it done properly and with a higher rated welder than mine. The fabricator would close off the cut chassis and add drawbar.
The main concern I have is the stability of the sprung truck axle on a drawbar - concern about susceptibility to lateral roll as the original chassis would expect a wheel on each front corner for stability - not a drawbar in the middle - might make it a bit like a trike. All depends on the CoG of the load though.
You do see single axle trailers beyond 16ft, but I'm not sure the suspension setup would be the same. Welding the axle on solid or a second axle might be the cure, but that adds to the cost and makes it less financially viable.


In regards to used trailers, I'm still looking - nothing is set in stone yet, far from it. I'm just gathering opinions on building at home.
I'm following this with interest as I asked a similar question a while ago as we're looking to build some spray browsers.

If you are worried about stability a truck chassis may not be the way forward as the chassis rails are designed to flex and twist. A box section chassis would be much more rigid.
 

Xiaomi

Member
If you are worried about stability a truck chassis may not be the way forward as the chassis rails are designed to flex and twist. A box section chassis would be much more rigid.
I would have thought that a bare chassis would flex, but when mated to its body the flex would be negligible and be more likely to lift a rear corner off the ground?
DSC_0743.JPG
 

Andrew

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Huntingdon, UK
If you’re building a dolly trailer flex is OK. If it’s a drawbar trailer flex will make it unstable.

Add an extra axle if you need stability. A brand new Granning axle with commercial spec drum brakes and ABS sensor is about £660 IIRC. You can get second hand ROR axles for £150-£200 and recon them for another £100 so not silly money.
 

Xiaomi

Member
It'll be drawbar pulled.
The argi trailers running up to about 20ft on a single axle have little flex and probably less suspension travel so they are not able to rock as much?

If I need to add a second axle it will be too much work - the springs may need removal in order to group the axles closely - so a switch to rigid axle setup.
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
It'll be drawbar pulled.
The argi trailers running up to about 20ft on a single axle have little flex and probably less suspension travel so they are not able to rock as much?

If I need to add a second axle it will be too much work - the springs may need removal in order to group the axles closely - so a switch to rigid axle setup.
if you go for a air sprung chassis and then replace air bags with coil springs you can get a closer spread
 

Xiaomi

Member
if you go for a air sprung chassis and then replace air bags with coil springs you can get a closer spread
It'll be highly likely to be a leaf spring chassis - although with each post the workload increases and is becoming less feasible.
I guess that back in the day when coverting truck chassis was all the rage the lower road speeds meant that the stability issues were not as pronouned as they are now with 40k & 50k tractors.

It looks like currently minimum we need is to move the axle forward and probably create rigid mounts doing away with the axle springs to avoid it rocking.
 

Mur Huwcun

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North West Wales
It'll be highly likely to be a leaf spring chassis - although with each post the workload increases and is becoming less feasible.
I guess that back in the day when coverting truck chassis was all the rage the lower road speeds meant that the stability issues were not as pronouned as they are now with 40k & 50k tractors.

It looks like currently minimum we need is to move the axle forward and probably create rigid mounts doing away with the axle springs to avoid it rocking.

A single axle on super singles will bounce though!! it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other unfortunately!!
 

Andrew

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Huntingdon, UK
It'll be drawbar pulled.
The argi trailers running up to about 20ft on a single axle have little flex and probably less suspension travel so they are not able to rock as much?

If I need to add a second axle it will be too much work - the springs may need removal in order to group the axles closely - so a switch to rigid axle setup.

Depends what your load will be. A 20ft trailer with a 5000ltr diesel tank on or a 20ft trailer loaded to 5m tall with 10t of square straw will be a big difference in stability.
As for suspension, will you be empty half the time like a normal trailer, or loaded all the time

Job Done!

Nothing wrong with that apart from it’s 5x the price it should be! It’s getting the correct figures to stamp into it and the correct paperwork to back it up that’s the key. Any competent engineer can do that though.
 

FarmyStu

Member
Location
NE Lincs
I have a tidy 20ft bale trailer that's homemade, it's light single axle on six stud wheels, it's got good tyres, good breaks and all the lights work. My neighbour has a Marshall 25ft, no breaks, bald tyres and knackered lights but its plated. In this case mine would be as illegal as his just because it hasnt got a stamp on it.
No, his would be illegal too.
 

Farmer_Joe

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
The North
I would have thought that a bare chassis would flex, but when mated to its body the flex would be negligible and be more likely to lift a rear corner off the ground?
DSC_0743.JPG
amazing how much that flexes,

you really want twin axle on a bale trailer for stability and ground pressure,

i got a 32ft 12tonne easterby bale trailer from york machinery sales for £2650, its nice and strong with decent brakes (could be bigger as always) on super singles and sprung drawbar, it could do with some outriggers replacing but its decent otherwise.

Whats your budget? ive seen them cheaper here requiring basic work but it varies how many people bid on the day.
 

Xiaomi

Member
Better image of it here:
DSC_0752.JPG

We're only going for 16 - 18ft due to accesses and laneways. The trailer would be for livestock.
Looking at similar price range..
 

Andrew

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Huntingdon, UK
Better image of it here:
DSC_0752.JPG

We're only going for 16 - 18ft due to accesses and laneways. The trailer would be for livestock.
Looking at similar price range..


If it’s for livestock at 18ft a single axle would be OK, just make sure the suspension doesn’t make it bounce to much.
Make it solid with no twist otherwise the box will always be cracking.
Unless you’re going 2 decks of cows stability will be fine.
 

Xiaomi

Member
Spent some time there looking at commercial axles. Seems to be correct that you can get them from about £150. What price do used agri axles go for? Mainly thinking about the available wheel/tyre costs for each setup.
If I could put on a second axle at little cost, then the additional stability and ability to go into fields would be worth it.

Not sure if the driven axle that comes with a chassis is a good idea? Would a chassis and a undriven axle be a better option?

I took a quick look at stub/half axles, but there seems to be no value in them compared to a full beam axle.

PS - thanks for all the helpful information so far, it has been good knowledge gathering!
 
Last edited:

Andrew

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Location
Huntingdon, UK
Spent some time there looking at commercial axles. Seems to be correct that you can get them from about £150. What price do used agri axles go for? Mainly thinking about the available wheel/tyre costs for each setup.
If I could put on a second axle at little cost, then the additional stability and ability to go into fields would be worth it.

Not sure if the driven axle that comes with a chassis is a good idea? Would a chassis and a undriven axle be a better option?

I took a quick look at stub/half axles, but there seems to be no value in them compared to a full beam axle.

PS - thanks for all the helpful information so far, it has been good knowledge gathering!

That reads like you're considering the back end of a rigid truck for a chassis?
Don't do it. It will twist everywhere, and you will struggle to get an engineer to calculate the strength for the weight plate etc as you won't know what grade steel it is.
Make it from scratch, new box section is very cheap and you can have exactly what you want - it won't work out any cheaper. I've cut down an artic trailer and built one from scratch (both builds are on here somewhere) and the scratch build was a better job and probably worked out cheaper and definitely better.
 

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quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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