L series trailer

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AndrewT
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L series trailer

Post by AndrewT » Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:45 pm

I made this on and off over the last couple of days.

Image

The sheet metal sticking out the front is just the leftovers I chucked in there to move somewhere else.

Image

Image

Started off with a rego'ed 6x4 trailer with good frame but totally rusted out body, and the rear half of my first L series wagon that's been sitting around for years.

Cut the body off the donor trailer.
Made a frame in the L series body out of new galvanised box section and welded it to the frame from the donor trailer.
Welded hinges to the bottom of the L series tailgate so it folds down instead of up now.
Fitted a 2wd K frame to the L series body (had one sitting there with near-new bearings in it).
Put the old pair of KYB shocks and Kings springs out of Monsterwagon into it.
Put 3" body lift in it and fitted a couple of old 14" speedie rims with pretty knackered (but good enough) 27" tyres.
Welded some small box down the top edges to make it more practical for loading stuff.
Made a floor for the part which lowers down where the rear seats used to be, continues along the same level as the wagon floor at the back.
Wired the lights up to a 7pin trailer plug.

Spent maybe 6 or 7 hours on it I spose. Bought some Mig wire and new box section and sheet, used other offcuts and junk I had lying around.

Still needs quite alot of little attention to detail;
- grind down all the little sharp edges and close off voids with light sheet
- enclose the front section with a wall (removable with wing nuts tho incase I want to load extra long stuff)
- fit a jockey wheel
- fit a spare wheel/tyre
- might replace the hitch with one with a hydraulic master on it and connect up the drum brakes...but not really necessary for a trailer this size
- might find some Honda springs to beef it up abit
- delete the tow bar :P

It's roughly 6.5x4x5 size - little bigger than the standard 6x4 trailer size but sortof evens up because it has wheel arches inside taking up abit of room.

Bit of a laugh but way better than what it was :)

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Wagonman
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Post by Wagonman » Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:49 pm

I like, I like very much :D

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thelman
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Post by thelman » Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:53 pm

ya kinda stolen me idea. . . . Mines different tho. . . . Nuff said!

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taza
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Post by taza » Sun Jun 26, 2011 7:58 pm

lol. Thats an awesome trailer! Nice job.

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guyph_01
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Post by guyph_01 » Sun Jun 26, 2011 8:43 pm

Cool, nice work Andrew. How heavy is it? won't it be too heavy?
Also are you going over the pits with it?
Looks cool tho:p

Now who will be the first to make a trailer out of a brumby??? :D
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taza
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Post by taza » Sun Jun 26, 2011 8:56 pm

Does it still have the rear door windows :cool: lol

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Gannon
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Post by Gannon » Sun Jun 26, 2011 9:12 pm

I likey!

What are you gonna do for the front?

P.S.
Whats with the blingin rims on the trailer in the background?
Current rides: 2016 Mitsubishi Triton GLS & 2004 Forester X
Ongoing Project/Toy: 1987 RX Turbo EA82T, Speeduino ECU, Coil-pack ignition, 440cc Injectors, KONI adjustale front struts, Hybrid L Series/ Liberty AWD 5sp
Past rides: 92 L series turbo converted wagon, 83 Leone GL Sedan, 2004 Liberty GT Sedan & 2001 Outback
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Post by nncoolg » Sun Jun 26, 2011 9:34 pm

got a towbar too, needs another one behind :)
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El_Freddo
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Post by El_Freddo » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:26 pm

Should this really be in the restorations section?! :p

Looks good andrew! Needs more lift!! I've been thinking of something along these lines, but I wanted to keep the body and glass so that it was still enclosed. Haven't worked out what to do up the front yet but I was thinking of somehow welding the windscreen in there or something... I'll probably never get around to doing it after knocking up my yota tray trailer last year ;) So props to you!

I too would be keen to know if its a heavy trailer. And the spare tyre - remove the fuel tank (or keep the tank and hook it up to the wagon for even better range) and mount under there - or make a rear swing arm for it, downer would be the weighting of the tow hitch...

Cheers

Bennie
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AndrewT
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Post by AndrewT » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:35 pm

TheLman, give us some details of what you've planned :) Camper? I had ideas about that before I cut the roof off, decided on this because I actually need a 6x4 open trailer at the moment.

The front will just be a flat wall like with most trailers which I'll make out of the same sheet metal as I used for the front floor section. I'll put wing nuts so it can be removed easily if required.

Being a Touring Wagon it did have electric windows in those doors but I deleted all that to save weight.

It does seem a bit heavier than average for a 6x4 trailer but wouldn't be by that much. It's quite well balanced and I rekon the suspension will be up to the task of normal sized loads no problem. After all, compaired to it's original form as a Touring Wagon, it's now missing all the interior, all the bits from inside the doors, all the driveline, fuel tank, windows, roof etc.

Probably won't bother taking it to the pits. The frame I used was still fully paid up and rego'ed, and it's still basically a 6x4 trailer.

Whatever money I spent on bits of metal and mig wire will be paid back to me in practical use pretty quickly I think - we have to move house twice over the next year, and develop a 6.5 acre block of land too so it will be karting heaps of funiture and other loads of sand and random junk all over Perth. Might keep a little running log of what it gets used for.

ElFreddo - I figured it counted as a "build-up" for this section, and can fit in with the other buildups of mine in here :)
I did think more than 3" lift would look better, especially when hitched up to Monsterwagon, but nah. Couple of reasons - it's likely to be hitched up to a few other cars too, mostly my lowered Legacy wagon and would be a bit silly pointing downwards. Also would be a PITA lifting stuff up into it if it's much higher than this.
I did think of utilising the tank for extra fuel or water or something but that would have been more useful if it was going to be an enclosed camper type thing. In this form (basic 6x4 trailer) I think the "keep it simple stupid" approach is best.
Pity I'm running 5stud on the wagon these days, it would have been handy to have a common spare wheel between the two, but again this wouldn't work out with hitching it up to other cars all the time. I'll just keep one spare 14" ontop of the Aframe hitch I think.

Edit - a few questions about the weight now...I'll definitely swing into a weigh bridge if I see one when I've got it hitched up and post up the results.

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El_Freddo
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Post by El_Freddo » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:44 pm

Are you guys required to have a trailer of this size rego'd? Over here we don't have to do that, we just have to make sure that the rear of the trailer has the towing vehicle's number plate's ID presented otherwise you can get done for obstruction of the towing vehicle's number plate :rolleyes: "No shit, its a trailer officer"

Andrew, I was just having a dig - you should know me! I'm glad you've posted it up - it looks awesome behind the Monsterwagon. I wonder how many people will mistake it for a vehicle behind you - I've had that many times with my trailer...

I'm also keen to know more about the rear gate hinge mod ;)

Cheers

Bennie
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AndrewT
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Post by AndrewT » Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:58 pm

Yeah we have to have them rego'ed here.
These are the kind of hinges I used, from one of the local car parts place.

Image

I just found a good pivot point on either side. The cylinder bit is welded to the body, and the other bit with the knob that goes into the cylinder is welded to the door.

Will post a few more closer up pics at some point but only after I've cleaned it up better haha. Some of the welds where I've had to weld onto some of the very thin outer skin parts of the body look pretty shocking. Because I don't have the gas bottle addon for my Mig I'm just using the gasless wire and you can't really weld thin stuff properly without blowing through it. Have to turn the intensity down alot which causes it to spatter everywhere.

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Post by T'subaru » Sun Jun 26, 2011 11:02 pm

Thats awesome ! The only improvement I could see is a matching lift and rear wheels/tires. Ill bet it gets it fair share of attention on the road :)
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AndrewT
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Post by AndrewT » Sun Jun 26, 2011 11:33 pm

Here's a nighttime pic from last night that shows the rear door hinged down. Might have to chop a bit more out of it to bring it to a closer level to the floor.
Also can see the floor I made for the front part of the trailer.

Image

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tex
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Post by tex » Wed May 02, 2012 12:31 am

Sorry to drag up an old post but what about progress pics?
El_Freddo wrote:Are you guys required to have a trailer of this size rego'd? Over here we don't have to do that, we just have to make sure that the rear of the trailer has the towing vehicle's number plate's ID
Sorry to say but the rules have changed, Infact when I was living down in victoria years ago I met several people who had been booked not knowing the rule change!
87 targa brumby (Neglected),
92 targa brumby (weekend runabout),
97 Lifted Outback (Dailey drive),
05 outback safety (Too cheap to pass up),
90 model liberty (was to be scrapped instead sold to workmate)
+ others.

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guyph_01
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Post by guyph_01 » Wed May 02, 2012 2:33 am

yes keen to know how this is going along. Only thing Andrew hasn't been on here a while i think, didn't see a lot of comment/posts from him.
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Post by steptoe » Wed May 02, 2012 8:12 am

Tex has been a quiet one here lately too ! Starting to think I had remembered this post before I tossed my last L Series wagon, though would look odd behind my Brumby or L Sdan :)

Andrew was in just yesterday according to member list, A , page 2

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Post by thunder039 » Wed May 02, 2012 9:42 am

tex wrote:Sorry to drag up an old post but what about progress pics?



Sorry to say but the rules have changed, Infact when I was living down in victoria years ago I met several people who had been booked not knowing the rule change!
only if its above a certain size
2004 subaru forester -gone
1999 subaru forester- no more :(
1989 subaru brumby- sold!
2008 zook jimny -sold!
2003 mitsubishi pajero - missus car
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Alex
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Post by Alex » Wed May 02, 2012 9:45 am

andrew just got married and is probably too busy these days trying to make babies etc.

:D

alex
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my13 Hyundai i45(shhhh)
my02 Gen3 Liberty limited ed.

previously
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guyph_01
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Post by guyph_01 » Thu May 03, 2012 12:57 am

Alex wrote:andrew just got married and is probably too busy these days trying to make babies etc.

:D

alex
Hahahahaha, got to catch up to you i guess...:p
The project, EJ22 --->>> EJ25 Quad CAM:D touring wagon
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Thinking of going on holidays on a little paradise island, Check out http://www.dodolidays.com

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