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Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List http://forum.diyefi.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2251 |
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Author: | Fred [ Tue Aug 20, 2013 8:14 pm ] |
Post subject: | Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Moving cars around is rarely fun, and usually a pain, so anything to make that less of a pain is good, especially if doing it often. I've been seriously thinking about this for about 4 years, so I figure it's time to start making a shopping list. First up, which type? Hydraulic or air bagged or some sort of manual winch/ratchet system. Air has the following advantages:
So it'll probably end up being air-bagged. The following list is what I (probably) still have available to me, and included so you know what not to suggest:
And this is what I think I need to get to achieve this:
What's likely not needed:
Dimensions and features:
A similar design is here: http://www.facebook.com/AirbaggedTrailers Comments welcome, will update this post from time to time. Fred. |
Author: | Fred [ Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:45 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Using 3mm steel checker plate = 205.2kg alone for 4m long, and 256.5kg for 5m, that's too much IMO. ((3mm x 7.85kg/mm) + 2.1kg) * 5m * 2m = mass Could go hybrid and use plywood on the top and steel for the entry (to get low enough). Alloy would be about 1/3 the weight for the same thickness plate, but might require a bit of extra reinforcement underneath. EDIT: Next post moved here to make way for a budget post. http://www.trademe.co.nz/business-farmi ... 739048.htm * 4 = 600nzd Dimensions best @ 4880mm deck length or a fraction less. Maybe a hair less width in the deck too, then could use the offcuts as guards without tigging together. 2mm too, so lighter, but would for sure need some reinforcement. Or double the price to 1200nzd for 4mm. |
Author: | Fred [ Tue Aug 20, 2013 9:54 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Costings/budget: Tools/supplies:
Cost range checked:
Unknown costs:
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Author: | Fred [ Wed Aug 21, 2013 1:48 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
A quick poke around shows that the air bags will be getting imported from the US in pairs @ 50 - 100usd each. I'll need to actually design the arms and think about travel and bumps and slamming it and so forth to know what size, how much load carrying, how much travel, etc. Common ones are:
Some info here: http://www.slamspecialties.com/compare.html A couple of threads on a truck forum had a lot of agreement that the Air Lift ones balloon, not good for a trailer... So probably SS-6 or SS-7 or something like that, then. Ref: http://www.streetsource.com/Forums/9/To ... 97/?z=&P=1 Edit, interesting tech data here: http://tesairsprings.com.au/fileadmin/f ... -20_CI.pdf Fred. |
Author: | Fred [ Wed Aug 21, 2013 8:36 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Spent some time drawing up the frame design last night. It needs to have certain characteristics:
So, because I think 4.8m or 4.88m is a good length, the obvious thing to do is put two cross beams at the 1/4 and 3/4 marks, IE, 2.4m apart. It turns out that this is almost good: Wheelbases:
The difference from smallest to largest, excluding the mini which weighs nothing, and the LWB ute, which is an exception is only 361mm. With this difference divided by two we've got 180mm of range for centres at each axle. I estimate the fore-aft tyre contact patch size to be in the 100mm to 200mm range, so if we centre the cross rails at 2400 + 90 + 90 = 2580 we should properly support almost everything during towing. But not while loading... Widths, assuming tyres to outer edge of vehicle:
So again, we've got a range of about 350mm with the tyres extending significantly in lower than that in most cases. So perhaps 300 difference from min outer to max outer, and on the inner: 1200 to 1400 or something like this. So the longitudinal reinforcements should begin 150 inside the edge, at the earliest, and end 450mm from the edge, at latest. If we place 50x25mm wide channel from 200 to 250 and from 350 - 400 then a narrow tyre that is worst case of 100mm situated exactly between them will be well supported by sheer loads. Any other tyre/track will be over at least one and likely both of the rails. Use of 100mm wide channel in the centre would make for 250mm gaps if we insert one more on each side equidistantly for GP support. Putting two strips can stop where the front most axle is likely to stop, ie, 1500mm from the centre, or where ever is convenient past that. If I figure out how to use QCAD again, I'll draw it all up. Fred. |
Author: | Fred [ Thu Aug 22, 2013 4:21 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Current plan after lots of thinking and sketching is this: 4600mm x 2000mm deck with LOA @ 6300mm This maintains strong tie-ins to the sides at appropriate points, while keeping the draw bar short, the wheels centred on the deck, and a suitable shallow ramp for driving into. I've come up with a good air bag arm design that will allow car doors to be fully opened with the trailer jacked right up, too. This is superior to another design I've been taking some inspiration from. The deck will have full box sections in the following places:
Combined with fore-aft steel supports at ~200mm spacing, 50mm wide, this gives these benefits:
Some trailers that I know of have the following specs:
If my suspension plans work out well, I could go as narrow as 1800 without drama. This would reduce the length of the draw bar, improve turning, and save weight. If it's 2000 wide, the tyres will be necessarily narrow to not exceed 2.5m overall max width: "The maximum width for a light simple trailer (including its load) is 2.5 metres (excluding side marker lights and direction indicators and the bulge towards the bottom of the tyre). An additional 25mm is allowed on each side of the vehicle for ropes, lashings, straps, chains, connectors and tensioning devices that are neither permanently nor rigidly fixed to the vehicle; or J-hooks (to secure stock crates or bins)." Dropping to 1800 would give ample room for tyres/wheels, 1900 would be comfortable too, but 250mm allowed by a 2000 deck is OK regardless. Tyre diameter should probably be closer to 650mm than 700mm to reduce required range for maximum jack to clear the deck enough for door opening AND still be able to lay flat or close to it. Fred. |
Author: | Fred [ Thu Aug 22, 2013 8:22 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Pictured below, nearly forgot: ![]() ![]() Clearly no one is reading ;-) Fred. |
Author: | Fred [ Fri Aug 23, 2013 1:43 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Just called an old friend in the states who has some experience with bagging various things and the universal consensus seems to be that SS-X airbags are the ONLY way to roll for this task. He uses firestones on his setup, and has had them in there for a decade with no issues, but recommends the Slam Specialties units for this heavy duty task. Now, given my requirements and cunning design, I pretty much need a bag that will push 1000kg under normal circumstances. The SS-7 units hold 2262 lb @ max stroke of 9.3 inches with a base height of 2.7 inches. Wait, let me fix that... The SS-7 units hold 1026 kg @ max stroke of 236.32 mm with a base height of 68.58 mm. Ahh, that's better! :-) The SS-6 unit only holds 712 kg @ max stroke, so isn't suitable for my design. The SS-7 unit is 177.8 mm in diameter which is plenty small enough. The SS-8 unit is 203.2mm in diameter (still plenty small enough) and only offers an extra ~250kg of load and 25mm of extra stroke. Price goes up with size, unsurprisingly. Bed time, Fred. |
Author: | Fred [ Sat Aug 24, 2013 12:58 am ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
Childish and naughty idea: Fit my HUGE air horn to the thing, and run a relay feed from the tow vehicle to it, such that if the tow vehicle honks, it honks with passion :-) I never had an air supply suitable for that before. Fred. |
Author: | malcom2073 [ Mon Aug 26, 2013 3:21 pm ] |
Post subject: | Re: Car Transporter Ideas & Shopping List |
I can see it now: Fred getting pissed, driving down the road, leaning on the airhorn. Then suddenly the trailer starts dragging because the compressor couldn't keep up with the horn and he lost pressure to the airbags ![]() |
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