hi there im wanting to build a 2 wheel trail /circa 60-70s ? / a lot of the anglia g***ers used them ,just 2 wheel trailer,low to the ground, with flip down ramps,possibly a place up front for a tool box and possibly an adjustable tongue for hitch height ? any body got pics or specs or a trailer ? thanks mike "carryallman"
Whatever you build, do NOT simply weld the axle to the frame!!! Use a torsion axle, instead. It'll give you the old look, but will provide suspension for the trailer and a far safer trailer, too. I sold trailers for a number of years. Why go with an adjustable tongue??? There are a LOT of different receivers out there that provide anywhere from a positive 6" to a 6" drop. An adjustable tongue is a PITA.
not legal here in maine if over 2000 lbs. ck your state laws,over 2000 must have 2 axles AND brakes on ALL wheels
I haver had a couple. Make sure wheels and tires have sufficient load rating for the car and tool box. Actually make sure it is more than sufficient. I useed once a 1 ton 58 chev front axle with 8 bolt drums. I used surge brakes I carried the Gettin Vicious 74 chrager racecar (5500# total weight , car and trailer)on it and have actually towed a 100 mPH for a short space . Normally 70 to 75 on long trips. I do not put suspesion in my car trailers. The car has suspension. Ihat is enough. Axle must be set back enough to allow postive tungue weith WHEN LOADED. Car must always be in the right position. (I mark it rght onthe dect in while. Otherthan that it is a lot of fun and works very well. I am currently in process of doing a dragster trailer which will be loaded less than 2000 #. It is also two wheel. You should have some toe in (1/16 to 1'8 if posssible as it really haelps them tow nicer. Don Don
As Dolmetsch says; If you want to build it with a spartain/low-tech frame without springs, just make provisiong to tie the axles on the cargo vehicle down, allowing the springs on the cargo vehicle to absorb the shock. They ride smooth as gl***.
I personally wouldn't use a two wheel car trailer. I bought a '48 panel that I am sure was used as a race car hauler because of the faded race team lettering on the side. There was major evidence it was involved in a roll over accident and I suspect it probably was pulling a single axle trailer, which were used at the time this truck was in service. Wouldn't take much with a heavy load at high speeds to flip a tow vehicle. Just my opinion. I like the added insurance of two wheels on each side.
Trailered a lot of cars on two wheeled trailers, mostly small cars, AH Bugeye, and Ice racing Hondas. Both suspended and unsuspended. If the car has decent suspension travel, trailer axle need not be sprung. When the vehicle is lashed to the trailer, the trailer transferes road bumps to the cars suspension, which works as it would if beeing flat towed. The trailers is virtually useless without the car strapped down to it. Used a stripped down and reinforced popup camper with a 2500 pound axle to tow racing hondas (1500 to 1800 lbs.) this one had leaf springs. Both trailers felt about the same with regard to bumps with the cars loaded ans strapped down. but the sprung trailer was used for other hauling which made the sprigs a plus. The hot set up for heavier cars up to 2500 lbs used to be cast off mobile home axles and springs and home made trailer frames. A lot of the punched metal industrial cat walk decking tred was used as wheel tracks and ramps.
Without suspension, the trailer bounces all over hell, like a tow dolly does, when empty. The car suspension is NOT trailer suspension! Plus, if the axle is mounted solid to the frame, that creates a single stress point for the trailer that will fracture, eventually. Building a trailer without a spring or torsion suspension is the wrong way to build a trailer. A torsion axle gives you suspension AND makes your trailer low to the ground. This is the best way to go, if you are insisting on building a single-axle race car hauler. Trust me. I sold trailers for several years. I've seen the results of no suspension on a trailer, and they are not pretty! I can nearly guarantee if you suffer a structural failure on your trailer and it causes damage to someone else, your insurance company is going to say that you were towing a trailer that should never have been on the road in the first place, and then deny your claim. Did that failure injure or kill someone on the road? Your choice, of course. As an aside, NEVER build a trailer with mobile home axles!!! Several reasons...first, these are designed to be ONEuse axles - to get the home from manufacturer to dealer to its resting spot, period. The 14.5" tires on these are NOT designed for highway use, and say so on the sidewall. They, like the axles, are one-use tires and wheels. There is a reason these are odd-size pieces. That's why you see people who DO use these, hauling several spare wheels and tires with them, because you can not find these at any tire store. Plus, they look like ****! Do you see ANY commercially-made trailer with these axles and tires??? Didn't think so.
lotsa room for different opinions. 30 years never saw a trailer failure. And added into this equation was hauling over slush coated heavily salted roads. Tires and bearings, yes, hitches yes, trailers no, and not just speaking for my own experience, but those for a 30 or 40 member club. Very few were sprung trailers. I guess you gotta ask, how heavy how far and how often. And over what kind of roads? If you build a purpose built hauler for a light weight altered, then try to use it for everyday heavy duty hauling you are of course looking for trouble. But if yo look back through old magazines and the vintage racing photos i the various threads posted on this forum, you will see a lot of "interesting" solutions, for trailering cars to the track, both drags and roundy round.
Just do it right the first time, haul what it's designed to haul, and maintain it. I'm still adamant about towing a trailer without springs, especially empty! Just watch in your mirrors as it bounces all over hell. Springs or a torsion axle are cheap insurance that help to ensure you have control over the trailer, loaded or empty. There's a reason that you see very, very few (if any!)commercially-built single axle car haulers, and you will NEVER see a commercially-built trailer with the unsprung axle welded directly to the frame. That alone should tell you something, don't you think? To each their own. I'll take a safe trailer over "nostalgia".
Single axle unsprung tilt trailer I built. Tows perfectly with or without a load. It has a Dexter drop axle, but not torsion or springs.
This is the only shot I have of mine from back in the 70's. Used it a lot for local So.Cal. stuff, worked fine for me. I went to a ramptruck later on and found it safer and better for longer hauls. Oops, found an older shot. Forgot to mention that it had springs.
I've towed sprint cars many thousand miles with a single axle unsprung trailers,they work just fine.A common spindle to use is 50s to 60s Rambler because they bolt on flat on the backside of the backing plate bolts.Use a heavy wall 4 or 5 inch tubing the width you want,weld on some 3/4" thick steel plate 5" by the amount you want your "drop" bolt the spindles to the plate.By bolting the spindles an alingment shop can set your toe in and camber.tires were never a problem until I started to use radials,usually needed about 50lbs of air in the radials to get them to tow good.Look at any old sprint car photos for some building ideas
Short of beating a dead horse.......... With 4 wheel trailer, springs equalize the load on the ground. With a 2 wheeler springs would desireable to soften the load, if the load required it. If the load, eggs, people, nitroglycerine, care, I care. If it's hauling a car and the car don't care, I don't care.
I had a bunch of trailers with and without springs. The unsprung trailers bounce around alot without a load. How often do you pull them that way? Our racecar trailer is unsprung and we have never had any problems. Kevin Ooltewah Speed Shop
My question to you un-sprung fans is: How much trouble is it to install a torsion axle that provides safety, stability, and way less bounce, over a axle welded directly to the frame? None. And the additional expense is minimal. Again, it's your choice.
It's a no brainer. Fan of? Not. Just practical. Springs don't make trailer 'safer', unless hauling Nitro. Easyier to build. Less weight. Money spent on springs and hardware, beer money.
I work at a store that rents out trailers of all sizes and numbers of axles.All of them have springs and all of them bounce all over unloaded.The problem is to get a spring heavy enough to handle the load they are solid unloaded.Our greatest amount of damage comes from towing unloaded,knocks everything loose and just hammers wheel bearings.the best part of an unsprung trailer is you can get it low enough to made loading easy.My one race car trailer that had springs was so high we had to dig holes for the tires to drop in when we parked-race tracks hated us!!
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