Is it safe to tow??

[Steve L]

I've bought a BT 10ft van body to convert into a box van trailer. The trouble is I have to use my 6ft X 4ft 6" trailer to collect it.
My son has loaded 200 house bricks into the trailer to act as ballast as the van body will over hang the rear of the trailer by 4ft.
Without the body on and the bricks carefully stacked at the front of the trailer I have 250Kgs nose weight. So we will load the bricks over the axle to go to the collection point and then move them forward there. The trailer is rated to carry 1000Kgs and the van body is about 350Kgs empty according to BT spec.
I will have the body ratchet strapped down with three 5 ton straps and a lighting board on the back of the body. As I'm only towing it 20 miles, I won't be going over 40MPH. The width of the body is 7ft and the overall width of the trailer is 6ft 6" including the mudguards.

As far as I can discover, it is a legal load as long as it stays secure on the trailer but it will look quite rediculas visually.

So there we have it, an oversize load travelling from Preteigne to Leominster via back roads so as not to hold up traffic on the main road on Saturday.
I'll let you know sunday , how we got on.

 

[LMH]

Oh please take some pics Steve and put them on here.

Lisa

 

[Parksy]

Better still take some video footage to put on You Tube

 

[NigelHutson]

Steve,
As you say, it may look a bit odd, but providing it's within the dimensions that you say, I can't see that there's likely to be a problem. I take it that you're going to be able to secure the ballast somehow to stop it moving about? Stability wise, only you'll know that.
As a former Traffic Cop, I would probably have a double take if I saw it, but provided it was secure, had the correct lights/marker, and wasn't "squashing" the trailer underneath, I would let common sense prevail.
Good luck!

 

[LMH]

Will you be keeping the BT van body on the site you're on at the moment?

Lisa

 

[Steve L]

I'll take some pic for the scrap book of the mad cap things I've towed.
So far I've towed an XJ 6 backed up car ramps on a car trailer behind a Morris Marina estate.
A 1500 litre septic tank on the 6 x4 trailer behind my Laguna.
A cavileer caravan behind my Renault 18 estate with a 10ft boat on the car roof and the road trailer for the boat on top of it.
I enjoy the challenge of towing awkward loads and getting them safely to their destination.
My ambition would be to drive an Austrailian road train. There was a test rig made for Denby transport last year, but nothing has been heard about their attempt to get double trailer articulated road trains accepted in the uk.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

I look forward to seeing those pictures when you post them Steve, you will need to do some real thinking outside the "BT Box". Just a thought rather than mount it on a caravan chassis, would it be possible to make a sub frame mounted directly to the BT box and use indespension units with the wheels to the outside using mud guards, or as they do with caravans and have them on the inside? my engineering skills are 0, but just a thought.

Allan.

 

[seth1]

Steve,further to Dick Denbys attempt of the double "b" outfit you spoke about,it has been catogorically declined by VOSA and Denby has been threatend with court action if its seen on a public highway.Dont think their to impressed with the 55ton gross combination wieght.

 

[mullsy1]

I'll keep a look out on POLICE,CAMERA,ACTION

 

[Lutz]

My ambition would be to drive an Austrailian road train. There was a test rig made for Denby transport last year, but nothing has been heard about their attempt to get double trailer articulated road trains accepted in the uk.

Come to Germany, Steve. A field trial is currently being conducted with 60 tonner rigs on certain roads:

 

[Steve L]

Steve,further to Dick Denbys attempt of the double "b" outfit you spoke about,it has been catogorically declined by VOSA and Denby has been threatend with court action if its seen on a public highway.Dont think their to impressed with the 55ton gross combination wieght.

I know Mr Denby only got a few metres out of his gate before being stopped.
Sometimes VOSA can be most un-imaginative. What Denby was offering would cut down by 30% plus, the amount of polution by trunk lorries and reduce the number of tractor units. I'm sure that in a few years time VOSA will have one of their brainwaves and introduce increased capacity chassis acclaimed by them. That's how 32 ton got to 38 and then 44tons.

I'm actually going to make a dismountable Ex BT body cookies. It will have two beams across the chassis made from box tube. with "L" shaped legs. How it works is you get a trolly jack and raise the side of the chassis 6" fit the L legs. go round the other side and do the same. Then drive the chasssis out leaving the box about 18" off the ground. I'll then get my son to make a conventional trailer box body to make a goods trailer and van trailer from one chassis. Holding the bodys to the chassis is quite simple. Use two 5 ton lorry ratchet straps undre the chassis, hooked on strong points of the body's.
You can't put wheels external of the side of the body as at 7ft wide already, it would be illegal width with extar width of wheels added.
I converted a 14ft parcelforce body to go on an Ifor Williams trailer about 10 years ago to carry huge boxes of sink taps that we recified for a tap supplier to B&Q, Focus, Wickes and Home base. The manufacturer had barrel plated the taps which damaged the threads. All we had to do was un-pack, re-thread and re-pack all by hand. Nice earner at 25p each thread cos we could do 2'000 a day by two people.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Clever idea, would it not be possible to use twist bolts like the type used on HGV containers, permanent feature and perhaps a little more secure? I used to use demountables many years ago on a waggon and drag, where the leg folds down from the container, then there was an inner leg that slid down with various pinning holes in it to adjust for hight, used to be right s*ds for seizing up if they had not been used for a while.
Re the weight increase for trucks from 32 tons up wards, it was going to happen back in the late 60s, a lot of haulers jumped the gun and added a tag axle to there tractor units and it never happened, lots of expense for nothing. Makes you wonder why Johny foreigner can run at 44 tons on five axles, but we have to have six!!!!! was it something to do with weak bridges and spreading the load, no doubt some silly British ruling to give the foreign haulers an unfair advantage.

 

[Lutz]

My ambition would be to drive an Austrailian road train. There was a test rig made for Denby transport last year, but nothing has been heard about their attempt to get double trailer articulated road trains accepted in the uk.

You don't have to go as far as Australia. A field test with 25 meter 60 tonners is currently under way on certain stretches of German roads.

 

[Steve L]

Very interesting pic there Lutz.
That rig looks suspiciously like a relatively standard artic trailer with a standard looking drag trailer behind.
Denbys rig used a standard artic trailer behind a rear steer 1st trailer linked to the prime mover so that the rig didn't alter the turning circle for a 38 ton normal artic.

Cookies, I have to keep the trailer and body as seperate units. Ie the body becomes the actual load on the trailer. Otherwise I would have to get into type approval regs. As long as the box is strapped down, it is considered to be the load. Having bee involved in chassis design and prototype testing I know just how beuracratic omologation and type approval regs can be.

 

[OmOnWeelz]

Lutz, that is no comparison to an Aussie road train, under Aussie laws the serious road trains are classed
"Double road train- 36.5 m (120 ft) max.
Triple and AB-Quad road trains- 53.5 m (180 ft) max"
That's a Mini in comparison
http://www.google.co.uk/images?client=opera&rls=en&q=aussie+road+trains&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Y9heTf6aM8mh8QOzoo3OCw&ved=0CDsQsAQ
I've a semi retired aussie mate, He does 1 or 2 stand in Road Train trips most months when regular drivers are ill or on holiday, The smallest he normaly drives is a "B Triple" at 33.5 metres -110 feet. They also have a "Pocket Road Train" 27.5 metres - 90foot that is only classed as a "long vehicle"

He gets the odd run with 180 foot rigs (53.5metres) via a relative of mine who owns a road train business.

Steve , if it looks safe it probably is, if it looks dodgy it surely will be

 

[Steve L]

I'm sure my old army moto of "who dares wins" will stand me in good stead.
But today is D day for me.
I've got the kit:-
300 ballast bricks
4" SQ bearers
trolly jack Axle stands
Bottle Jack
50Ft 12V 6000Lb winch
Snatch block
The trailer 6ft x 4ft 6" with tyres at 40Psi
5 5ton ratchet straps
spare lighting board & 4Mtr extension lead.
Hi viz winter jacket
Hand saw to cut timbers
soft pads for axle stands

I should be ok jacking a BT box, I'm used to jacking 420 ft X 75ft chicken sheds 2ft in the air to make them high enough for new free range regs and access for tele porters for mucking out. Trust me jacking a 30 year old timber shed that big in one piece is an art and a test of nerve.

 

[Steve L]

Well, I got it home to my mums. Not exactly fast, 30Mph was top speed but what the heck it was safety first and foremost. To cut down on congestion, I used as many country lanes as I could, as they suited my speed better.
Definately not recommended for the avarage driver. If I had to do it again, I would definately use an Ifor Williams twin axle trailer.
It took 2 1/2 hours of carefull jacking 3" at a time per corner to get the 29" clearance height.
I'll post the pics soon.

 

[LMH]

Glad it went ok, looking forward to the pics.

 

[Steve L]

At the moment we're chugging along on our old coal powered laptop, due to some G*t infecting our new one with a very bad trodjon virus. So unfortunately I can't post the pictures yet. Honestly it would take days to do. It's took half an hour just to get on tinternet today.
But when our baby is back, I'll post the pics.
Today is transfer day. I'm ready to winch the van body off the 6x4 trailer and onto a caravan chassis. Lucky for me I can use my 6'000Lb 12V winch that I use on the car to tug the car or van if we get stuck. I can't do manual lifting these days so instead I use my brain and neumerous jacks and winches to do the donkey work.

 

[ProfJohnL]

That's it,

Work smarter not harder!

 

[Steve L]

Got my baby back now, but but with having to move sites as well, I've ahd other things on my mind. I'm now running kaspersky anti-virus protection. It seems that someone on fleabay put the spanner in the works. Even the old laptop got infected.
A most infuriating week of not trusting any website until we could get a pc with good protection and one that is infection free. For us it was the first time in 15 years that my wife has not been able to rectify our pc herself.
Hopefully over the weekend I can sort out the pic's off my phone and camera for this topic.