Magilla's tear #2

[magilla]

Ok , am about to kick this one into gear.
We are building our own chassis, any thoughts on what length drawbar.



Ah yeh, its all metric. divide measurements by 25 if inches is your thing

[Miriam C.]

This is a drawbar down here. The size is based on personal preference and the size of the receiver hitch.

[magilla]

Aha, thats a tow bar here, which slides into the reciever on the car

The drawbar is the sticky out bit on the front of the chassis with a hitch on it so you can connect your pride and joy to your car on the hitch via a tow ball

[bobhenry]

the "tongue" here

[magilla]

Yep , we sometimes call it a tounge too.
Lets not get bogged down in that then, how about A frame length

[Ageless]

As a 'rule of thumb', the tongue should be long enough that the trailer can be turned 90 degrees to the tow vehicle without damage.

[magilla]

Going with an 1800 mm long A frame, so as to accomodate a toolbox and a spare wheel, or a bike carrier.

[regis101]

That would be about twice as long as compared to a prefabbed trailer here.

[magilla]

Serious, I would not have considered anything under 1200

[regis101]

We might be loosing something in translation. In this link, the difference from Part A to Part B is generally 900 mm at a minimum.

http://www.angib.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/t ... tear81.htm

In your case with the box and a bike rack up front, I can see that another 900 mm would be used.

[Steve F]

That is indeed what we call the draw bar/tongue/A frame down here in Aus.

Cheers
Steve

[magilla]

Ok next question.
As I am going with a long draw bar to accomodate my extra bibs and bobs, would you think that having my axle 45% from the rear would be a fair proposition. (Yes I am a lazy sod, its too hard to do the calcs myself)

[Dirran]

Hi Magilla. My drawbar is 1500mm or 5' in old speak. I placed the axle 300mm or 1' behind the centre of the main frame.
It looks balanced and feels right when lifting the drawbar to place onto the towball.
I hope this helps...
Errol (Dirranbandi, Qld)

[magilla]

Thanks Dirran
I went with 1400 long a frame and the axle is 40% of the body length from the rear.
Went to pick the chassis up from my mates place today, but its raining and there is no primer on the welds yet.

[regis101]

I still consider my self new in this game. But in the end and in this case, your end, try to keep the total weight on the tow vehicle at 10-15% of the trailer gross or total weight. That includes all cargo, i.e. ice, beer, ice, and so on.