Any one know if you can build your own trailer for a car
Is there any legal reason you cannot
I'm sure I saw somewhere that new regulations were coming in but not sure when
Any one any info
Thanks
look at unijack67's trailer. hes just built it,and its a cracker!
Looks like the deadline to complete a trailer under the old regs might have been yesterday !!!! 29th October.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/vehicletype/trailers.asp
Seems to be a whole new IVA process for them - but I might be reading this wrong.
Thankfully, the trailer I'm building was built last year......
quote:
Originally posted by owelly
Thankfully, the trailer I'm building was built last year......![]()
And the trailer that I plan to build will be built last year.
How on earth could this be policed ? There must be millions of trailers out there with no identifying marks whatsoever.
quote:
Originally posted by Wheels244
And the trailer that I plan to build will be built last year.
How on earth could this be policed ? There must be millions of trailers out there with no identifying marks whatsoever.
Seems like B*llocks to me, a trailer is not a vehicle i.e not a thing for transporting items, without being attached to a ~100bhp car (a vehicle!) and
yes, my trailer will be made a few years ago too!
This might help you sell the idea that it was made several years ago! http://www.amazon.co.uk/SPRAY-MUD-LIQUID-REAL-200ml/dp/B005LB8W9O
My next door neighbour made a 3 motorbike trailer from a set of plans in a book
Looks as if these regs are designed to cover trailer manufactures, which is a good thing in my mind as a trailer can be a small thing I tow behind my
car to a full blown artic. However does not really address 'home' built trailers probably because they know it is impossible to police.
[Edited on 31/10/12 by jabs]
From 2009, trailers WERE optionally IVA'able.
However depending on the type of build, (Amatuer built coming under the 'complete' category) their are dates for them to become are
MANDATORY IVA'able.
The date for Amateur(complete) built trailers is 29th Oct2012
http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/Guide%20to%20the%20Individual%20Vehicle%20Approval%20(IVA)%20Scheme.pdf
however as stated above, as their is no registration system for trailers, its completely uninforcable for those who built their trailers before those
dates!
You can buy a blank trailer ID plate from Ebay for a few quid. Just stamp it with the data required and rivit it to the trailer A frame, looks pretty convincing!
even before this IVA carry on (which I have no real problem with apart from the cost and the fact they can't enforce it...) you had to build it
out of components they were suitable for the loads being carried etc.
so a roadside VOSA check could still say your trailer is unsuitable for road use, just like any other vehicle (drivers responsibility)
[rant mode on]
not sure how you'd even start enforcing the new rules, but I see a lot of home made trailers here (my work is next to the council skips) and
I've seen plenty of doggy examples that should never have been on the road: big ones carrying 2ton+ with no brakes, small ones with no
suspension, and all kinds of doggy drawbars and axles….
Seen a lot that use old live axles and leaf springs chopped up - what happens when you take a live axle that has one bearing at the wheel and one at
the diff, but them cut out the diff and fit the hub to your trailer with about a 1' long bit of shaft left stuck in the one bearing...
….I know the answer - one lost a wheel as it drove past, the wheel carried on at 30+ mph for 500 yards and missed my car by a couple of feet
and I've seen at least 5 others like it up close (not countig the ones that just rattle past here every day) some even had the leaf springs cut
in half and used as suspension arms (attached at one end only, no lateral restraint)
or my favourite 'swan neck' drawbar - made from a vertical 3mm thick steel sheet with no bracing (because you used those massive landrover
wheels on the trailer and now you want to hitch it to your fiat panda ! )
[rant mode off]
I'm defiantly not pointing fingers at anyone here - but there are a lot of idiots / clueless people out there
and I'm defiantly not saying that home made trailers should be banned (my dad built at least 5 different ones and until recently I was planning
a caravan chassis conversion)
its just that there should be a way of checking that its done right (with out paying a fortune for it)
[Edited on 31/10/2012 by mcerd1]
Even out here in wild west South Africa all trailers have to have a chassis number, a number plate and be registered on the vehicle database. Annual
licence fees have to be paid just like a car.
Cheers
Fred W B
quote:
Originally posted by Fred W B
Even out here in wild west South Africa all trailers have to have a chassis number, a number plate and be registered on the vehicle database. Annual licence fees have to be paid just like a car.
Cheers
Fred W B
quote:
Originally posted by Fred W B
Even out here in wild west South Africa all trailers have to have a chassis number, a number plate and be registered on the vehicle database. Annual licence fees have to be paid just like a car.
Cheers
Fred W B