Lons
Old Oak
I have an Ifor Williams 8x4 twin axle trailer, bought s/h in 1998 and used and heavily abused when I had my business carrying anything from tonnes of sandstone to 2 tonne excavators. It never got any real maintenance apart from grease and brake adjustment and for the last 8 years it has been used only occasionally. Recently I loaded it up with scaffold tower, ladders etc and trundled up the road aways to help a mate but when getting it out I could hardly move the darned thing, (should have had Weetabix moment), so that prompted a thorough inspection a few days later.
Conclusion is that it needed a lot of work but research showed that it was far cheaper to do that than buy a new cr*p lightweight 8x4 of dubious origin so I promptly ordered and fitted four new wheels and tyres, new hitch and damper then on to the brakes which needed further identification.
Anyway it turns out that rather than the later bolt on assemby they fitted weld on backplates between 1992 – 1994 which mine is. A little head scratching and the decision," I can do that". Grind off the old rusted backplates, buy complete brake assemblies and cables and weld on the new, simples. Standard 45mm holes in the backplates, spares duly arrived and two full days to remove the old and do the grinding then realisation they don’t fit as the axles are 55mm.
More research and I eventually found that for only a few months in 1994 the bu**ers fitted larger axles and spares are akin to the proverbial rocking horse sh*t. Had the trailer been made 6 months later it would have been a couple of hours to bolt on but at least I now know exactly when it was built.
So, I have to accurately enlarge the existing mounting holes from 45 to 55mm in four steel plates that are 5mm thick, might not seem much but that’s a lot of hand filing. I’ve ordered a large conical stepped drill bit and I’ll give it a go on the drill press but more in hope than expectation. A large lathe would do it but my wood lathe isn’t beefy enough so it’s going to take a while.
My very lame excuse is too busy when working 7 days a week / laziness / procrastination and I’ve let an expensive vehicle rust away to the point where kicked back hard where it hurts. What a dozy git.
Conclusion is that it needed a lot of work but research showed that it was far cheaper to do that than buy a new cr*p lightweight 8x4 of dubious origin so I promptly ordered and fitted four new wheels and tyres, new hitch and damper then on to the brakes which needed further identification.
Anyway it turns out that rather than the later bolt on assemby they fitted weld on backplates between 1992 – 1994 which mine is. A little head scratching and the decision," I can do that". Grind off the old rusted backplates, buy complete brake assemblies and cables and weld on the new, simples. Standard 45mm holes in the backplates, spares duly arrived and two full days to remove the old and do the grinding then realisation they don’t fit as the axles are 55mm.
More research and I eventually found that for only a few months in 1994 the bu**ers fitted larger axles and spares are akin to the proverbial rocking horse sh*t. Had the trailer been made 6 months later it would have been a couple of hours to bolt on but at least I now know exactly when it was built.So, I have to accurately enlarge the existing mounting holes from 45 to 55mm in four steel plates that are 5mm thick, might not seem much but that’s a lot of hand filing. I’ve ordered a large conical stepped drill bit and I’ll give it a go on the drill press but more in hope than expectation. A large lathe would do it but my wood lathe isn’t beefy enough so it’s going to take a while.
My very lame excuse is too busy when working 7 days a week / laziness / procrastination and I’ve let an expensive vehicle rust away to the point where kicked back hard where it hurts. What a dozy git.
