Car trailer build

[prktkljokr]

Update on the trailer, it has done a few pick ups, a couple of country runs and some of it was off road so its now pretty chipped up and scratched, but has proven to be exactly what I needed, it looks like its 10 years old with red dust and peeling paint now, might have to do a freshen up already

I Picked a few auction cars up, did a run to Busselton with it to pick up a late model Mini wagon I purchased through an online auction (good buy ), then a run to Geraldton to pick up a Garlic harvester and take it through to Gin Gin, this is where it copped the stone chips all over and the red dust, I have 1 noisy bearing already and the voltage meter on the control box copped a decent rock, so a few little repairs to be done, but overall doing what I intended it to do.

[Buggersmuddle]

Once it was built and finished, what was the process to get it registered? Did you have to get it engineer inspected and then pit tested?
What did the process cost, apart from the cost of the build itself?
What do they base the capacity rating on? Axel size? , brakes on one or both axels? Hitch rating? Frame tube dimensions? Tyre rating? Anything else?
Also in sw wa and looking at building something similar.
Any tips on finding a good caravan donor? All the ones I've looked at were pretty light weight frames and id be better off starting from scratch i think.
Which auction did you find that one?
Apologies for the interrogation!
Holla if you're south sometime, ill swing ya a beer!!

[prktkljokr]

On my way out at the moment when I get home I will give you a quick run down of what I did.

This VSB will help you when you go to build 1

https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/si...6-20210222.pdf

[prktkljokr]

Once it was finished I just applied for a VIN, took it to a registered weigh bridge and paid for a certificate of Tare weight, applied all the details to the vin tag and it was ready for licence.

No engineer needed.

The cost once made was just the weigh bridge certificate, pit inspection then licence fees.

I know with my trailer it has 10" electric drums, so the max weight was 3000KG, if I had 12" electric drums it would have been 4500KG, the axles have parallel bearings, the tyres have a 1500kg load rating each and the leaf spring set up was rated to 1500kg per spring, it was just the brake drums that let me down.

They can base the maximum weight on axle type, spring rates and what tyre you use, so you cant just put a set of car tyres on it as they would not have a decent load rating, plus when you register the trailer they will ask for the specs of the components used ( brake spec, leaf spring spec braking capacity etc), worth having a talk to whoever will be licencing it in the end as they can give you the necessary paperwork for this.

Donor caravans don't come up that often and when they do its luck of the draw what they go for, the auction I use is one that I used to use for buying stock for my wrecking yard, so it was a Dealer only auction site, and as I am still registered, I still buy from them quite regularly, they are a Australia wide auction site, I was just on at the right time when this one came up, I didn't need it at the time but couldn't let it go at that price.

You would be better off building from scratch if you can, then you can make it suit what you need, this one just ticked the boxes of what I wanted, it wasn't planned, I purchased the caravan for the parts to make my slide on camper, the car trailer was just a bonus.

You can apply for a W.A. trailer VIN here.
https://www.wa.gov.au/service/transp...ication-number

[prktkljokr]

I see the Government has stuffed up a system that was working fine with some more hoops you now have to jump through.

It seems you cant build a trailer and just apply for a trailer VIN anymore, so building a trailer now will require a Engineer to be involved with the process, so the cheap 6x4 trailer that you could build at home is now a confusing exercise with the added expense of a engineer.

I really cant see why they have gone this way, did it need to be regulated by including a engineer?, its not as if they would licence a trailer that was not made correctly as they had a minimum build requirement you had to meet in order for it to qualify for registration as it was.

Cant see why light duty trailers would need to be subject to a engineers report seeing that they have no brakes and are limited to 750 KG, I can see why a Engineer would be advisable when the weight starts getting into a few tonnes or more and braked trailers.

[Citroënbender]

Is this an underhanded move by trailer manufacturers to control the market?

You’d think a canny engineer might offer a “trailer pack” in some form, sort of like cheap conveyancers. Minimum conversations/inspections and a standard form lodged. In the meantime, every registered, home built trailer is probably worth another $500+.

[prktkljokr]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

Is this an underhanded move by trailer manufacturers to control the market?

I doubt it, it looks like its all been combined with crap it has nothing to do with, the link takes you to the infrastructure.gov site that has the arts, media and communications, Territories, regions and cities, Infrastructure, transport and vehicles.

Link in case you wanna have a look www.infrastructure.gov.au

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

You’d think a canny engineer might offer a “trailer pack” in some form, sort of like cheap conveyancers. Minimum conversations/inspections and a standard form lodged. In the meantime, every registered, home built trailer is probably worth another $500+

The Engineers that I know of make enough already, trailer packs would be chump change and not worth their time.

I tried to sell a fresh trailer that I made from a alloy drop side tray back a few months back for $1500 all I got was scam messages, decided to keep it as it has come in handy


That's the last trailer I will be making, once you add up the materials, the now engineer costs, then the Registration costs its not worth it anymore to make one.