Sankey Camping Trailer project.....

In a slight deviation from the Defender project I’ve started a camping trailer project too! Why finish one project when I can have multiple on the go! I’ve always planned on doing this, but was planning to do so after the Defender was complete. But things have switched up a bit as parts of the build have come available cheap on the net, and the desire to want to use it now that investment has started.

I was wanting to recreate the classic back of a Defender on a trailer, so wanted to have something which would have similar wheel base / size to a Defender.  So, it started off that I was going to use a ¾ ton Sankey Trailer as this fits the bill, which I got fairly early on as I could use it as a normal trailer until the time came. But the more I used it, the more I got to thinking how I would miss it once it was converted. And so the plan changed again, keep the Sankey, and look for a second trailer…..

Shortly in to 2019 and I spotted a frame trailer, ex-military used for transporting water tankers, Nato hitch, 2t capacity, and a lot cheaper than the Sankey was! And same wheel track /size. So I thought that’s that done, brought it and got it home.

I then started thinking about how suitable the new trailer would be for the purpose of camping trailer. A few of the points which raised concern were:

1.       The new trailer has a much higher load rating

2.       It has less suspension travel

3.       And it’s frame / overall height is lower

The issues with these points are that fact that as a camping trailer it would never be loaded close to its rated load capacity, which would mean the suspension wouldn’t be compressed, and operating fully (if at all, unloaded it bounced down the road when I collected!). If the suspension wasn’t working, and it bounced all the time, it would shake everything up and make it worse to use off road, or at all.

The lack of suspension movement would limit its stability off road, and the height of it would mean the Defender body would need to be stuck on large spacers to ensure the trailer body line matched that of my Defender’s body line, and possibly due to the hitch height may be at a steep angle.

So, a new plan was needed. And what you see below is the start of this new plan. The idea is that I will take part of the Sankey – tub, rear cross-member and transfer to the water trailer. This will give me a Sankey-ish trailer with a higher load rating that I can use for transporting stuff and waste.

Then mount the Defender body onto the Sankey frame and build from there - as originally planned.

So the start, a perfectly good 3/4 t Sankey.

And a perfectly good water bowser trailer. With the support legs removed.

Off with the Sankey tub

Then off with the cross member and lights within.

Then removed the wheel arches, and welded on some extensions on the front and braces to the centre of the water bower trailer to support the tub.

Cut the back-marker triangle off. A welded on some plates to allow the trailer frame and Sankey cross member to line up.

Weld the Sankey cross member on.

Popped the body on and bolted it up.

There is still some work to do to finish this but it works for now. Jobs to complete for work trailer: wire electrics, replace jockey wheel, and re-fit lashing points inside.

I then moved on to the camping trailer. I offered up the body and worked out what needed to move. There were two eyelets on the front that had to be cut off, and the brake reservoir needs to be relocated. There is enough room in the back to mount the new cross member, but the front A frame needs to be extended by about 400mm to give clearance of swing from the tow vehicle. The body also needs to be raised up to get the line correct. 

Here it is with the body sat on the trailer without the packing to achieve height.

I then took the body off and began work on the chassis extension. I started by cleaning the area to be cut, and marking it with pen. I opted for this point as this is the max width that will fit under the front part of the Defender tub, and it also means that the brake reservoir would be moved also - which needed to happen and I don;t ave to mess around with the brake linkage, just extend the brake line.

Then on to the point of no return: cutting.

I then offered up the two new extension pieces, clamped them in place and tack welded.

The end section of the trailer was then stripped of all parts, and clamped, followed by some tack welds.

The whole thing was then fully welded after some tweaking to make sure everything is where it’s meant to be.

I remounted all the front end kit (jockey wheel / tow Point), then gave it a quick spray to stop it rusting.

Once I’ve mounted the body fully I’m come back and weld some plates top and bottom to stiffen is up as has been done on the rest of the trailer.

The next task was to mount the rails the tub would sit on. Firstly I test fitted the body on some loose bits of metal. I started with 75mm, after measuring the tub and it’s recesses. It lined up fine.

The next task was to weld in the bars that the will tub sit on.

I found some red oxide so gave everything a coat for temp rust prevention while it’s being worked on. Mounted the rubber pads to the bars to stop vibration. Normally these are mounted to the underside of the tub, but I opted for this way.

Stuck the body on to make sure I was still happy.

Which I am, looking good so far. Next is the front tub bolting points, and the rear cross member, and that should be the body mounted. But that is all for today.