SETTING UP

Today I picked up all the parts for the running gear which were machined for me by George from J&L Engineering. Great man and very meticulous in his work, unlike some of the trailer places where you get told that 2mm play is good enough for a trailer.

Above pictures shows the mounting blocks with brass bushes, the suspension bolts (1.25″) with grease nipples and lock nuts. These blocks are going to be welded onto the trailing arm and are mounted onto the hanger plate with the bolts. It is a perfect fit, with less the .2mm play, just enough […]

Today I picked up the suspension mounts, counter plate and the airbag mount plate.

The pieces above need to be welded on the main mount plate and the little tabs are for location and strength. Everything fits perfect apart from a little mishap.

Something got lost in translation. I missed to specify the different thickness of the material. The counter plate was meant to be done in 6mm and not 8mm like the main mount. Now I am 1mm out with the distance between the proper mount point of the counter plate and the front edge flange of the mount. I […]

Originally I had the motorbike on a carrier at the end of the van as most people would think, however there are a few good reasons against it. We have a goose neck trailer so the stability issue is not really as pressing as on a caravan with a larger load at the end. Nevertheless

I wanted to save a s much weight on the van as I could because the weight limits are more critical on the van than on the truck. I have a bit more margin on the truck. So the plan is now to hang the […]

Our container was unpacked at the freight forwarder (DB Schenker) because of a requested AQUIS inspections. Customs did not have a problem with it, they did not care to inspect, which was to be expected with the kind of content and origin. AQUIS had a hold on it though and inspection was yesterday but brief, since they were convinced pretty quickly that all items were new, pallets were treated and tyres had no moskitos nesting in them.

So we had the additional cost of unpacking at the depot, but did pick it up and saved the cost for the container […]

76x76x6.35 in 6082 Structural Aluminium
Now the procurement phase reaches the end with materials coming in. My container has arrived in Perth awaiting clearance and possible inspection by AQIS (we will know soon). The aluminium profiles for the main rails are also in Perth now (custom made) and we await delivery any day. I am not going to pick up 9.90m long 152x76x6.35 RHS and 5 length of them. My roof rack was at its limits with the weight, but it did ok. It was not far to drive for me and I took it real easy.

Will have to go […]