Towing

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1988smithy said:
I didn't know he'd done a telly advert. Get a bit sick of his voice anyway but he says some funny **** haha
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Yeah, think it's for trip advisor or similar. Something to do with travelling anyway. Obviously did a 10 minute speech and they edited it down to 1 taking his flow with them.
 
Discokids said:
That's the problem when you've got decent bikes. Last year in Cornwall my brake lever rubbed a hole in my sons handlebar Stem.

Watch this for ideas, then try to compress it into a 3x5' package!
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Good set up on the landcruiser. Gotta wonder though, what does the inside of the caravan look like once they arrive? Bet everything is tossed.
 
1988smithy said:
Yeah it's nice and solid, panels need staining/painting but not rotten.
I forgot about a breakaway cable when I picked it up, wasn't too happy without 1 but was ok. Going to pick one up in the week.
Nice and snug on the ball, not much play at all.
Left indicator packed up on way home, but the lens is cracked so think it's got wet. New lenses on fleabay for a few quid aren't they?
Only plates I can see at the moment are these

View attachment 139567
View attachment 139568
Well pleased for £80 though
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@Discokids you might like this

Turns out both light lenses were so buggered they fell to bits when I took them off to investigate the electrics. Think P.O stored it on its rear end.
So onto eBay I go and can I find a set of lenses at 210mm x 80mm??
The only ones I can find are these

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/131413427102

Which are from Latvia. Should fit anyway.

So I check the pics in the quote above a bit more closely and pay more attention to 'made in ddr'. Could be interesting. Bit more digging and turns out IFA were an east German conglomerate of manufacturers (sorry if this is common knowledge but I'm liking my quirky little trailer more and more by now)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrieverband_Fahrzeugbau

Not sure what exact company made mine though, so Google 'VEB Fahrzeugwerk Waltershausen DDR' and get this

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicar

So my trailer was made before VEB etc etc was privatised in '91 and became multicar, is that a build date in the first pic of the plates I posted? 9/83? Before the wall came down! If so it's in great nick, I know the galv frame is original at least, be cool if the timber is as well although unlikely.
I was going to slap a trailer board on it but feel a bit obliged to retain the originality now :oops: or are these east German trailers ten a penny? :oops::p
Kept me busy for half hour anyway :)
 
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I reckon it's a cute little thing you've stumbled upon, and that is likely to be its date of manufacture. My galv trailer looks just the same now as it did over 10 years ago when it came to us, besides some of the paint coming off (it was painted at some point to make it look less bling and attractive to toe rags). Here's a pic of it full of scrap:
IMG_2224.JPG

And it was said to be over 10 years old when we first got it so it's well over 20.
The lights on this are on those stainless brackets on the sides but were originally mounted low down underneath the tailgate. On the back of my uncles rrc and with a full load of hardcore etc they hit the road though so were relocated.
Even the mudguards are galv and are solid.
Trailers are a big thing in Europe - they seem to do a lot more touring / camping / moving about of second hand goods than we do, and where my in laws live in southern France you see them all over and almost all properly built. Not so common here though, and lots on eBay seem to be home made or ex trailer tents etc.
Anything factory built and plated is worth holding on to - think of a crash situation involving something bob from down the pub knocked up from a Capri axle and a bed frame.
If you buy a light board you will at least get new plug and cable too, and might be cheaper than buying all individually. Carry spare bulbs always and make a holder for the plug - dropping the hitch on the plug or running over it with the jockey wheel is a pain in the backside. Cable needs to be long enough to make connection on your secondary coupling (chain) but not too long it's dragging on the floor in use.

Happy camping:)
 
Discokids said:
I reckon it's a cute little thing you've stumbled upon, and that is likely to be its date of manufacture. My galv trailer looks just the same now as it did over 10 years ago when it came to us, besides some of the paint coming off (it was painted at some point to make it look less bling and attractive to toe rags). Here's a pic of it full of scrap:View attachment 139696
And it was said to be over 10 years old when we first got it so it's well over 20.
The lights on this are on those stainless brackets on the sides but were originally mounted low down underneath the tailgate. On the back of my uncles rrc and with a full load of hardcore etc they hit the road though so were relocated.
Even the mudguards are galv and are solid.
Trailers are a big thing in Europe - they seem to do a lot more touring / camping / moving about of second hand goods than we do, and where my in laws live in southern France you see them all over and almost all properly built. Not so common here though, and lots on eBay seem to be home made or ex trailer tents etc.
Anything factory built and plated is worth holding on to - think of a crash situation involving something bob from down the pub knocked up from a Capri axle and a bed frame.
If you buy a light board you will at least get new plug and cable too, and might be cheaper than buying all individually. Carry spare bulbs always and make a holder for the plug - dropping the hitch on the plug or running over it with the jockey wheel is a pain in the backside. Cable needs to be long enough to make connection on your secondary coupling (chain) but not too long it's dragging on the floor in use.

Happy camping:)
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Cheers, some sound advice there.
I literally did stumble on it so quite lucky I think.
May well invest in a board as you say, be good for spares/If I tow anything else. The plug and lead on the unit looks fairly new which helped me decide to stick with current set up. The left indicator was just a loose wire so everything works as it should now. Just need my Latvian mate to combine postage on 2 lenses :D I'll get some pics up when I've moved house and run the setup when it's hitched past members on here, make sure I'm safe :)
 
Personally i'd replace the whole light units rather than just the lenses... if the lenses are knackered then chances are the insides will have got wet and corroded. As above i'd replace with LEDs, but obviously this might ruin the "original" look.

A lighting board is useful to have anyway - i used to keep mine, plus a trailer extension cable, in the boot of the car, with my number plate on it, plus a loose number plate to attach to trailers. It's currently attached to the scout group's trailer as haven't got round to replacing the lights (got all the bits - just have't fitted them) after some imbecile drove into the back of it.

I tend to cable tie the power cable to the secondary coupling on unbraked trailers as this keeps it from trailing on the ground... wouldn't do it with a breakaway cable obviously as these are designed to snap after applying the brakes, although having said that you're probably going to damage either the power cable or the socket on the car when that happens anyway! Touch wood i've never actually had to "use" the secondary coupling or breakaway cable - although i did activate one once when i forgot to disconnect it (oops)
 
private penguin said:
Personally i'd replace the whole light units rather than just the lenses... if the lenses are knackered then chances are the insides will have got wet and corroded. As above i'd replace with LEDs, but obviously this might ruin the "original" look.
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Yeah I've just ordered a rewire kit with lights, prewired plug and 5m lead, spade connectors and new reflectors for £16.
Had a poke around the light units today and they don't fill me with confidence so I'm just gonna replace the lot.

20180122_130610.jpg

20180122_130626.jpg
 
in all honesty those are far better condition than most i've seen! Pretty sure they're not original to the trailer though - they dont look like they're over 30 years old!!

Unusual to have the festoon style bulbs (the ones at the bottom)... i'd ahve thought they'd have popped out of place pretty quickly!
 
private penguin said:
in all honesty those are far better condition than most i've seen! Pretty sure they're not original to the trailer though - they dont look like they're over 30 years old!!

Unusual to have the festoon style bulbs (the ones at the bottom)... i'd ahve thought they'd have popped out of place pretty quickly!
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To be fair they were all working yesterday, but I tried them again today and they were going mental when I tried indicators.
If they're that temperamental I'd rather replace them.

Those festoon bulbs did indeed shoot out when I was looking around and promptly disinteregrated :D
 
If they're being temperamental my first location to check would be the plug on the end of the cable, and the socket on the car (if the socket is the original one and therefore the same age as teh Disco it will quite possibly be corroded and need replacing too - again a fairly straightforward job)
 
private penguin said:
If they're being temperamental my first location to check would be the plug on the end of the cable, and the socket on the car (if the socket is the original one and therefore the same age as teh Disco it will quite possibly be corroded and need replacing too - again a fairly straightforward job)
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Towbar ends fine, I had it checked by trailer fitter before I picked mine up.

This might have something to do with it bein temperamental
15166348990431249056059.jpg
15166349688031907034375.jpg


Shouldn't there be a pin in that empty port or is it just redundant?
 
That's an absolute mess!

Trying to work out which is which from that photo - assuming the white earth wire is in the correct place the missing pin looks like the brake lights?
 
Actually ignore that - the white can't be in the right place, as the white (earth) should be on a male connector, not a female!

The missing pin is either fog lights, or right hand tail light

I'd bin all the electrics and start again using the correct colour scheme to avoid any future confusion!
 
private penguin said:
That's an absolute mess!

Trying to work out which is which from that photo - assuming the white earth wire is in the correct place the missing pin looks like the brake lights?
Click to expand...

I had brake lights though so God only knows

You'll love this, removal of electrical tape before the plug revealed this

20180122_154115.jpg


I'm guessing number plate lights, there's a proper seperate unit for them.
Glad I ordered that kit lol
 
http://www.uk-trailer-parts.co.uk/7-pin-n-type-trailer-plug-wiring-diagram/ is what it should look like.

I suspect that cut off cable is the one that would have gone into the missing pin

Number plate lights are normally just wired in from one or other of the side lights as there isn't a separate feed from the car for them. In the same way as front marker lights would also be run from the appropriate rear light circuit (but would be unlikely to be fitted on a trailer that small)
 
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