V70 camping trailer

[Benjammo]

hello
I've started building a camping trailer out of an old V70 I've had lying around.

if any of you guys are intersted you can follow the progress on my youtube page....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcN-_x768t4

[Baxlin]

Interesting, a point to consider though might be the weight, depending on what's going to be towing it.

On the same YouTube 'page', and going a bit off topic, there was a clip from 5th Gear, crashing a 900 series Estate head on into a much newer and smaller Renault Modus.

Mainly because of the developments in car safety, the CTDs in the Volvo came off significantly worse than the occupants of the Renault, despite the Volvo's size and reputation.

[petrohl34d]

Nice project Benjammo! Looking forward to see how it turns out.

I thought it'd be a great idea to sleep in my V70 at an MTB race one time. When you're crammed in there with another person and all your gear, it's no fun at all

Should work much better if you've another car for storage space though.

Will you be relying on Baxlin to provide more pointless and irrelevant comments to help you throughout the build?

[eternal optimist]

Are you planning to move the rear axle further forward to give it a more balanced look? I saw someone who did a Mercedes W123 estate trailer, he moved the axle to the centre and it looked stunning.

[Benjammo]

Im planning on leaving the wheels where they are, my dad and a mechanic mate are trying to talk me into just mounting the body onto a trailer, something like an ifor williams, meaning the trailer will be more balanced, but I'm going to try this first, I know its going to be nose heavy but I can always stick it on a trailer if this is no good.

I think that with all the interior removed there is actually plenty of room inside, although I am hoping that the kids sleep in here and the wife and I will be in a large tent at the side. Let the kids have some fun.

And all input is welcome. )

[DaveNP]

Having given some more time to watch your video I'm inclined to echo Baxlin's concern about the weight, and your dad and mechanic's concern about the nose weight. A V70 even with its nose cut off will still make a heavy trailer and there's the question of suitable braking to consider, with the axle still at the back a lot of that weight will be on the tow hitch. Given that it will stand out on the road and draw attention, I'd be inclined very early in the build to check the overall weight and the nose weight and check all of the legalities, before you put a lot of effort into building something that looks great but gets you nicked.

[canis]

I've always wanted to build a matching trailer, but they do tend to come out looking like "a car cut in half", instead of a matching trailer, if you know what i mean.

My latest experiment with the idea came from the old V40 donor car. I'm convinced the idea can work, but the centre portion of the car (which will become the front of the trailer) is much wider than the back end of the towing car, and the back end of the trailer. So you get this wierd "jutty out" bit in the middle, which betrays the trailer's true origins. Because, at the end of the day, it actually is a car cut in half.

I chose to resolve this problem by narrowing the front edge of the rear doors. The front doors were to become the trailer's front face. This way I could maintain the swadge line of both vehicles, and wrap it around at the front corners. But it's a lot of metal work.

In the end, I had to abandon the project. It was consuming too much time, too much space, and the parts necessary were prohibitively expensive for my meagre budget. It's currently parked on it's side, too heavy to move very far. Even cutting it up has become infuriating as some of the voids between internal and external panels are quite large, too big for a cutting disc to penetrate, and discs are expensive anyway - especially when new, which they have to be to get any decent depth.

I'm saving up for a cengar. Chop it up that way.

[Benjammo]

Originally Posted by canis

I've always wanted to build a matching trailer, but they do tend to come out looking like "a car cut in half", instead of a matching trailer, if you know what i mean.

My latest experiment with the idea came from the old V40 donor car. I'm convinced the idea can work, but the centre portion of the car (which will become the front of the trailer) is much wider than the back end of the towing car, and the back end of the trailer. So you get this wierd "jutty out" bit in the middle, which betrays the trailer's true origins. Because, at the end of the day, it actually is a car cut in half.

I chose to resolve this problem by narrowing the front edge of the rear doors. The front doors were to become the trailer's front face. This way I could maintain the swadge line of both vehicles, and wrap it around at the front corners. But it's a lot of metal work.

In the end, I had to abandon the project. It was consuming too much time, too much space, and the parts necessary were prohibitively expensive for my meagre budget. It's currently parked on it's side, too heavy to move very far. Even cutting it up has become infuriating as some of the voids between internal and external panels are quite large, too big for a cutting disc to penetrate, and discs are expensive anyway - especially when new, which they have to be to get any decent depth.

I'm saving up for a cengar. Chop it up that way.

It would be nice to see some pics of your work tho.
I bought a 9" angle grinder for £15 off ebay and a £5 disk from screw fix which blew up on me cutting one of the legs off, so I went back and found out they mad a pack of 5 for £4.

[Benjammo]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

Having given some more time to watch your video I'm inclined to echo Baxlin's concern about the weight, and your dad and mechanic's concern about the nose weight. A V70 even with its nose cut off will still make a heavy trailer and there's the question of suitable braking to consider, with the axle still at the back a lot of that weight will be on the tow hitch. Given that it will stand out on the road and draw attention, I'd be inclined very early in the build to check the overall weight and the nose weight and check all of the legalities, before you put a lot of effort into building something that looks great but gets you nicked.

I have got the build guide lines sent to me from VOSA, I will have to weigh it, but I'm going to wait until the frame work in place so I know it will be more accurate.

I've only towed one trailer before, and that was just a caravan base with a mini shell on it, so not very heavy, so I've not really got anything to compare it to.

My "logic" is that articulated trucks have the trailer wheels right at the back, ok they have a larger connecting point, but if its safe enough for them I think its worth a try. If it is bad, I still have the option to just put it on a trailer.
I'll be towing it with my 1997 V70 awd and I will be fitting larger disks and air suspension on the rear to help with the towing.

I'll be using a hydraulic hitch linked to the trailers disk brakes so I should hope that should be enough.

[ITSv40]

Originally Posted by Benjammo

I have got the build guide lines sent to me from VOSA, I will have to weigh it, but I'm going to wait until the frame work in place so I know it will be more accurate.

I've only towed one trailer before, and that was just a caravan base with a mini shell on it, so not very heavy, so I've not really got anything to compare it to.

My "logic" is that articulated trucks have the trailer wheels right at the back, ok they have a larger connecting point, but if its safe enough for them I think its worth a try. If it is bad, I still have the option to just put it on a trailer.
I'll be towing it with my 1997 V70 awd and I will be fitting larger disks and air suspension on the rear to help with the towing.

I'll be using a hydraulic hitch linked to the trailers disk brakes so I should hope that should be enough.

Your logic is flawed as it is a totally different concept.

A normal car towbar is at the back of the vehicle and a long way behind the rear axle. Any weight on the trailer tow hitch is levering weight from in front of the rear axle of the towing vehicle and putting extra weight on the rear wheels - thus overloading the towing vehicle.

On an artic, the mounting point for the trailer hitch is in front of the rear wheels therefore the towing unit is taking the weight evenly distributed. Also the towing unit is generally twin rear axle and also twin wheeled as well so much more robust to take the trailer weight.

I don't want to be negative, but you are totally mad embarking on such a project, however, I like mad. Do keep it safe and legal though.