Steering axle trailers

[Paul Dodd]

I was contacted the other day by a guy who had started building a steering axle trailer which he intended to use as a living van, and which he wanted to tow behind a »3500kg van in which he carried his "shop" to steam fairs etc.

 

His initial concern was about towing weights, but it was apparent when I asked him, that he was unaware of the need to subject the finished vehicle for IVA .

 

Here lies an unfortunate problem, it is not possible now to gain approval for trailers that have steering or turntable axles, if they are only to have over run brakes. Now if you were towing behind a larger commercial or something like a fa strac this isn't an issue, but most lgv s aren't equipped for this.

It may be possible to classify this as a caravan (which as such wouldn't need approval until Oct 2014) but he would then be based with some additional technical requirements.

The bottom line is he now has to redesign his trailer and has elected to go for centre tri axle which he can use with over run brakes.

 

So for anyone building a trailer you do need approval and if you want steering axle you will need to use continuous brakes.

[listerdiesel]

I don't think there is any problem with a turntable drawbar trailer with overrun brakes, we've built our own and it works very well.

 

These are also very common in Europe.

 

 

 

 

I think that the Type Testing requirement only applies to 'series production' trailers for sale, but when I spoke with the DfT on the subject, they were not able to absolutely confirm that.

 

Overrun brakes are fine on a turntable trailer, you just need to think about routeing the cable for the rear axles under the front axle, and apportioning the braking force between front and rear if required.

 

There's a building blog on our own trailer on our websites, from concept through drawings to finished item.

 

Peter

Edited March 14, 2013 by listerdiesel

[Paul Dodd]

I actually agree that there didnt seem to be a problem with turntable steer trailers, some industries prefer them.

However the regs dont.

 

There was a derogation in the regulations that was open for building turntable trailers until about November 2012. Now it isnt possible to approve this type of trailer with overun braking.

The European directive 71/320/EC allowed them but if you have seen the latest DfT / VOSA information, the EU directives have been overtaken by the adoption of the the UNECE regs, in this case REG 13 which says:

 

5.2.2. Vehicles of category O

5.2.2.1. Trailers of category O1 need not be equipped with a service braking system; however, if a trailer of this category is equipped with a service braking system, it shall satisfy the samerequirements as a trailer of category O2.

5.2.2.2. Trailers of category O2 shall be equippedwith a service braking system either of the continuous or semi-continuous or of the inertia (overrun) type. The latter type shall be permitted only for centre axle trailers. However, electrical braking systems conforming to the requirements of Annex 14 to this Regulation shall be permitted.

 

This means that this type of trailer is only permitted Continuous or Semi Continuous brakes, it may be possible to use an electric braking system, but I havent yet seen any that have been approved for use in the EU.

 

If anyone has any experience of putting one successfully through IVA in the UK since October 2012, I would be interested to hear about it as I have a client currently who is having to convert his model range to centre axle.

Edited March 14, 2013 by Paul Dodd

[listerdiesel]

Cheers, Paul, I'm still ploughing through the paperwork, but it seems that your comments are quite correct.

 

Ours was built in 2011, so we have missed most of the new legislation.

 

Peter