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ackackadak Samba Member
Joined: January 30, 2003 Posts: 16
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Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:54 pm Post subject: John Palmer trailer question |
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Talking to trailer builder about building something similar to the John Palmer trailer... question came up regarding 4" drop dovetail w drop axle. How much road clearance does that leave? Concerned about dragging going up my driveway w slight incline. Builder wants me to go w/o dovetail and jack up trailer when loading. Thoughts please? Thanks. |
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hitest Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2008 Posts: 10296 Location: Prime Meridian, ID
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Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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I'll bite, what the hell's a John Palmer?
Is it a trailer with Iced Tea, Lemon and Whiskey? _________________
EverettB wrote: |
I wonder what the nut looks like.
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'62 L390 151, '62 L469 117, '63 L380 113, '64 L87 311, '65 L512 265, '65 L31 SO-42, '66 L360 251, '68 L30k 141, '71 L12 113, '74 ORG 181
FU#5 |
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Richard Roth Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2004 Posts: 952
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Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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I'll see John at the Bug-In in May.
I will ask him then. _________________ The problem with reality is that there's no background music !
1966 Empi GTV MKIV
1954 Kabriolett Beetle
1953 Porsche 356 1500S
1957 Cable brake standard model
1962 cable brake standard model
1956 23 window Samba
1960 Austin Healey 3000
1961 Corvair Greenbrier |
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ackackadak Samba Member
Joined: January 30, 2003 Posts: 16
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 4:48 am Post subject: |
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Thanks. |
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Mike Fisher Samba Member
Joined: January 30, 2006 Posts: 17962 Location: Eugene, OR
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Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 7:48 am Post subject: |
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They convert old Haynes etc double axle horse trailers to end dump trailers. _________________ https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold
Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey |
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Richard Roth Samba Member
Joined: April 03, 2004 Posts: 952
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Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:42 am Post subject: |
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Just received this from John;
The dove tail does not scrape because the axle is mounted close to the rear. It was copied from a flat bottom ski boat trailer. The center of gravity is at the jack mount on a ACVW, so that is the load center that will be put on the trailer, and you need to have enough tongue weight to make it tow good when loaded. Most common trailers tow poorly when a ACVW is loaded, which is why many are put on backwards.
The problem you have with a low car, is that the car scrapes when you drag it up "on a high trailer". You have several options. Longer ramps reduce the angle but are harder to carry, dove tail on the end of the trailer reduces the angle, but is low. A "lower deck" height lowers the deck, but then the front of the trailer is low. I have seen nicely built flat trailers, with a super low deck that look good and address the loading issues.
If I were to build another VW dedicated "open trailer" it would be a small tilt bed trailer much like a Jim-Glo design. The problem is, a rear engine car has much different weight centers than a front engine car. The front engine Jim-Glo trailer design would require much redesign to make it work well with a "weight heavy" rear engine car. I discussed this with the original owner/designer of Jim-Glo many years ago, and he told me he ran into the same problem trying to build a trailer for a SCCA 356 sports car guy.
John Palmer _________________ The problem with reality is that there's no background music !
1966 Empi GTV MKIV
1954 Kabriolett Beetle
1953 Porsche 356 1500S
1957 Cable brake standard model
1962 cable brake standard model
1956 23 window Samba
1960 Austin Healey 3000
1961 Corvair Greenbrier |
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IN2VWS Samba Member
Joined: January 29, 2006 Posts: 2521 Location: Australia
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Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 3:31 pm Post subject: |
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I recently purchased a new trailer for my cars. My previous trailer required the ACVW's had to go on backwards to get the correct ball weight.
This new one, I can drive the cars on and still have the correct ball weight.
As you can see, the deck lowers (no ramps). If you need to work under your car, you can raise the deck higher to get under your car. It raises to 800mm.
_________________ ( ⫏ ⫐ )
(ọ\ ¡ /ọ)¹⁹⁵⁴ ¹⁹⁵¹
(⦷ ⥢ Ĭ ⥤ ⦷) 𝗞_𝗔_𝗥_𝗠_𝗔_𝗡_𝗡 𝓖𝓱𝓲𝓪¹⁹⁵⁶
⨴⨵--⊗--⨴⨵ 𝕊ℙ𝟚¹⁹⁷³
𝟵_𝟭_𝟰¹⁹⁷³ |
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ackackadak Samba Member
Joined: January 30, 2003 Posts: 16
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Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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Jeez, what a great response. Thanks guys. I was ready to go with what was being recommended by my trailer guy. Special thanks to Mr. Palmer for his time and effort to put this altogether for me. I will be printing this thread out and taking with me tomorrow along with my car that barely makes it across the threshold of my garage w/o scraping. I can fix this but I am extremely thankful I will not be buying a trailer which I suspect I'd never be happy owning which most likely couldn't be fixed. Thanks to Mr Roth for making it happen.
I hate to impose with a follow-up question but the article in HVW does not specify where to place the axle to make all this work. I suspect my builder will have an educated opinion but if Mr. Palmer could fill in this gap I would be able to sleep once I make my deposit.
My sincere thanks for all the help.
Richard Roth wrote: |
Just received this from John;
The dove tail does not scrape because the axle is mounted close to the rear. It was copied from a flat bottom ski boat trailer. The center of gravity is at the jack mount on a ACVW, so that is the load center that will be put on the trailer, and you need to have enough tongue weight to make it tow good when loaded. Most common trailers tow poorly when a ACVW is loaded, which is why many are put on backwards.
The problem you have with a low car, is that the car scrapes when you drag it up "on a high trailer". You have several options. Longer ramps reduce the angle but are harder to carry, dove tail on the end of the trailer reduces the angle, but is low. A "lower deck" height lowers the deck, but then the front of the trailer is low. I have seen nicely built flat trailers, with a super low deck that look good and address the loading issues.
If I were to build another VW dedicated "open trailer" it would be a small tilt bed trailer much like a Jim-Glo design. The problem is, a rear engine car has much different weight centers than a front engine car. The front engine Jim-Glo trailer design would require much redesign to make it work well with a "weight heavy" rear engine car. I discussed this with the original owner/designer of Jim-Glo many years ago, and he told me he ran into the same problem trying to build a trailer for a SCCA 356 sports car guy.
John Palmer |
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vegasSTEVE Samba Member
Joined: February 12, 2004 Posts: 35 Location: Henderson, Nevada
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 1:51 pm Post subject: Re: John Palmer trailer question |
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Though this is an older post, I thought I'd throw this out there.... I now own the "Palmer Trailer" - if anyone is looking for dimensions or additional photos of the trailer... let me know... _________________ 56 Oval Sunroof
59 Ghia Coupe
68 Single Cab
Las Vegas Volkswagen Club-1997 (Founding Member) An Officially Licensed VWoA Club |
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