gspritchard
New User
I've been using this forum a lot, lurking to get answers, during the restoration I have undertaken on an old Rice Beaufort Treble trailer.
We got the trailer cheap, and it was in a bad shape. It is being converted to a catering van.... so the floor had to be ripped up to start with as horse urine and food doesn't go well.
In doing this I have found the chassis to be quite rotten in places, not too worried, a bit of cut and weld that will be all fine. Next thing I thought to strip it all back I'll remove the side panels. Again done without any major issues. Just find it strange how the roof does not fix to the base with more than 1 small bolt on each piece of angle iron.
Now the questions I have, and will continue to add to this list are:
1. Side panels - they have ally rot across the bottom. I don't expect to find any new parts around, but I am considering replacing with galvo roofing panels. They are 1m wide, so would require an overlap, is there any reason NOT to do this? Seems like a 0.7mm sheet would do the job nicely.
2. From the serial number, can anyone find the age / spec of the trailer?
3. The front coupling is a screw fit, I have spoken with Warwickshire Trailers who say they can sell a sleeve to convert to a ball connection. Has anyone done this, and can they provide pictures of it?
4. The axles / brakes look worse for wear, they're Avonride axles so I hope parts are still available. Where is best to buy?
5. I was hoping to replace the floor with 2 sheets of marine ply, I presume this would work as there is no need to worry about unstable horses, or is it better to have a floorboard style base layer, then ply on top?
We got the trailer cheap, and it was in a bad shape. It is being converted to a catering van.... so the floor had to be ripped up to start with as horse urine and food doesn't go well.
In doing this I have found the chassis to be quite rotten in places, not too worried, a bit of cut and weld that will be all fine. Next thing I thought to strip it all back I'll remove the side panels. Again done without any major issues. Just find it strange how the roof does not fix to the base with more than 1 small bolt on each piece of angle iron.
Now the questions I have, and will continue to add to this list are:
1. Side panels - they have ally rot across the bottom. I don't expect to find any new parts around, but I am considering replacing with galvo roofing panels. They are 1m wide, so would require an overlap, is there any reason NOT to do this? Seems like a 0.7mm sheet would do the job nicely.
2. From the serial number, can anyone find the age / spec of the trailer?
3. The front coupling is a screw fit, I have spoken with Warwickshire Trailers who say they can sell a sleeve to convert to a ball connection. Has anyone done this, and can they provide pictures of it?
4. The axles / brakes look worse for wear, they're Avonride axles so I hope parts are still available. Where is best to buy?
5. I was hoping to replace the floor with 2 sheets of marine ply, I presume this would work as there is no need to worry about unstable horses, or is it better to have a floorboard style base layer, then ply on top?
