Anyone have experience with buying salvage vehicles? I am looking at buying an SUV just like the one I already have. I want to gut it, chop it off at the A pillar, and close it up. Turn the inside into a teardrop of sorts. Kinda like this: The whole SUV weighs 4500 lbs. I am guessing I can get it under 3k by just dumping the drivetrain and interior. Maybe close to 2500, but it is kinda hard to make that estimate. Any suggestions? So thoughts? Stuff I should be concerned with? I've a 3500lb limit on my tow car (Volvo XC70), how light would I really want the trailer setup to be though?
Does the vehicle you're going to turn into a trailer have a frame? If not, this just got a whole hell of a lot more complicated
Volvo XC90. Unibody. I had thought I would just cut it in front of the A pillar and box in the firewall and windshield then skin over both. I was also going to weld one set of doors shut (not sure yet on front or rear, need to get a feel for getting in and laying down) to enter the sleeping portion. Box in the back and use the back door as a teardrop style hatch for a kitchen. I am guessing your question is less about the structure as a trailer and more about the function of dragging the rear axle with the unibody?
I'm no trailer expert, but just looking at the wheelbase, I worry about how much weight is going to end up on the tongue. Looks like with a long enough tongue to clear the tow vehicle during turns, the "trailer" axle is pretty far back. I'm less worried about the unibody structure handling the loss of the engine compartment, as long as you maintain the "box".
His tow vehicle maxes out at 3500, so 350 on the ball. I don't think there's a weight-distributing option in that class, and it isn't going to get him up to the 60% he'll have on his tongue.
Another option would be to relocate the rear axle forward to balance the trailer better - but that solution raises quite a few additional challenges...
We are having dinner this weekend with friends who have an older XC90, I can lay down in back and see how far forward we really need to go. I guess a counterbalance behind the rear is probable not such a hot idea?
Add too much weight and you won't have any payload left. And there's not much rear overhang, so you'd have to use something really dense like depleted uranium to gain mass without taking up all of the space. What's the goal? Is it just the appearance? You may be able to fab something that resembles the tow rig, but at a fraction of the weight, and you can cheat the axle forward a bit to help with balance.
The goal is appearance. And I know we could drop the rear axle and set the whole thing on top of a flat trailer with better wheel placement, but that seems a bit odd. Perhaps I don't need the height and should go with the wagon or the XC60 cross over. Both are noticeably lighter. The wagon also is built with the same wheelbase as a sedan, so a little more room for junk in the trunk (water tanks).
Maybe fab up some wheel pants for the rear, then relocate the axle forward and tub the body to fit the wheels inside the body line. It won't be as obvious that the axle has been moved forward that way.
How about 2 axles? Also, I've seen some of the sideways bike hitch with a wheel to support heavy bikes on low tongue weight receivers. Is this not an option? A three wheel trailer.
Thing there is you really want nearly zero tongue weight on a bike trailer. I've got to do my statics balance to see if there is even a way to get a 200lbish tongue weight with a third wheel and less than 3,500 total lbs.
