Trailer decision time.

The trailer for the Cherokee has always been so-so. Its an old
Gehrlein (sp?) that was probably purchased new when the glider was
built in 1965. Its the EXACT same type of trailer that Glub
Djerjinksi used for his Open Cirrus in the Sunship Games. its heavy,
really long, and pretty old. I had the door hinge rebuilt a couple
years ago which caused a smoldering fire in the plywood floorboards.
they werent burnt completely but the inside of them is gone. then the
hitch got jackknifed by someone somehow. The hitch has always been
kind of bogus anyway. a few broken welds and some cracks have never
given me a lot of faith in it.

I loaned it to my college flying club this last weekend to transport
some tables and chairs for their fly in. the hitch had a catastrophic
failure, but held together long enough for them to limp to the
airport. No worries, they didnt destroy my trailer, the glider wasn't
in the trailer when the failure occured, and now I am forced to
address an issue that i had putting off for too long, definitely a
good thing.

So now the question is what to do? Ive got some money coming in my
tax return and will have a small budget, 1000-1500ish to spend on
getting my car and trailer ready to go for the XC season. Im sorta
hesitant to dump a lot of money into this old trailer, considering
that the rest of the frame is fairly well rusted. I have pretty real
concerns that if I start to fix one thing it will lead to another and
pretty soon I will have essentially done a complete rebuild.

My car is a 1999 Oldsmobile Alero with the V6. Not the worlds best
tow vehicle but it has lugged this monster trailer around the state of
Iowa for the last few years with few complaints.

I would love to see if the Cherokee would fit in a Cobra trailer. I
think it would. That would be riding in style! I can imagine a lot
of ways to rebuild or build from scratch a much better trailer.
Current trailer is too narrow so it also has to be too long, as the
fuselage and wings have to be staggered to fit. tongue weight is not
enough so the thing bounces around a lot during transport. Id love to
have some time with some fabrication tools to develop really good
mounting in there. The list goes on and on.

So the question to RAS is: What are my best options? Anyone have any
good ideas on how to build a glider trailer for cheap? I could
probably make a 4 or 5 foot wide and 22 foot long trailer work. I
understand steel prices are pretty high nowdays. Is anyone building
their own trailers anymore or just buying factory built? Thanks!

On Apr 6, 5:55 pm, wrote:
The trailer for the Cherokee has always been so-so. Its an old
Gehrlein (sp?) that was probably purchased new when the glider was
built in 1965. Its the EXACT same type of trailer that Glub
Djerjinksi used for his Open Cirrus in the Sunship Games. its heavy,
really long, and pretty old. I had the door hinge rebuilt a couple
years ago which caused a smoldering fire in the plywood floorboards.
they werent burnt completely but the inside of them is gone. then the
hitch got jackknifed by someone somehow. The hitch has always been
kind of bogus anyway. a few broken welds and some cracks have never
given me a lot of faith in it.

I loaned it to my college flying club this last weekend to transport
some tables and chairs for their fly in. the hitch had a catastrophic
failure, but held together long enough for them to limp to the
airport. No worries, they didnt destroy my trailer, the glider wasn't
in the trailer when the failure occured, and now I am forced to
address an issue that i had putting off for too long, definitely a
good thing.

So now the question is what to do? Ive got some money coming in my
tax return and will have a small budget, 1000-1500ish to spend on
getting my car and trailer ready to go for the XC season. Im sorta
hesitant to dump a lot of money into this old trailer, considering
that the rest of the frame is fairly well rusted. I have pretty real
concerns that if I start to fix one thing it will lead to another and
pretty soon I will have essentially done a complete rebuild.

My car is a 1999 Oldsmobile Alero with the V6. Not the worlds best
tow vehicle but it has lugged this monster trailer around the state of
Iowa for the last few years with few complaints.

I would love to see if the Cherokee would fit in a Cobra trailer. I
think it would. That would be riding in style! I can imagine a lot
of ways to rebuild or build from scratch a much better trailer.
Current trailer is too narrow so it also has to be too long, as the
fuselage and wings have to be staggered to fit. tongue weight is not
enough so the thing bounces around a lot during transport. Id love to
have some time with some fabrication tools to develop really good
mounting in there. The list goes on and on.

So the question to RAS is: What are my best options? Anyone have any
good ideas on how to build a glider trailer for cheap? I could
probably make a 4 or 5 foot wide and 22 foot long trailer work. I
understand steel prices are pretty high nowdays. Is anyone building
their own trailers anymore or just buying factory built? Thanks!

Its not that hard to build a trailer - if you are handy and have a
good
workshop you can use. Depending on how nice and how much $
you want to spend... I designed and built from scratch a stressed
skin aluminum tube trailer many decades back for my whale (think
humongous Schreder) - probably more money and time than you
want to spend. A wood trailer is much easier.

In any case - its a lot of time. And again you *really* need a decent
workshop or you'll loose your mind. Don't skimp on the axel - don't
go with small wheels and leaf springs. Get a torsion bar unit, and
think about spring for (gasp) surge brakes.

You'll spend more time making decent fittings than the trailer
structure - plan for it timewise.

Give me a ring at home some evening this week (before Friday;
I'm leaving the country for a couple weeks) if you want some
pointers...

See ya, Dave "YO electric"

On Apr 6, 4:51*pm, wrote:
On Apr 6, 5:55 pm, wrote:





The trailer for the Cherokee has always been so-so. *Its an old
Gehrlein (sp?) that was probably purchased new when the glider was
built in 1965. *Its the EXACT same type of trailer that Glub
Djerjinksi used for his Open Cirrus in the Sunship Games. *its heavy,
really long, and pretty old. *I had the door hinge rebuilt a couple
years ago which caused a smoldering fire in the plywood floorboards.
they werent burnt completely but the inside of them is gone. *then the
hitch got jackknifed by someone somehow. *The hitch has always been
kind of bogus anyway. *a few broken welds and some cracks have never
given me a lot of faith in it.

I loaned it to my college flying club this last weekend to transport
some tables and chairs for their fly in. *the hitch had a catastrophic
failure, but held together long enough for them to limp to the
airport. *No worries, they didnt destroy my trailer, the glider wasn't
in the trailer when the failure occured, and now I am forced to
address an issue that i had putting off for too long, definitely a
good thing.

So now the question is what to do? *Ive got some money coming in my
tax return and will have a small budget, 1000-1500ish to spend on
getting my car and trailer ready to go for the XC season. *Im sorta
hesitant to dump a lot of money into this old trailer, considering
that the rest of the frame is fairly well rusted. *I have pretty real
concerns that if I start to fix one thing it will lead to another and
pretty soon I will have essentially done a complete rebuild.

My car is a 1999 Oldsmobile Alero with the V6. *Not the worlds best
tow vehicle but it has lugged this monster trailer around the state of
Iowa for the last few years with few complaints.

I would love to see if the Cherokee would fit in a Cobra trailer. *I
think it would. *That would be riding in style! *I can imagine a lot
of ways to rebuild or build from scratch a much better trailer.
Current trailer is too narrow so it also has to be too long, as the
fuselage and wings have to be staggered to fit. *tongue weight is not
enough so the thing bounces around a lot during transport. *Id love to
have some time with some fabrication tools to develop really good
mounting in there. *The list goes on and on.

So the question to RAS is: *What are my best options? *Anyone have any
good ideas on how to build a glider trailer for cheap? *I could
probably make a 4 or 5 foot wide and 22 foot long trailer work. *I
understand steel prices are pretty high nowdays. *Is anyone building
their own trailers anymore or just buying factory built? *Thanks!

Its not that hard to build a trailer - if you are handy and have a
good
workshop you can use. Depending on how nice and how much $
you want to spend... I designed and built from scratch a stressed
skin aluminum tube trailer many decades back for my whale (think
humongous Schreder) - probably more money and time than you
want to spend. A wood trailer is much easier.

In any case - its a lot of time. And again you *really* need a decent
workshop or you'll loose your mind. Don't skimp on the axel - don't
go with small wheels and leaf springs. Get a torsion bar unit, and
think about spring for (gasp) surge brakes.

You'll spend more time making decent fittings than the trailer
structure - plan for it timewise.

Give me a ring at home some evening this week (before Friday;
I'm leaving the country for a couple weeks) if you want some
pointers...

See ya, Dave "YO electric"- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I recently (last summer) built a trailer for a Grob 103A. I used
larger tubes than you would need and the steel costs were about $900,
axles, fenders, floor and other trailer fittings were another $800. I
spent about 100 hours on the trailer without the glider fittings and
have spent another 100 hours designing and making the fittings, still
not quite done. Now I know why a trailer costs so much!

This was an open trailer patterned after the plans offered by:

http://www.oxaero.com/Luebke-Trailer.asp

The plans I bought were not adaquate for a two place ship but the
details and parts houses listed in the plans were worth the cost. I
used a lot of the concepts to design my trailer. The plans actually
are for a closed trailer and I hope to eventually get the siding and
top on.

If I were you I'd look on W&W or some other place and see if there is
an existing trailer that you could get to start the process.

I would also contact Dean Gradwell of Jacksonville Oregon, He has a
great trailer for his Cherokee and I think he built it from scratch.
Check with him though

DG Airparts:

501 Juanita Way, Jacksonville, OR 97530-9825,

Phone: (541) 899-8215

Mike

By Gehrlein trailer do you mean something like what is shown at the
top of this web page:

http://www.jimphoenix.com/jimphoenix...btrailers.html

This web site also has some good ideas for different trailes.

for an open trailer a Gerhrlein style trailer is hard to beat. The
open truss structure with the light weight tubing makes for a
reasonably light weight and strong trailer. If you are planning on
staying with an open trailer I would recommend this style of trailer.
Of course you can adjust widths and lengths to match your glider.
Mine had a plywood floor which I loved because I could easly walk on
it while loading and unloading the glider. I do like either a hinged
back section or a easy to use ramp so that I don't have to disconnect
the trailer from the vehical while assembling. I also like the
trailer designed so that the horzontal stablizer can remain on the
glider, this greatly speed assembly time. I could assembly my 1-26 in
about 20 minutes off of my Gerhrlein style trailer.

Both of my trailers have had the leaf spring suspension and towed
great. However I have built a couple trailers with the Torsion Bar
Suspension and really like them. Your glider is light enough I don't
think you need brakes unless you are going to tow with a small car.

If you are thinking enclosed trailer I would suggest you look a the
schreder style trailer. I have access to a full set of plans if you
are interested. The schreder trailers aren't as nice as the Cobra
style trailers but if set up properly they can work very well. I am
always amazed how poorly many trailers work.

Yesterday I left my house at 1:00 drove the airport with the HP16T
(Schreder style trailer) in tow and arrived at the airport at 1:15.
with the help of two assistants I assembled the glider, and launched
at 1:40.for a 4 hour flight. I have spent a fair amount of time making
my trailer user frieindly and it pays off in the assembly ease and
time. I still have a few thing I can do to improve it further.

Brian
HP16T N16VP
www.soaridaho.com

On Apr 6, 10:34 pm, Brian wrote:
By Gehrlein trailer do you mean something like what is shown at the
top of this web page:

http://www.jimphoenix.com/jimphoenix...btrailers.html

This web site also has some good ideas for different trailes.

for an open trailer a Gerhrlein style trailer is hard to beat. The
open truss structure with the light weight tubing makes for a
reasonably light weight and strong trailer. If you are planning on
staying with an open trailer I would recommend this style of trailer.
Of course you can adjust widths and lengths to match your glider.
Mine had a plywood floor which I loved because I could easly walk on
it while loading and unloading the glider. I do like either a hinged
back section or a easy to use ramp so that I don't have to disconnect
the trailer from the vehical while assembling. I also like the
trailer designed so that the horzontal stablizer can remain on the
glider, this greatly speed assembly time. I could assembly my 1-26 in
about 20 minutes off of my Gerhrlein style trailer.

Both of my trailers have had the leaf spring suspension and towed
great. However I have built a couple trailers with the Torsion Bar
Suspension and really like them. Your glider is light enough I don't
think you need brakes unless you are going to tow with a small car.

If you are thinking enclosed trailer I would suggest you look a the
schreder style trailer. I have access to a full set of plans if you
are interested. The schreder trailers aren't as nice as the Cobra
style trailers but if set up properly they can work very well. I am
always amazed how poorly many trailers work.

Yesterday I left my house at 1:00 drove the airport with the HP16T
(Schreder style trailer) in tow and arrived at the airport at 1:15.
with the help of two assistants I assembled the glider, and launched
at 1:40.for a 4 hour flight. I have spent a fair amount of time making
my trailer user frieindly and it pays off in the assembly ease and
time. I still have a few thing I can do to improve it further.

Brian
HP16T N16VPwww.soaridaho.com

no, my trailer is enclosed. cool pictures and ideas on that website
though, thanks!

wrote:
The trailer for the Cherokee has always been so-so. Its an old
Gehrlein (sp?) that was probably purchased new when the glider was


So now the question is what to do? Ive got some money coming in my
tax return and will have a small budget, 1000-1500ish to spend on
getting my car and trailer ready to go for the XC season.

There is a Cherokee in an enclosed trailer at our airport that hasn't
flown in decades. I can put you in contact with the owner, and maybe you
can buy a trailer and Cherokee for less money and effort that building
your own! In any case, he can give you pointers and pictures, and maybe
plans. I can take pictures of it, also.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* Updated! "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* New Jan '08 - sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

On Apr 6, 10:56*pm, Eric Greenwell wrote:
wrote:
The trailer for the Cherokee has always been so-so. *Its an old
Gehrlein (sp?) that was probably purchased new when the glider was

So now the question is what to do? *Ive got some money coming in my
tax return and will have a small budget, 1000-1500ish to spend on
getting my car and trailer ready to go for the XC season.

There is a Cherokee in an enclosed trailer at our airport that hasn't
flown in decades. I can put you in contact with the owner, and maybe you
can buy a trailer and Cherokee for less money and effort that building
your own! In any case, he can give you pointers and pictures, and maybe
plans. I can take pictures of it, also.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* Updated! "Transponders in Sailplanes"http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* * * New Jan '08 - sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" atwww.motorglider.org

\

There is a Cherokee in an enclosed trailer at our airport that hasn't
flown in decades. I can put you in contact with the owner, and maybe you
can buy a trailer and Cherokee for less money and effort that building
your own! \

Oh please do! Tony and I will take good care of it.

Matt Michael

wrote:
\
There is a Cherokee in an enclosed trailer at our airport that hasn't
flown in decades. I can put you in contact with the owner, and maybe you
can buy a trailer and Cherokee for less money and effort that building
your own! \

Oh please do! Tony and I will take good care of it.

I sent you an email with the contact info a few minutes ago.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

* Updated! "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* New Jan '08 - sections on Mode S, TPAS, ADS-B, Flarm, more

* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

On Apr 6, 2:55 pm, wrote:

So the question to RAS is: What are my best options? Anyone have any
good ideas on how to build a glider trailer for cheap? I could
probably make a 4 or 5 foot wide and 22 foot long trailer work. I
understand steel prices are pretty high nowdays. Is anyone building
their own trailers anymore or just buying factory built? Thanks!

I've made things shaped like trailers, but fortunately never a whole
trailer:

http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp%2D24/up...9_March_06.htm

Buy yourself a nice 180 amp MIG welder and set it up for flux core (no
shielding gas) welding. I recommend the Hobart, not one of those cheap
Harbor Freight zot boxes. Get a good auto-darkening hood and a mask
for the particulates (lots of Manganese). You'll be making perfectly
serviceable welds inside a couple hours. Also get a cheap 14" chop saw
(HF will do for that). After that, copy any trailer you like.

Thanks, Bob K.