Carrier transport trailers

[David Ellery]

Saw a picture of a OZ Blitz towing a trailer at Corowa with a LP2 aboard,
I have been told that the NZ Army did the same in days gone by.

Did the Australian Army do this ? does anyone have photos or even better, drawings and dimensions of the trailer, and are there any of these trailers still floating around on both side of the Tasman.
Can anyone help, thanks David....

[Scrivo18]

Hi

The trailer in question is owned by Robin Mawson and he made it himself as far as I know.

Tim

[David Ellery]

Thanks Tim, From what I can see it looks like a pretty impressive trailer, the chev would be working pulling that load up hill I would imagine.

[gjamo]

Monegeeta 1/3

Monegeeta 2/3

Mongeeta 3/3

[Keith Webb]

Originally posted by gjamo
Mongeeta 3/3

Love that braking test with the C60L cab 12. Look at the skid marks and at the extra track loaded on top of the carrier

[Hendrik van Oorspronk]

Originally posted by Keith Webb
Love that braking test with the C60L cab 12. Look at the skid marks and at the extra track loaded on top of the carrier

Look good at the picture, I think the carrier will be loaded full with track as there is also at lot of it on the trailer below the carrier.

Green Greetings Hendrik

[Lynn Eades]

Fortunately that hill, that carrier 3160 is about to climb, is one of the few hills found in Australia. ( They tend to call anything bigger, a mountain)........

[Pedr]

G'day Guys,

Here's what I know.

There were a number of variations of carrier trailer. Some of which were tilt style. There was a photo album containing pictures of all of the different models trialled / manufactured, however with the death of an older collector the exact whereabouts of this album is no longer known.

Post War, All ( possibly all ) carrier trailer were sold at public auction with the greatest majority being purchased by Kurt Johannsen ( the Australian outback legend, Biography " A son of the Red Centre " ). Kurt, whom passed away only a couple of years ago, used components from the trailers to create the first Australian road train, towed by a Diamond T 980 Tank Transporter. In a phone conversation with him, he stated that there was one remaining trailer that he was aware of at a station north of Alice Springs, that was used as a plant trailer for a small bulldozer. I tried to find the trailer by making contact with the station but they had no knowledge of it.

The Transport Hall of Fame museum in Alice Springs have a couple of the trailers that Kurt built with the components of the carrier trailers. Hugh Davis made contact with them and managed to get the remains of another of these Johannsen trailers to reclaim the stub axles. It is intended to add these to a trailer that was found and believed to be a carrier trailer.



That trailer is owned by the South Australian group. Shown here with A. Newton's Carrier.

The other picture is one of the axles from the Kurt Johannsen trailers. It was built from a pair of carrier trailer stub axles welded to a heavy beam.

Pedr

[Pedr]

Here's an official photograph taken from the DMV book ( Copies of this book can be purchased from Keith Webb )

I believe that this may be the same trailer that carrier 3160 is sitting on in the first picture.

Now you know what I know,

Pedr

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Pedr
Here's an official photograph taken from the DMV book ( Copies of this book can be purchased from Keith Webb )
Pedr

One of our club members in Sydney has one of these trailers. I'll see if I can get some Pics/Dimensions.

[David Ellery]

Thanks heaps guys, for the info and pictures, very much appreciated.
Cheers David....

[Lynn Eades]

So with the winches on the trailers, I would take it that these trailers were intended as recovery trailers. Quite an interesting draw bar.

[Pedr]

Having driven a carrier onto these trailers myself, I can tell you that it isn't fun in the least.

The angle of the bed although not looking terribly steep is difficult to climb especially when trying to aim accurately to load the carrier evenly in the centre of the bed.

Ir requires high rev's in low gear and once reaching the bump stop at the top of the trailer, full brakes to keep you there whilst another person winds the tilt down. And let me tell you this is no picnic.

Plus, the timber deck, when wet has the same properties as a bloody steel deck anyway. So when I carted that carrier back to its owners place and tilted the trailer, it slid right off onto the ground. SCARY STUFF

Therefore, it's much easier and safer to winch on even if it's not a recovery. I guess you could save the drive on loading method for emergency use....like " They're shooting at us, lets get the f#@% out of here, drive that bloody carrier on the trailer so we can go. "

[Pedr]

Oh and the SA trailer is un braked. So even with 4.5 tonnes of AACO pulling it along....very slowly through the hills I might add...it was next to impossible to stop.

AACO's have air over hydraulic brakes and are usually too agressive on braking ( like everyone goes through the windscreen ), but with the 3 tonnes of carrier and 1 tonne of trailer, I had no chance of slowing it down in a hurry.

AND another thing. A carrier is already roughly 2 metres wide ( maybe not quite ), but nearly as wide as a modern truck and definately as wide as a Blitz.

With the design of these trailers trying to keep the carrier as low as possible for safety of loading and transport with a lower centre of gravity, the axles and tyres are outside the width of the carrier rather than beneath.

This means that with the size tyres required for the weight ( In this case I think they were 12.00 x 20" ) the width of the trailer exceeds the maximum permissable width for the roads here in SA / Australia - 2.5 metres. ( Albeit, only by a couple of hundred millimetres / a few inches )

Subsequently, it is considered a wide and dangerous load and as a consequence the trailer must be flagged on the rear corners, the truck must carrier wide load signage front and rear, have a flashing beacon on the roof of the truck and can only travel in daylight hours. So travelling to and from an event becomes rather difficult, unless time is no problem.

And, the trailers had no guards over the wheels, which causes the authorities these days to have a coronary episode.

Pedr

Picture show view up the side of the trailer past AACO towing tractor.

[Pedr]

Originally posted by Lynn Eades
Fortunately that hill, that carrier 3160 is about to climb, is one of the few hills found in Australia. ( They tend to call anything bigger, a mountain)........

Oh and when Lynn comes over for a visit, would one of you Eastern Staters take Lynn and a semi-trailer up Bell's line of road, just to prove that not only do we know what steep is, we make roads right over the top of 'em, not around the bottom. ( no helicopter rides here bloke ! )

Pedr

[David Hardway]

Hi Dave

The only "Carrier Trailers" i`ve seen here are the Crane 7 and a 1/2 ton recovery trailers (the same as towed by the Chevy above)


New Zealand also had there own conversion to the GMC CCW353
6x4 for use as a carrier transporter there are some club members with GMC`s fitted with decks from these they look standard until you look at the floor of the deck and you can see where all the holes have been filled

Dave



1941 3" Mortar Carrier
1941 Ford F30 LRDG Replica
1942 Ford F15A (Aust)
1942 NZ Pattern Wheeled Carrier

[David Hardway]

Should have added for those that don`t know

GMC is short for "Gotta Mechanic Coming"

Dave

[baldeagle]

Hi Dave,Hope you and had a good weekend,South Auckland welldrillers did have a 6 wheeler trailer in there yard about 3years ago Waikaraka Park.Like, same as ;gjamos; photo, RG

[David Ellery]

Thanks for the info Dave, from what I've learn't so far I can now keep a look out for that type of trailer in my travels.
Baldeagle I like it , I enjoyed your get together so much I'm trying to find ways of getting my carrier to your next gig ! A quick drive by Waikaraka is needed thanks Reg.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by David Hardway
Should have added for those that don`t know

GMC is short for "Gotta Mechanic Coming"

Dave

New one on ME, mate, thanks! I'll employ that with no little glee henceforth...

[mudeng]

The trailer shown seems very much like the TASKERS trailer built pre war. They were 5 ton capacity, and had a double bogie.
The tilting chassis is very similar, Vickers also produced a folding trailer used for light tanks, a selling point was the folding sides, so it could be used as trailer "cargo".

I have been trying to get more info on the Taskers trailer, and though resident in the UK, and they are still trading, have found them a bit unhelpful when contacting them for information or archive material.
Maybe they might be a bit more responsive if contacted from outside the UK.

Unfortunately I am out of the UK at the moment, so have no other reference material with me.

George.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by mudeng
I have been trying to get more info on the Taskers trailer, and though resident in the UK, and they are still trading, have found them a bit unhelpful when contacting them for information or archive material.

George,

Taskers have not been in existence for some years now. When they folded, some of the staff and management got the trailer business going again and is now known as Andover Trailers.

A lot of the Tasker factory records, photos, etc are now in the hands of the Hampshire County Council Museum Service.

[mudeng]

Thanks for that, I now know why they never returned my calls.

Do you have a contact or anything that might help.

Thanks again.

George.

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by mudeng
Thanks for that, I now know why they never returned my calls.

Do you have a contact or anything that might help.

Hi George,

Go to this website and you will find contact details;

www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/tasker-collection.htm

[mudeng]

That is great,
I can contact them while I am here in Algeria, and see what comes up.

MLU, an amazing pool of knowledge.

Thanks again.
George.

[Tony Smith]

Originally posted by Richard Farrant
George,
A lot of the Tasker factory records, photos, etc are now in the hands of the Hampshire County Council Museum Service.

Go to this website;
www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/tasker-collection.htm

Originally posted by Mudeng
MLU, an amazing pool of knowledge.

So can someone come up with an explanation as to why Hampshire is abbreviated to HANTS?

[Richard Farrant]

Originally posted by Tony Smith
So can someone come up with an explanation as to why Hampshire is abbreviated to HANTS?

Tony,

I supposed someone had to ask.

It actually derives from the earler name for Hampshire which was Hantshaving. Another peculiar abbreviation is Salop for Shropshire, this one came from the earlier name of Sloppesberie, an Anglo-Saxon name.

Hope you are suitably impressed

[Bryan]

Hi All,

I have just been offered a carrier trailer, which I am going to go and take a look at. from what the chap has described to me, think it may be this type....

My original plans were to see if it would take the Alligator. but need to have a measure up.

Will keep you posted..

bryan

[Bryan]

Hi All,

Been and had a look at a trailer for my alligator today.

Turns out to be a 7.5 tone light tank recovery trailer. It is complete but is in very poor state. think a total restoration would be required.

Would be interested in more information. if anyone has some.

Bryan

[mudeng]

Hi,
I have some photos of one here in the UK.
It has been messed about with, but still pretty much original, the major change has been widening the upper track runs.
I have a number of photos taken from underneath, as at the time it had a carrier parked on top.
If you think these can be of help, contact me off-line at george.dfs@virgin.net.

If you get the chance, I would like some details of this one, especially the rear rollers, and the winch.

George.