Canadian 10cwt Trailer rebuild

[Jordan Baker]

Tear down begins. They sure didn't skimp on the bolts. By the time I was done I had two rather full bags of them.

[Jordan Baker]

Lastly the back to front tow ring setup.

[Grant Bowker]

Looking at the pintle setup, it looks as if all of the parts are fitting well with respect to each other. You would think they would have wanted the two solid supports as far apart as possible for strength (with the friction block between), that doesn't seem to fit with your parts or the manuals. If the drawbar is different diameters in the solid mounts and friction areas, that would be just too much to be a production error (manual seems to show only one diameter). I agree the photos in the AEDB Design Record and the Maintenance manual both show the friction block at the tip of the drawbar. One theory might be that the manuals used photos taken early in production and that a change was made part way through for an unknown reason. Another theory would be Brantford Coach & Body making the assembly one way and Frost & Wood doing it differently for their production. It will be interesting to see what others have on their trailers.

Is that a grease fitting on the top of the spring loaded part of the drawbar assembly? On the 15 and 20 cwt trailers, the spring loaded part contains friction blocks to reduce fore and aft surging against the brakes and there are specific cautions not to lubricate this area. I'm curious what you find when you open this area - steel, bronze bush, brake lining material?

[Jordan Baker]

I found another trailer that is in Italy with the same setup. However it is missing the two frame rail risers. It still has its data tags on it and I have emailed the owner for more info.

[Grant Bowker]

I am not a vehicle design engineer but I think I prefer the way your trailer is built over the design shown in the manuals. The way it is shown in the manuals, the springs are under constant load to support the tongue rather than just providing a friction load.

[Jordan Baker]

I heard back from the chap in Italy. From him, the steel bodied trailers had the springs for the tow ring at the rear whereas the wooden bodied ones had the springs at the front.

He also passed on a nice picture of his data tag. 210 PGS-2-320

[Grant Bowker]

The AEDB Record photos show both the composite body and the steel body with springs at the front with the springs at the front. This could fit with his statement if the photographed steel body was on a carry-over frame. I have no proof either way on this but the composite body was described as 10-P-GS-1 while the steel body was 10-P-GS-2.