anybody heard of a driven trailer

I going to make a bit of a camping sankey trailer
I've been looking at different ideas and all sorts for a while
After reading an article On off roading with a trailer and how much it effects the vehicle
Would it be possible to build a trailer with driven wheels from say a pro?

The US military have used driven trailers, including as far back as Vietnam, so it is possible. The Hagglund BV203 looks as if both units ( it's articulated) have motive power, otherwise the back is just a tracked sledge. I'm also pretty sure some farm trailers are also driven, via the PTO on a tractor.

its been done but unless its an articulated set up ,if the trailer pushes the tow vehicle it jack knifes or lifts the rear up,it would be easier to use hydraulic wheel motors for use in stuck situations

http://www.4wdonline.com/Mil/LandRover/FC101/powered.trailer.html

Yep Land Rover did with a forward control

Very cool those are
It seems every time I think that I may have thought of some thing cool or new .
Its defiantly already been done haha
I like the hydrolic drive idea
And yes mainly for the mud when stuck

jamesmartin said:

its been done but unless its an articulated set up ,if the trailer pushes the tow vehicle it jack knifes or lifts the rear up,it would be easier to use hydraulic wheel motors for use in stuck situations

Click to expand...

Or you could get a caravan 'motor mover' set up... seems to work well, you see these caravans on the move with remote control... bit harder to match wheel speeds in an off road situation when hitched to the tow vehicle... hmmm just thinking aloud?!

I swear that there was a sankey trailer that had a driven axle of a pto

scrappyloz said:

I swear that there was a sankey trailer that had a driven axle of a pto

Click to expand...

Link to it up there ^^ post 4

I've seen an old advert I think it was a series 3 with a powered trailer running off the pto.

Edit



8 mins 4 seconds in

Just my 2 pennys worth. I maintain public rights of way accross Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. I drive down footpaths, bridleways, byways, farmers fields, the lot, pulling a fully loaded 14' twin axle ifor (weighing in at about 2500kg total (ok, not fully fully loaded)) behind a td5 disco. I've never really had any issues, even in severe mud. Ruts are manageable but a Sankey would handle these much better than mine. Ive only had to take the mower off once in 5 years to get up a hill.

Basically, I personally can't see how you'd have many issues with a 1000kg trailer, unless of course you go for some extreme offroading but is this actually likely during an expedition?

I guess one thing I would say is that you have to go a little faster in the mud to keep the momentum. This of course increases risk of damage.

One idea I had for a trailer would be to have two drop down wheels at the front so that the trailer could be winched independently if there was a situation where it had to be unhooked. Basically uprated jockey wheels with nice big tyres. Jamesmartins idea is a good one too. Some beefy hydraulic system with again updated jockey wheels.

Our son's Sankey conversion has worked out well so far, extended the chassis back and front and built a new body on it.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/sankey-widetrack-camper-conversion.284492/

We are going to fit spacers to widen the track more, but it's a basic and simple build, plus it isn't too heavy.

Rather than adding on bits and pieces, keep it light and add a winch to the towing vehicle for the occasional time that you might get stuck.

Peter

dannymcrtaylor said:

I going to make a bit of a camping sankey trailer
I've been looking at different ideas and all sorts for a while
After reading an article On off roading with a trailer and how much it effects the vehicle
Would it be possible to build a trailer with driven wheels from say a pro?

Click to expand...

I think someone posted a pic. But 101's used driven trailers, however I think they were ultimately quite unsuccessful. As you don't have any control on the power going to the trailer independently from the the rest of the vehicle, nor can you control it's direction if it wants to move faster over the terrain than the tow vehicle is.

That said, I have never driven such a thing.

But looking at it rationally, you don't see powered trailers for farm use, which would be very easy to achieve. There must be a reason for this.

very popular over here for forestry work

I seem to remember seeing a video of a Series light fire tender with a powered trailer. Powered from the PTO. Sorry, can't remember where though.

300bhp/ton said:

But looking at it rationally, you don't see powered trailers for farm use, which would be very easy to achieve. There must be a reason for this.

Click to expand...

Probably for the same reason the powered trailers for landrovers never caught on.
Much more complexity and cost for something few would use often.
They just arent really needed, a modern 4wd tractor is an incredibly capable piece of kit, huge tyres and wheels, 4wd with no centre diff, and an axle locker at least in the back axle. It will pull heavy trailers in most conditions you would want to.
Very big heavy trailers are usually used in the field when conditions are fairly dry anyway, like grain or potato harvest.

And with some of the heaviest kit, like a muckspreader, you will be using the PTO shaft to drive the implement itself.

They did away with ground speed pto many years ago, which is what you need for a driven trailer, fairly sure pto on old series were ground speed rather than engine!