My good friend Rowland Ward is in the process of refurbishing a 12mtr tilt. He has asked me for advice on Food and Tool boxes, which are to be made and fitted to it.
Hi M&C Jamie I know of Rowland and he knows of me it’s Buzzer here from Southampton, Davies International. Boxes on trucks & trailers are all very well as long as they a well waterproofed. In the past when we had Volvo globe trotters fitted with eminox exausts it left a hole where the original exaust box sat, ah I thought to my self we could have a box made to fit in there which is exactly what we did, made by a local engineering firm to our spec, Asgood 's did the job for us but of course some water did get in albeit not a lot so it was important to have a small drain hole to let out any that got in. These boxes proved invaluable for storing oil cans, jack & wheel braces & snow chains and the like leaving the side boxes free for food storage and more personal gear.
The Scania horse/cattle box I have now has a box each side at the rear behind the drive wheels, one houses the pump and emergency release system for the hydraulic tailboard the other for storage and I must say these stay pretty dry and made in Wales by Tristar of Ffarmers near Lampeter and if Roly is in trouble getting these made Im’e sure they would help with this.
Never did M/E so have no experience with the big chassis boxes those trailers had but knowing Roly it will be done to perfection as where there is a will and all that, Buzzer.
Jamie, you’ll know yourself that there are countless good pics of trailer boxes out there. Let’s hope the lads can muster some together. In the meantime, I offer my own modest selection.
Some of the best quality (not to mention cheapest) trailer boxes were made along the road in Turkey and in Syria. You could get amazing bespoke boxes made up in Homs, in Syria. The first pic below (taken by Nick Garlick) is a classic example. Below that is a pic I took of a Syrian’s trailer box in Saudi when I was on the road. Robert
I had trailer boxes when I did Middle East: they were fairly crude, but functional. I took this picture on the TAP-line in Saudi in 2001 or 2. Robert
Don’t forget that many owner-drivers’ tractive units had kitchen / and / or / workshop boxes mounted on the chassis instead of having them on the trailer, when a variety of trailers were pulled on long-haul work. This is exemplified by this photograph I took in Tangiers of Dave Clarke, who before doing North Africa work had done Middle-East for Whittles amongst others. Robert
Rowlands tilt never had boxes its original apart from needing some tlc & perhaps a new Bowker tilt leave it alone.
Cheers
Rich
Never mind, this is still a good new topic. Many drivers preferred to cook in the cab, especially in cold weather, and most of us did a bit of both. I started a thread a while back about Long-haul cab packs (see link below); and on it I rather discouraged posters from bunging on pics of trailer boxes, as I saw this as a separate issue. This is why I rejoice in this new thread. The subject of trailer boxes is definitely well worth exploring!
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=118844&hilit=cab+packs
Robert
Our Middle East Tilts had 2 Fuel Tanks and a Box fitted on each side One for Food and One for Tools etc.
They fitted in nicely between the First Axle and the Landing Legs.
Have a attached a pic of one.
Here are some examples of the trailer boxes that I had made at Aksaray in Turkey. Never had and trouble with water getting in them.
GS OVERLAND:
Here are some examples of the trailer boxes that I had made at Aksaray in Turkey. Never had and trouble with water getting in them.
Great pic at the bottom; really clear view of the works! Was that done on the Tank Farm just south of Aksaray on the road to Posanti? Robert
Watch when you make a trailer box cause if you make it to long it’ll crack due to chassis flexing… get 2 shorter ones, they’ll be able to flex better with the chassis…If one flyes open you’ll only loose half your stuff. Also with that you can keep oil, chains, straps and other assorted crap in one and have food and goodies in the other… If you go for a fold down lid you can bolt cooker to it so it’s always in place… if your doing the larger gas bottle thing 5 kg sort of size, an external mount on the rear of the box is good…(it’s out the way of bad weather)… run a gas pipe to the cooker… Stainless steel hinges are a good idea as they don’t rust …We have them here in Australia made out of a sort of laminated GRP and they have rubber seals on them… they don’t let any kind of water in at all…
It doesn’t matter what you put in them after about 6 months they’ll small pretty funkie…
If your running in Europe have it on the British drivers side… when your sitting in a lay by you won’t be sitting in the middle of the road when you open it…Fuel tank on the other side… or belly tank between the chassis rails… red diesel of course… customs sealed until the commie bloc…
The guys in Syria were masters at doing that kind of work but some how I don’t think they’re making them at the moment…
As for sizes you don’t want to make them to wide… at least 3 inches less then the outside edge of the trailer… when the forkie lifts then rakes the mast back you don’t want him punching a hole through the lid of your box…worse still if it’s your tank of cherry…
Jeff…
I had an old Dow Freight trailer with a proper cherry tank and ultra strong side locker, it had room for a cool box, water, cooker and lots of tins. We were spoilt later on with the road tankers, a stainless box on each side, one for couplings and safety gear, the other for beer, food and pans.
robert1952:
Great pic at the bottom; really clear view of the works! Was that done on the Tank Farm just south of Aksaray on the road to Posanti? Robert
Yes, the Tank Farm at Taspinar, just south of Aksaray. In my opinion the standard of fabrication work carried out there was far better than at Istanbul. I got all my tanks, boxes and bars made there. And any welding work that needed doing aswell as dropping my Belly Tank there too. Muhsin and the lads were great, nothing was too much trouble. But later on diesel from our belly tanks started going missing ! but the heater in the workshop was always nice and warm !! 
Times were changing
GS
GS OVERLAND:
robert1952:
Great pic at the bottom; really clear view of the works! Was that done on the Tank Farm just south of Aksaray on the road to Posanti? RobertYes, the Tank Farm at Taspinar, just south of Aksaray. In my opinion the standard of fabrication work carried out there was far better than at Istanbul. I got all my tanks, boxes and bars made there. And any welding work that needed doing aswell as dropping my Belly Tank there too. Muhsin and the lads were great, nothing was too much trouble. But later on diesel from our belly tanks started going missing ! but the heater in the workshop was always nice and warm !!
Times were changing
GS
They made good ones at the convoy stop at Homs in Syria in latter days. I was going to have a stainless steel job done there if I had continued going down there, but I didn’t so it never happened. cheers, Robert
