Griffiths 10 Ton silage trailer.

[Cheshire Farm Models]

Hello everyone, havent posted on here for a while so I thought I'd drop this in. I hope your all okay with what's going on in the world and what not. I'd just like to say how impressed I am with the quality of the work being posted on here as of late. I'm sorry I cant comment on them all but they really are amazing, it's nice to see more and more people getting stuck into it. 

Anyhow, I've had this trailer completed for ages now. Well all bar decals and pipes so the other day I took about 15 minutes to finish it. I just went for all out detail on this one. 

I am pleased with it apart from the rams. Theres nothing wrong with them, they hold the trailer nicely and are solid but I would just prefer to use magnetic pick up tools.

Me and Sean spoke about it and I just cant fathom it out how to reuse the brass inserts! They are seated in a little dimple so when you cut that way you loose the dimple and therefore when you reassemble the ram the inserts become loose and the whole things fails ! I've pulled my hair out about it and just opted for these single stage ones instead. But I am looking at other trailers now which have to have working multi stage rams! Back to the drawing board for me :/ 

I have another one of these on the bench for a customer, pretty much the same without the sprung drawbar. Another which Is having the Mf 700 liveries and in a 12 ton version which I'll just put up for grabs on my page. And finally two other small 8 ton grain versions in Griffiths red and black which should be nice. 

[mb86]

Outstanding build Sam the detail you’ve got on there is fantastic, lots of fiddly bits that you wouldn’t see on most model builders’ trailers. 

[Cheshire Farm Models]

24 minutes ago, mb86 said:

Outstanding build Sam the detail you’ve got on there is fantastic, lots of fiddly bits that you wouldn’t see on most model builders’ trailers. 

Thank you mate I appreciate that. A good bit went into that. And I know its something you would appreciate as your abit like me with the finer details. But very fiddly as you say. I built it in the wrong order which made it 10 times harder than it needed to be. But you live and Learn I know how to make it easier for myself next time. 

[IAINH1973]

Nice build. Had a go at making rams for an ongoing build.took a bit to figure out but  what you need to do is drill small holes to replicate the dimple when you have got the ram cut to desired length. The brass inserts are then held  in place when slit into the next cylinder. The length of the brass insert dictates where the ram stops when extended so shortening them helps a bit to lengthen the ram stage. tricky bit is getting lengths of each stage correct.

[Cheshire Farm Models]

3 minutes ago, IAINH1973 said:

Nice build. Had a go at making rams for an ongoing build.took a bit to figure out but  what you need to do is drill small holes to replicate the dimple when you have got the ram cut to desired length. The brass inserts are then held  in place when slit into the next cylinder. The length of the brass insert dictates where the ram stops when extended so shortening them helps a bit to lengthen the ram stage. tricky bit is getting lengths of each stage correct.

Hi mate, thanks for the compliment on The trailer. And thanks for the tips that makes perfect sense I was trying to do it that way but kept deforming the tube when drilling the slit and I also couldn't hold it to drill it. How did you go about it ? 

 

[Tractorman810]

looks good, your next mission is to make that silage top removable ,and a normal rear door .  

as for the rams, been doing these a long time now , easiest way to get round deforming the tube, is use the previous layers  off cut to fill it ,slide it inside the bit your drilling ,its amazing how much stronger it makes it that way, plus use a really good quality drill bit, i use a small 1mm dewalt  one, drills right away rather than spinning on the surface before digging in  so you dont need to put the weight on it then, which gives the issue 

[Cheshire Farm Models]

17 minutes ago, Tractorman810 said:

looks good, your next mission is to make that silage top removable ,and a normal rear door .  

as for the rams, been doing these a long time now , easiest way to get round deforming the tube, is use the previous layers  off cut to fill it ,slide it inside the bit your drilling ,its amazing how much stronger it makes it that way, plus use a really good quality drill bit, i use a small 1mm dewalt  one, drills right away rather than spinning on the surface before digging in  so you dont need to put the weight on it then, which gives the issue 

Thank you Sean, good shout with the detachable sides. 

I always buy hobo Joe drill bits ! I'll get a dewalt set. Do you drill them by hand model drill or the bigger cordless ones ? Really appreciate the help I'm determined to successfully make a trailer with working multi stage rams. Its bugging me now. 

[Tractorman810]

i have a little 8v cordless drill, bosh one , normally do it on slow speed, ,when you do the thinnest solid centre one, file a small flat part on it before drilling, makes it a lot easier , or make a plastic cap for it. you can paint them, which the largest outside will need to match your chassis colour , just give it a sand over with a 120 or finer  bit of wet and dry, paint as normal then, paint it in the close position ,that way you get a small ring of paint on the top of each section as it opens if that makes sense . took me a good few goes to get it right, but its second nature now, rarely use more than 3 sections ,  bluespot magnetic pick up tools are the cheapest option, can pick them up for 99p if you look around.

 

 

 

 

[Cheshire Farm Models]

36 minutes ago, Tractorman810 said:

i have a little 8v cordless drill, bosh one , normally do it on slow speed, ,when you do the thinnest solid centre one, file a small flat part on it before drilling, makes it a lot easier , or make a plastic cap for it. you can paint them, which the largest outside will need to match your chassis colour , just give it a sand over with a 120 or finer  bit of wet and dry, paint as normal then, paint it in the close position ,that way you get a small ring of paint on the top of each section as it opens if that makes sense . took me a good few goes to get it right, but its second nature now, rarely use more than 3 sections ,  bluespot magnetic pick up tools are the cheapest option, can pick them up for 99p if you look around.

 

 

 

 

Cheers Sean I really appreciate that, I've just ordered a further 2 I'm going to use on Martin's ransome. I'll trial it out on that. Ill refer to your instructions. I have tried but ended up losing my rag ! I think now I've asked more questions I'm geared up to tackling it. Would you suggest just making them as long as possible each ram ? The way I worked it was to make each ram stick out proud above one another when the trailer was collapsed, that made for perfect amount of "tip". 

[Tractorman810]

depends on what your making, the outer ones normally the longest, then work down size wise, i normally drill a hole through the outer at the bottom as the chassis fix point, rest sit in that, all are slightly shorter so they sit ok. hard to explain with getting some pics, essentially your copying the original but in shorter sections, .the only thing to remember is the thinnest one(centre) needs to be cut to length while fully extended, that way you keep the pre cut grove the brass stoppers sit in . will see if i have a cut one in the shed to take apart and show you .

[Stabliofarmer]

Lovely trailer Sam, oozing detail. 

I did a guide on rams here https://modelfarming132.blogspot.com/2018/08/132-telescopic-rams-how-to-guide.html?m=1

Since making the guide there's one major adaptation I make when doing them. I cut the rams from the beveled end now rather than from the dimple end. This A ) saves trying to drill a hole in the metal which as you've mentioned is tricky, and B ) the pipe cutting tool gives the cut end enough of a bevel that the inserts still do their job. 

[Cheshire Farm Models]

7 hours ago, Stabliofarmer said:

Lovely trailer Sam, oozing detail. 

I did a guide on rams here https://modelfarming132.blogspot.com/2018/08/132-telescopic-rams-how-to-guide.html?m=1

Since making the guide there's one major adaptation I make when doing them. I cut the rams from the beveled end now rather than from the dimple end. This A ) saves trying to drill a hole in the metal which as you've mentioned is tricky, and B ) the pipe cutting tool gives the cut end enough of a bevel that the inserts still do their job. 

Thank you James for the tips. I dropped you a message on Facebook earlier. 

[844john]

Lovely job on that trailer Sam, you almost expect to see the rams on the brakes move when you touch the pedal! That looks interesting what it's hitched to, any more pics?

[Cheshire Farm Models]

4 hours ago, 844john said:

Lovely job on that trailer Sam, you almost expect to see the rams on the brakes move when you touch the pedal! That looks interesting what it's hitched to, any more pics?

Cheers John, I'm a sucker for them little details ! Yeah sure bare with me I'll add some pics... it's a very very special model. I parted with a few hundred for it. 

[Cheshire Farm Models]

@844john miniagripassion John Deere 6910. A put the twin beacons on and the oem aerial nothing flash or young farmer. And the additional rear work lights. Just wanna get a number plate done now and some solid centre wheels like on the one I drove, I'd also like to ditch the weight block thing and just fit a standard weight rack with wafer weights. But I'm in no rush as it's a one chance model I'd never get another. 

[Fenside MF]

spot on as usual sam,fantastic attention to detail on that one

[Cheshire Farm Models]

4 minutes ago, Fenside MF said:

spot on as usual sam,fantastic attention to detail on that one

Cheers Jamie I appreciate that mate I have a 12 ton Mf 700 I'm doing next up for grabs !