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[100+9]

In the other thread MWAD7 shows us his Sankey, and very nice it is too. He's not alone, many have one. Normally I'd tell you a man can't have enough trailers. I have a trailer for everything; bikes, camping, bowser, car - I've four. I should have a Sankey too. Only I've never seen the fascination. The Sankey appears inordinately ungainly, heavy and awkward to use, with less practical value than any I own.  They're small for their apparent awkwardness. I think I'm right , you're wanting a NATO hitch too. Nonetheless they seem the default choice, can anyone say why?

[genocache]

Why.




Couldn't resist.......

[Mowersman]

I thought that until a mate bought one... Really really handy bit of kit and so solidly built. Granted I fitted a tailgate to it, but its done many miles up and down the country between us. Handy being on LR rims and tyres too. His is converted to a 50mm ball hitch which helps.
Andrew

[GRMac]

The Sankey appears inordinately ungainly, heavy and awkward to use, with less practical value than any I own. 

That's pretty much the Land Rover itself summed up, yet people still enjoy using them.

[Matt Reeves]

I had a standard one for several years, solidly built, well balanced and a delight to tow. I used mine for everything from work platform, collecting firewood to shifting engines and, on one occasion, a flat pack 88".

Wish I'd kept it, and currently looking for another.

[Wittsend]

Why

Because they were cheap !
and plenty about.

If you have an MoD vehicle you were good to go.

They tow really well 

If you have the space to park it - why not

 

[100+9]

I'm warming to the idea because, yes,  they're cheap. Certainly good for engines, small but heavy items. The NATO hitch would stop the neighbours hassle to borrow.

Anything makes sense when it's cheap enough, and  a Sankey is. Only, why the massive variation in prices? To the unwitting, prices are as puzzling as the trailers. Straight from the military at £100. eBay has them needing work at £65, decent order at £250. If you like - £1500? There's a few looking no better at £3000.  Is there a preferred variant that's worth so much more?

[w3526602]

Hi,

I also converted my Sankey to a 50mm hitch, hung under the chassis, so it hooked (balled) onto a normal height tow-ball.

I'd also stripped off the braking system ... everything was rusted sollid. The trailer tipped the scales at 400kg unladen, so I worked on a payload of 300kg to keep it within the unbraked trailer limit of an 88". Actually, I'd check-weighed my S1 Bitza (with galv chassis) at a 1400kg, so maybe 300kg was pushing my luck.  An S2 88" MAY NOT weigh 1500kg unladen. My S1 88", with Marsland s3 galv chassis,  2286 engine, and hardtop, weighed 1460kg, so only 730kg unbraked trailer allowed.

Whatever, I took it to halfway down France and back. I understand that you are permitted to take a vehicle to/from the nearest weighbridge, by prior arrangement, with impunity ... but don't push your luck./

For what it's worth, at that time, Craddocks were breaking Sankeys. Maybe still?

I sometimes wondered if the towing eye and shaft could be replaced with a simple shaft that would accept a bolt-on 50mm unbraked hitch, and still give you over-run braking

I understand that the hitch assembly was easy to convert to under-chassis mounting.   Save all that NATO pintle malarky.

602

Hi Wittsend,
Sankeys may tow well, I don't disagree. Manhandling them over rough ground is a different matter. Fitting a small boat winch to the draw=-bar would be high on my list. It could probably be contrived to help load engines.

[gcc130]

I bought a narrow track Sankey over 10 years ago with the intention of pulling the body off and building a camping/expedition trailer.
It came with a 50mm ball hitch conversion and a cover. Due to time limits I used it ‘as is’ for the first camping trip. I made a pair of roof bars and carry up to five bikes and fill the trailer with tents and camping gear. I also changed the wheels to 7.50’s to allow the use of the vehicle spare.
It all worked so well I never got round to altering it. I did however buy a brand new tub for it from Paddocks, when they were selling some off.
It tows very well and we’ve taken it all over the UK, including what is now known as the North Coast 500.
They are quite heavy to manoeuvre by hand, especially loaded and can be awkward to reverse. I tow a twin axle Ivor Williams trailer most days at work and they are so much easier!
The only thing I would change is having a tailgate, or swapping it for a widetrack, which have a tailgate as standard.

[Wittsend]

Funnily enough I don't find manoeuvring them by hand on flat ground a problem, easy when the load is balanced.

In fact, they are terrible to reverse, at the tip I find it easier to uncouple and turn the Sankey round by hand and re-couple - much quicker and less hassle.

All depends in what you want from your trailer.
If you are in the right place at the right time you can get one for a good price. Had mine for around 15 years now - cost peanuts. Like at the end of the day at a big show, the dealers don't want to load up unsold stock - you might get a good bargain.

The MoD had thousands of these and they are slowly getting sold off - we are now well into the wide-track era and these are a better proposition with the tailgate.

They are what they are - a good workhorse 

[Bbrian66]

It's a well-known phenomenon that short trailers are much harder to reverse than long trailers. So a Sankey is likely to be very hard indeed!

Bbrian66

[100+9]

It's a well-known phenomenon that short trailers are much harder to reverse than long trailers. So a Sankey is likely to be very hard indeed!

Bbrian66

Yes, one of my myriad of trailers is so long it's daft. I look like I know what I'm doing, a breeze to point. See everythiing in mirrors too. I'm shown-up trying the  same thing with a short and narrow diddy-camping trailer - mine goes 'squirrelly' rather quick. Until I saw the vast difference I would be amazed watching lorry-drivers do what they do with 'artics'. Not to dismiss their skill, never done it, yet when it's 30-40 foot behind you, and it's soemthing you can see, must give more clues than  3-4 foot you can't.

Why do Sankeys vary so much in price?

[Wittsend]

They are worth what they are worth ... in the same way Land Rovers are priced.

Sellers always have an exaggerated idea of price 

... and then it depends on how quickly someone wants rid of something 

[gcc130]

It also depends on age as well, I think.

Lots of the narrow tracks have rotten bodies and floors, often repaired with mixed results.

Early wide tracks had drum brakes and later ones disc brakes which are deemed more desirable.

Also the body work on the most recently cast versions can be very good as some don’t seem to have done much work.

There are bargains to be had so just wait till the right one comes up.

[Genem]

The narrow track trailers that would be of an age with our vehicles were cast from military service an age ago and most will have issues with rust, the wide-tracks too are long gone from military service and they are now casting the much newer "Penman" trailers that are 100% up to date with current road regulations. Note the MoD now has very few Landrovers, the 2.5na Defenders long gone, the remaining "WOLF" fleet were purchased nearly 25 years ago and most of the 90s already sold off. ….so the MoD does not need anything like as many trailers.   

For us, well, they were specifically designed to go behind a Landrover, are very capable and come in cheaper than the tiny scrappy things you see on sale at Halfords - why not buy one for the tip-run, the wood pile or whatever.

More interestingly, why yet another wind-up thread Mr 100+9. Are you bored or something ?