This week, we took Moose a step closer to becoming a true towing machine. The main job was an airbag suspension upgrade, swapping out the old leaf spring setup for a complete system salvaged from a scrapped Mercedes 815 axle. It’s a major alteration that will give us better ride comfort and control when towing our future fifth wheel tiny home, and free up space for when we shorten Moose’s chassis. Alongside this, we’ve been speaking with the DVSA, weighing up trailer options, and realising just how much work and cost is involved if we decide to build everything ourselves.
If you’d rather watch all of this in action, the full video is below. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Sometimes the best things in life come from unexpected places. We found a complete airbag suspension system from a scrapped Mercedes 815 at the same scrapyard where we originally bought Moose. It felt like a full-circle moment. The setup included everything we needed to replace the outdated leaf spring system: airbags, mounts, and trailing arms, all still attached to the original chassis. We knew that an HGV suspension upgrade like this would transform the ride and give us the adjustability needed for towing our tiny home.
Getting that massive lump of chassis back to the yard was no small task. Luckily, we had friends with forklift trucks to help us lift and shift it at both ends of the trip. Once back at the yard, we started removing the parts we needed for transplanting onto Moose.
As we stripped it down, the task ahead became clearer. At first, the whole system had felt overwhelming, but piece by piece it began to make sense. It also made us realise that our original idea of piecing the system together from purchased and fabricated parts would have been far more complicated and expensive than we imagined.
We finally freed the suspension system and axle from the donor chassis and lifted it off with our one-tonne crane, leaving the airbags and trailing arms still connected to the axle. That left us with another question: could we swap out the whole axle with Moose’s? The diff and gearing are likely different, but it would also give us an upgrade to disc brakes.
Away from the suspension, we’ve been digging deeper into our tiny home trailer plans. The first thing we realised is that we don’t need to reclassify Moose as a tractor unit as we initially thought. It is perfectly fine to tow with a flatbed, which will make the whole process of switching from a rigid camper truck to a mini-artic towing setup much simpler.
We compared the idea of sourcing a donor fifth wheel trailer with building a custom trailer from scratch. Each option has its trade-offs, especially when considering weight limits, braking systems, and design flexibility. DVSA towing regulations are shaping many of our decisions, from understanding how Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) and Maximum Authorised Mass (MAM) affect our choices, to ensuring that whatever we build or adapt stays legal on UK roads.
We’ve discovered that Moose cannot tow more than 3.5 tonnes. That might have some of you thinking, what’s the point of the trailer then? But we can still tow a trailer up to 12 metres long and, if we keep it super lightweight, we can have the spacious habitat that we want. Moose will just have to carry the heavier components in what we’re calling his ‘backpack’.
The idea of Moose’s backpack came from looking at what weight actually needs to stay on the truck itself. The heaviest items, like our batteries, inverter, water tanks, and other utility systems, will be built into a dedicated pod that we can mount onto Moose’s flatbed in front of the trailer hitch. It’s a clever way to keep the trailer light while still having all the off-grid essentials we need on board. We also want to find a way of detaching it from the back of Moose and storing it below the “gooseneck” portion of the tiny home. Perhaps using legs but a simpler mechanism than the original hydraulic legs that we built previously.
Progress was slower than usual. Pete has been nursing an ankle injury, and we’ve both been fighting off “summer flu”. There’s still plenty to catch up on, but finding that suspension system and getting it back to the yard and stripped is amazing progress, all things considered.
If you’d like to see how this all played out, the full video is below. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.