Torsion or Spring Axle

[asianflava]

Down on the galley end, the floor wouldn't see much weight as it's just your feet down there. The most important area to reinforce is the door area. You will need strength because ingress and egress concentrates a lot of weight in that area. Also your torso is in that area when you sleep.

I only have 1 crossmember (near the door) and my floor is made of a sandwich of 3/4" framing with 1/8" faces.

[Keith B]

WOW...I guess I need to do some "choppin" in my design then. I guess if I get "that" worried about it, I could substitute the 2" sq tubing stringers for 2" angle or c channel.

[Keith B]

How about keeping the design the same...but make the two center stringers 2x2x1/8 angle - the rest would still be 2"x1/8" sq. tubing...and I could lighten the tounge up w/ 2x2x3/16 instead of 2x3.

[Arne]

one neat thing about a torsion axle is it becomes a x member...

[madjack]

Keith, you could make all your inside cross members outta angle and Arne is absolutely correct, in that the torsion axle IS a crossmember...2x2x3/16 is totally adequate for the tongue...that is what we used...on the new build I am using 2x1x3/16 "c" channel for all frame members...the tongue will be a 2x2x3/16 straight tube w/"c" bracing....
madjack

p.s. you could make the entire frame section out of 2x2x1/8th angle is so desired...I believe that is what Camp-Inn uses...MJ

[halfdome, Danny]

Madjack, what's "C" bracing? Danny

[asianflava]

one neat thing about a torsion axle is it becomes a x member...

I was going to mention that but Keith seemd more concerned about floor bracing.

Yes, it becomes a crossmember for the frame but it doesn't touch the floor. You can't really use it to support the floor because the axle has a built-in bow that gives the tires some positive camber. This camber is supposed to help the trailer track better.

[madjack]

Danny, that is something the yankees taught us during the War of Northeren Aggrssion...you build a fire, heat the (railroad)steel and bend it into a big "C" around the nearest Oak tree(also called a Shermans necktie) ...I was actually referring to using the 1x2 C chanell as side bracing to the tube tongue...
madjack

[Keith B]

, see, we get TD and history lessons. I'll see if they have some 1x2 channel and if not I'll get the 2x2 angle for the center braces and keep the exterior "rim" 2" sq. tubing. Yeah, the axle does help on the trailer xmemember, but as mentioned, I was a little more worried about floor support... the trailer is kinda the bedrock of the whole project... even the HF trailer has 4 stringers on 8'... granted, it's very light material... but just the same.... I'll lighten 'er up...the axle is 82#s and wheels and tires are about 100#s

[JunkMan]

yeah, the torsion does look clean...was it easier to install than the springs?

Much easier.
The axel has the mounts welded to it, all you do is place the assembly on the frame in the proper location, and weld or bolt it on. With springs, you have four seperate hangers to mount, and if any one is in the wrong place, it will throw the trailer out of alignment.

[halfdome, Danny]

Danny, that is something the yankees taught us during the War of Northeren Aggrssion...you build a fire, heat the (railroad)steel and bend it into a big "C" around the nearest Oak tree(also called a Shermans necktie) madjack

This is something I can't understand . That war was so long ago that anyone that was there is now dead. So why does it continue? We are all Americans then and now. I guess living on the west coast all my life and seeing Peace between North & South on the west coast makes it impossible to support this Yankee/Southerner thing that perpetuates to this day. Sorry for the rant. Danny

[madjack]

Danny, the War of Northern Aggression, ended when we allowed the Yankees to believe they won ...of course none of it occured in your part of the world but here locally, the Yankees burned my hometown to the ground during their retreat after being soundly whupped during the Red River Valley campaign about 70 miles north of here...there are two forts within 3 miles of my house along with Bailey's dam and it (the war) is part of our local history, culture and heritage.....
madjack

[Arne]

I had a conversation with an author who wrote Jacob's Ladder, about the civil war.. He is from Virginia.

I put forth that if a southerner came north, went into a bar, and starting maligning the north (or union), people would look at him as just being strange.

If a northerner went into a bar in the south and maligned the confederacy's actions during the civil war, he would be lucky to be able to walk out in one piece.

Donald McCaig, the author, responded, true, but the south was virtually destroyed during the war, while the north was pretty much untouched. And that for the most part is true, but then, the north did not fire the first shot in the war, the south did (Ft. Sumpter).

Civil wars always leave a lot of debris behind. If you look at Iraq and Bosnia and a few others, even what used to be the USSR, and Ireland... a lot simmers just below the surface. In our case, memories are long. Cemeteries and National Parks abound, all continuous reminders of what happened almost 150 years ago.

If you don't think the south is alive and well, visit Stone Mountain, GA. It will all come back to mind.

[madjack]

Arne, while true that the South Carolina fired the first shots in the official Civil War, it was the intransigence of Northern industrialists and bankers that pulled the trigger....and don't even get started on John Brown....or carpet baggers.........

See Danny, the argument continues, but by and by it is all friendly(mostly)...
madjack

p.s. now, if we had been able to get some good torsion axles, things might have been different

[Esteban]

Keith, it looks like you could lower the frame weight about 34 lbs. by changing from four 56" long cross pieces made of 2"x2"x 1/8" square tube to three lighter 56" cross peices made from 2"x 2"x 1/8" angle.

Maybe, by using angle for your frame's interior cross pieces, you'd also eliminate several of the square floor attachment plates in your plan. Instead you can bolt the middle part of your floor thru the angle cross pieces.

I'm a newbie. This is helpful "thinking out loud" to me, too.

Steve B.