Moderator: Sonetpro
Heepin wrote:Some friday get through the workday gearhead rambling:
The kind of articulation I envision of would come from the coupler in most cases, so the suspension just has to be really good at absorbing bumps and keeping the tires in contact with the road.
With that, my first goal would be to distribute the suspension across as much of the trailer frame as possible. That would reduce the impact shock the trailer body sees and allow you to use a suspension that can better react to bumps and not just transmit them and bounce around.
My ideas would be:
1) If you've got $$ or the resources to fabricate: A long trailing arm / control arm suspension with flexy coils and neutrally valved shocks or coil-overs. I think just 3 links would be fine (2 trailing arms and a panhard bar to center the axle).
2) If you want close to the same end result but don't have the $$ and don't care as much about the bling factor, a budget alternative would be to swap in some long leaf springs and add shocks. A small compact pickup might be a good donor. I'm not sure how easy it would be to get the spring rate right, so you might end up at the spring shop getting something custom.
There shouldn't be any issues with the damper overheating as long as they're quality. You could always get some fancy bilsteins with remote reservoirs.
I agree that proper tire inflation makes a huge difference as does airing down for long stretches of off pavement driving.
Tom
Bill_Storey wrote:If you don't have to worry about flex, isn't all you need suspension-wise, is ground clearance and a soft enough ride to keep from breaking trailer components and contents unnecessarily?
Jay VT wrote:Avid Lurker and Future Builder
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