Question on Harbor Freight trailers

[Georgeandpat]

The closer I get to completing my Cubby the more concerned I get about the suspension. After investing so much time and money into this project I'm wondering how well the trailer will take the bone jarring bumps in the road that are sure to come. Is there a noticeable difference in feel between the standard leaf spring and a torsion axle? Thanks, George.

[Woody]

The main advantage of leaf springs is the ease of playing with diferent load capacities. By adding or subtracting leaves you can adjust your ride characteristics easier. I changed my axle to 3500# from the 1250# straight axle and played with different spring configurations until I found what worked. My teardrop is heavy when loaded so I ended up with a set of 1000# springs ,one on each side. Rides great and has good ground clearance as well. Hope this helps

[ALAN GEDDES]

I go along with what Woody said and add that if you have problems of any kind on the road it's a easy to find repair parts for leaf spring suspension. But I do like the look of a lowered torsion axle.

[mikeschn]

The closer I get to completing my Cubby the more concerned I get about the suspension. After investing so much time and money into this project I'm wondering how well the trailer will take the bone jarring bumps in the road that are sure to come. Is there a noticeable difference in feel between the standard leaf spring and a torsion axle? Thanks, George.

The bone jarring bumps on the road is not what you need to be worried about. It's the jack rabbit attached to your hitch that is the problem.

If you hit bone jarring bumps on the road your trailer will leave the road, bouncing around like a super ball. With our little Benroy that always scared Michelle silly.

The answer is to either get shocks to dampen those bone jarring bumps, or to replace your leaf spring setup with a torsion axle.

There are many guys here much more knowledgable about this than I am, but this should get them started!

Mike...

[Chip]

On our recent trip to Florida, Alan was following me and at our first stop he commented that even on small bumps and road irregularties my trailer was dancing around a LOT and even bouncing off the ground regularly,, After talking about the situation I lowered my tire pressure from about 45/lbs to about 35/lbs, this helped a lot and was noticable in how it towed. at the next stop I let a bit more air out and got the pressure down to about 28 to 30 lbs. the tires in its original weight are rated for 60 lbs. from that point it took a sizeable bump to get it off the ground and it actually towed better, Since the axle is an older tortion unit the rubber dampers may have become a bit stiff but with lower tire pressure its behaving going down the road

tortion axle or spring axle,, both have different design considerations and I think you have to be realistic about how you are gonna use your trailer. if its off-road a lot then I would vote for springs, if you want a low rider for the highway then tortion or a drop axle,, just consider where the worse case your trailer is gonna be pulled and design for that situation

just my 11.3 pasos worth

chip

[Woody]

The only draw back of torsion axles is if it were to fail you are stuck right where it faileddue to low ground clearance. I carry an extra sping just in case underneath . I'll have to admit, I have never heard of a torsion failing though. It is for me a ground clearance issue. Some primitive camping areas have pretty muddy and or rutted roads, so in my case it was a concern. I was glad that I had the clearance on the way back from Little Talbot when the chunk of semi tire on the road did more damage to the van than the trailer, it passed blissfully under the trailer and bumped the axle with no damage Whew

[Georgeandpat]

I learned a lot from these responses, thank you all! George.

[mikeschn]

I learned a lot from these responses, thank you all! George.

So George,

What's the plan? Rip off your axle and put in a torsion axle? Or are you going to find someone to install some shocks for you.... you've seen's Larry's shocks, haven't you?
He talks about them here...
http://www.outbackteardrop.com/body8.html?

Mike...

[emiller]

I replaced my northen tool 2000# strait axle after I hit a pot hole on the 2 frwy in Los Angeles, Ca that bent my wheel inward on the top so I replaced it with a 3500# drop axle from ABC trailers out of Alabama and has worked great. I use to buy harbor freight trailers for work but kept bending spindles just by backing into curbs slightly and had the tungs start drupping with out all that much weight never getting close to 2000#. Any time I've seen pictures of HF trailers being sold they don't have anything on them or just show a lawnmower on it maybe that says something maybe not.

[Georgeandpat]

Well, I didn't hear anyone say "those Harbor Freight leaf springs are terrible and should be replaced right away..." so I'll leave them in to start with and see how the thing takes bumps. I didn't know that changing to different combinations of springs was an option but that is good to know. Shocks are an interesting idea that I'll take a closer look at down the road.
George.

[Joseph]

I drove my teardrop on its 990# HF frame from Virginia to Greenfield Villiage, MI including the bad roads that surround Detroit. No problem.

I have also driven through Princeton, NJ, another home of horrible roads. Again, no problem.

The whole point to an HF frame - to me at least - is that they're cheap. Buying one and then spending that much again to replace the suspension seems counterproductive to me.

Joseph

[doug hodder]

You can help with a lot of the tire pressure issues by running innertubes in them. Lower tire pressures can be achieved, but at a cost, and that cost is that the tire will wear appreciably faster. My experience with HF frames is that you should regularly check to make sure that the axle is aligned. Hammering a trailer over rough terrain can misalign an axle, so watch for irregular wear patterns in the rubber. A 4.80 x 12 will turn almost 35% faster than a 205 75 R 15 which is what I'm using on my tear. Any misalignment will scrub off a set of tires pretty quickly. Not to ramble on, but I guess the point is that you can compensate for a stiff spring set up by using innertubes, to a degree, but you will have to pay for it in more tires. On my 1949 Kit, it used torsion axles that were offset from each other. This allowed the trailer to "walk" over bumps rather than hammering it straight up and down. Some people think I'm nuts when I mention this, but I was able to follow up with some restorers and builders that can say it was so. Doug Hodder

[Woody]

Using larger wheels and tire helps alot with the bearing wear. It also helps that the spare fits both the tow vehicle and the trailer. Lower tire pressure causes the sidewalls to flex alot more therefore generating heat causing a catostrophic tire failure and that sucks. I don't know how many small trailers and small boat trailers with the tiny tires I have seen with tire problem along side the road. It is always better to be safe than sorry

[doug hodder]

Excellent point Woody.....I have 5 trailers, and only 2 have the same wheel size, what a pain with spare tires!!!!

[darkroomsource]

It all comes down to how heavy your trailer is versus the strength of your supporting system.

Extreme example: if your trailer ways 500 pounds and your trailer support system - springs, torsion bar, or no flexibile support - is rated for 5000 pounds, the trailer will bounce around all over the place, even over marble sized rocks. And over gravel? forget it, the tires will be in the air more than on the ground. For evidence of this, watch a trailer with a high rating travel over a road when it's empty - bouncing - but when it's load, smooth as silk.

So, if your trailer is going to way 700 to say 1100 pounds - about normal for a teardrop, then you need a 1200 pound HF trailer. If you use the 1800 # you can expect more bouncing, unless you put 800 pounds of food in there.

I have a 1200 # HF trailer, and the total weight of the trailer is just under 1100 #. I have driven down roads where I felt my teeth coming out, but the trailer seemed smooth, and never shimmied side to side. And, when we arrived, nothing was misplaced or broken in the trailer.