by Jim Edgerly » Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:57 am
slowcowboy: You brought this same concern up in February on my build thread. Now with having my teardrop on the road and tested and I can attest that my shocks are working quite well as built. I definitely have no bouncing or rebound around after hitting bumps or potholes, and I am not bottoming out.
Shocks work the most "effective" when placed perpendicular to the motion of travel, and mounting shocks at angles reduces the overall dampening effect of the shock. Reason being; the shock’s mechanisms will travel geometrically, less of a distance than that of the suspension system travel. People that have shackle mounted springs may see more backward motion than people with slipper springs, like my teardrop, because of the motion of the shackle. As a general rule, shocks perpendicular to the motion of travel are 100% effective, with +/- 10 degrees 98%, +/- 20 degrees 92%, +/- 30 degrees 86%, and +/- 40 degrees 74%. My slipper springs have a maximum vertical travel height of approximately 2" before bottoming out and would therefore have minimal backward movement at worst, at least minimal enough that I am not concerned with the few degrees backward motion that I would see on my worst bumps and holes (if I am 10 degrees off I am only 98% effective, which is still close enough to the 100% for me.)
As I stated, I have about 2 inches of total travel before my heavy duty leaf springs bottom out on my trailer (I have a rather stiff ride). My Monroe shocks have 5.125 inches total travel length, and the static mounting position is right in the middle at around 2.5 inches. My worst bump/pothole would cause my trailer to bottom out with spring bracket against the frame before I would bottom out my shocks, so I am not worried about premature wearing out of the shock from bottoming out.
Maybe another reason you don't see as many teardrops with more vertical sloping springs in the height needed to do this. My teardrop rides really high, much higher than your average teardrop in here. Most other teardrops just don't have the kind of clearance needed to mount shocks the way that I have.
My understanding of angling shocks inward on cars is for the "roll factor", the more outward g's you intend on placing on the vehicle the more the angle of the shock to prevent rollover. Since I am not building a "performance teardrop" I am pretty much ignoring that aspect of performance and will corner my vehicle with teardrop attached at reasonable speeds.
As far as performance goes I am very happy with the shocks installed. Then again I don't have a "no shocks" teardrop to compare it with, so I will just be happy with what I have, because "it works".
*When doing anything, if there exists no possibility of failure, then any feeling of success is diminished.
**The glass is neither half full nor half empty...it is simply twice as big as it needs to be.
***If at first you don't succeed, redefine success.
****When I die, I want to die like my grandfather, who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.
