Off road trailer springs?????
- Thread starter Funrover
- Start date
cruiseroutfit
Well-known member
Lots of variables involved in those questions. Really open ended for suggestion IMO. What do you plan to use the trailer for? Dirt roads or rock-crawling? Weight? Construction? Tire size? In short, there isn't a single right answer. Post some details and I'm sure you'll get some great feedback.
Grim Reaper
Expedition Leader
Funrover said:
Why not? It’s more like a coil spring but you can vary the spring rate with air pressure allowing you to tailor the rate to the load. As for durability…most of the semis you see on the road are riding on air these days. If they can handle 80,000lb of truck you are not going to have a big problem out of a 2k trailer.
Andrew Walcker
Mod Emeritus
Funrover said:
LOL!!! Must be a Rover thing! I take it your Classic is minus the stock airbags? :shakin:
In all seriousness the AT airbag system is without peer IMHO. Once you follow a bagged AT offroad you'll understand. In addition, at camp it's a great way to level out the trailer.:costumed-smiley-007
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
For shear simpleness it's hard to beat leaf springs. Fairly easy to set-up and have working.
Downside is lots of internal friction, making for a less compliant ride. If you like your eggs scrambled then that's not a problem. Ways to partly solve this are long leaves and extreme shackle angles. Both make for a lower effective spring rate which then will want shocks for control. Most common leaf sprung trailers intentionally use a short, stiff spring so that the trailer doesn't sway or need shocks.
One that gets thumbs down fairly often is rubber torsion. I don't have many rough miles on mine yet, but it's PO took it to Copper Canyon once and several Baja trips. Rides smoother than leaves, but this one (like the AT's) has RS9k shocks on it.
Coils are probably the best (excluding air springs from consideration), but to really take advantage of them you need to be competent enough to design and make or have made some sort of independent suspension system. Trailer suspensions are far easier than people carrier suspensions, but that isn't to say that they're easy.
Downside is lots of internal friction, making for a less compliant ride. If you like your eggs scrambled then that's not a problem. Ways to partly solve this are long leaves and extreme shackle angles. Both make for a lower effective spring rate which then will want shocks for control. Most common leaf sprung trailers intentionally use a short, stiff spring so that the trailer doesn't sway or need shocks.
One that gets thumbs down fairly often is rubber torsion. I don't have many rough miles on mine yet, but it's PO took it to Copper Canyon once and several Baja trips. Rides smoother than leaves, but this one (like the AT's) has RS9k shocks on it.
Coils are probably the best (excluding air springs from consideration), but to really take advantage of them you need to be competent enough to design and make or have made some sort of independent suspension system. Trailer suspensions are far easier than people carrier suspensions, but that isn't to say that they're easy.
Andrew Walcker
Mod Emeritus
Funrover said:
I have never owned a Rover w/ airbags, but have heard the horror stories.:yikes: The air ride would definetly be more of a hassle to set-up and dial in if you were designing it from scratch. If you are looking at a military trailer I know AT has a pre-made airbag kit that takes the headaches out of the engineering portion. Otherwise I agree with ntsqd in what he says above on the simpleness of a leaf spring set-up. Good luck and let us know what you decide on.
Rezarf <><
Explorer
My truck is leaf sprung... fj40.
That said, I didn't need some crazy high speed yet smooth articulating suspension. I don't drive fast on washboards as it is... if I was IFS, or even coiled I might consider something other than leaves but for now, it just doesn't make sense for my rig/trailer setup.
That said, if you want the best... AT airbag/indi/trailing arm suspension hands down.
That said, I didn't need some crazy high speed yet smooth articulating suspension. I don't drive fast on washboards as it is... if I was IFS, or even coiled I might consider something other than leaves but for now, it just doesn't make sense for my rig/trailer setup.
That said, if you want the best... AT airbag/indi/trailing arm suspension hands down.