Maybe we are both GUESSING, why not get it weighed to be sure, I still believe it tail heavy which will cause sway. just MO. =brian
Easy now, I was just wondering what you were seeing, I would like to get it weighed in the near future, but its not quite finished... You could be very right about my weight bias.
Panhard helping seems counter intuitve unless the leaf system has alot of lateral sloppiness.
At minimum it will maintain a predlictable lateral preload of sorts & direction of deflection.
If you build it, would be interested to know how it worked.
The springs are really narrow, so I think slop is a big problem. The predictable lateral loading is what got me thinking this way in the first place. I am still thinking about building one, and will update my build thread if I do go that route.
Personally I would start by mounting shocks properly. Yours are clearly way too long and mounted at what appears to be more than a 45 degree angle. They are almost useless in that location. They have almost NO leverage on the axle vertical movement. Get yourself a proper shock (going to have to be short obviously) and figure out a way to mount it vertically.
A good idea would also be to weigh the trailer and tongue and verify weight distribution. Additionally you would save yourself some more time by mounting a GoPro or similar under the trailer and get it to sway or wag, and identify the real issue. Maybe it is the leaf springs and hangar setup, but I'd bet most of it is from not being properly dampened or limited. The fact that your trailer caught air over a small bump and the tires stuffed into the fender should have told you something. A trailer doesn't need much travel as it doesn't need to flex side to side. Get a good, progressive bump stop mounted and proper shocks. Again a short shock is fine because you don't need a lot of travel, just use a good bump stop so you don't destroy the shock.
A weight carrying timbren rubber bump could be a decent idea as long as you confirm that axle centering isn't the problem. 5 minutes of a camera underneath will tell you if it's a problem or not.
Yes some leaf sprung front suspensions have used a panhard bar to help, this is because the side to side movement of the drag link pushes the axle when steering. I've never seen leaf springs and a panhard used together on anything but a steering axle. If you need a panhard bar to keep the axle centered with leaf springs, it's a band aid for a different issue IMO. It looks like you already spent money on improper shocks, I would definitely look at other ideas before wasting time and money on building a panhard bar just to go "hmm that didn't do it".
The shock mounting is not ideal, I agree. The picture from my build thread illustrates what you are saying very well, obviously it was a compromise between length and space under the bed of the trailer. Going with a shorter shock is a good idea. I am still learning a lot about what I am doing, and going back and changing things is something I can do.
That being said, I think better shock setup will help overall, but I don't feel like it fixes the problem I'm aiming at, since shocks are only meant to dampen the motion of the suspension, not control the direction its moving in.
Yes a camera would help me here, but I don't have one.
I can however replicate the motion with someone bouncing the trailer and me watching the suspension, it moves side to side, and that is why I am thinking that a link that locates that axle side to side (panhard bar) would help with that particular problem.
From that picture, the shock angle looks REALLY far from vertical. Shocks work best when in an orientation that most closely matches the direction in which the suspension travels, so in this case vertical, or damn close.
I'm going to second what Brian said, not only because I like the guy, but because I think he's right on the money. Fixing your shock angle would be a good start, and if that doesn't solve it, I would investigate a panhard, set up as close to horizontal as possible (which you already know)
Regarding a panhard rod on that setup, it could possibly help what your describing if I am understanding it correctly. Don't jeep wrangler YJ's use panhards front and back from the factory?
Mike
Yes, YJ's have panhards on both ends.
Guys I do appreciate the input. This thing is imperfect for sure, and designed on the fly by an amateur. I am learning. I wonder if I am making this more complicated than it has to be. I am not a suspension engineer, just a guy with some fabrication abilities (...I hesitate to use the word "skills" here...) maybe I should revisit the whole setup, I almost wonder if I would be better off trying to get some longer springs that are wider and more stable.
I'm gonna revisit my shock setup regardless, it is not ideal.
