Suspension Refresh
The trailer has served me well for almost ten years and it deserves a little love now and then. The red polyurethane bushings on the leaf springs looked faded and cracked, the shackle plates had never been satisfactory and the shackle hanger mounted on the frame was a bit of a mystery as to origins.
Another issue was how the lowest spring in the pack could rotate slightly and damage the outer tube of the nearby shock absorber. I felt the worn bushings and swaying movement of the hangers might have been the root cause of the spring movement.
The leaf springs are ProComp Jeep YJ springs #51323 and the red poly bushings are 69261. So it was easy to order new bushings which are 1.5" in diameter.
New versus old bushing:
I also ordered some steel U-clamps to help with the spring leaf movement.
The bushing for the shackle mount on the frame may well be based on one for a Jeep CJ or early YJ as the bushing diameter is 1". The worn bushings are polyurethane but I have not yet been able to find a source. For now I have installed some stock Jeep CJ rubber bushings.
Here is the frame mount
Note the two bolt holes that likely match those on a Jeep's frame
I ordered a shackle kit that was meant to add some lift and shortened the plates to match the bolt spacing of the trailer's original plates. A stock Jeep rear shackle was 3" and mine was just shy of 4" for bolt spacing.
Final results are a great improvement
The spring clamps were easy to install and if they prove to be overly restrictive I can easily remove them .
I'll be taking the trailer out to Death Valley soon and will closely watch the changes that I have made to the suspension.
All of my trailer and vehicle mods are chronicled here:
https://suntothenorth.blogspot.com/2014/02/my-expedition-vehicle-trailer.html
