Our Kingdom Camping Trailer Build

[Treefarmer]

Another note for those of us starting to use the Cruise Master ATX suspension (Kingdom Camping, Roamer1, X195/145, etc.). I've been going back and forth with the CM support group in Australia about best practices for maintaining and using the ATX system. I was particularly curious about what inflation level to use if you are sitting stationary in camp for a long period of time (or in storage). The factory says that when stationary it's best to always keep the system inflated to highway cruising height or maybe a little bit lower. You don't want to deflate the system low enough that the bump stops are carrying much trailer weight and the air bags are compressed. Excess weight on the bump stops and compressed/deflated air bags will lead to damage in both components over time. If the system is working properly, the air bags shouldn't lose more than about 1 PSI every seven days or so. When you are at camp and you want to lower the air pressure in the bags to make the step up into the trailer easier, be sure to not let too much air out of them.

As soon as the ATX suspension was installed in our trailer, they aired up the system to keep the weight of the trailer off the bump stops and keep the air bags from being compressed for the duration of the build. They also said that they aren't seeing any air seepage in the system yet, but if they do, the wireless remote makes it easy to adjust the pressure at any time.

 

[NomadNorman]

Good info about the airbags, Treefarmer - thanks ?.

Unfortunately my Kingdom couldn't get me a CM ATX so mine will have the CM Freestyle XT instead - which also means no wireless remote. I hope I don't regret that, but an ATX would've meant months of further delays.

 

[Treefarmer]

Good info about the airbags, Treefarmer - thanks ?.

Unfortunately my Kingdom couldn't get me a CM ATX so mine will have the CM Freestyle XT instead - which also means no wireless remote. I hope I don't regret that, but an ATX would've meant months of further delays.

The XT will definitely do the job. The good news is that these systems are easily upgradable as parts need to be replaced or become available. The ATX uses a M46 (46mm diameter) shock absorber with a reservoir. CruiseMaster is already getting ready to roll out a M60 (60mm diameter) shock absorber with a larger reservoir and additional oil cooling capability. It won't increase the GVWR, but it will be far more durable. It's already on our list of upgrades when the time comes. Of course, at some point CM will come out with an ATXXXXX suspension, and then we'll all have to run and upgrade to that. ?

 

[rvndawgz]

Good info about the airbags, Treefarmer - thanks ?.

Unfortunately my Kingdom couldn't get me a CM ATX so mine will have the CM Freestyle XT instead - which also means no wireless remote. I hope I don't regret that, but an ATX would've meant months of further delays.

Will you be able to level the trailer with this model suspension?

 

[Treefarmer]

Will you be able to level the trailer with this model suspension?

It has the option of an airbag or a coil system and uses two shock absorbers per wheel. With the same GVWR as the ATX, it is solid, but it doesn't level side to side. You could say it's actually more bullet proof than the ATX.

 

[rehammer81]

The latest pictures of the rig look great.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[Treefarmer]

It's definitely coming together. We're down to the last tiny details with few changes needed any more. The Truma "certification" came through. They actually visit the facility of all new OEM partners and approve the design. We ended up with six heating vents including two under the floor to protect the fresh and gray water tanks/plumbing. Four weeks to go!

 

[Treefarmer]

Which one of these is not like the other? We love seeing brass connections on plumbing systems. This is behind the Nautilus water management system. We don't know what the white plastic fitting is in the center, bet we're going to find out!


More information on other items and photos here: RVino

 

[Grassland]

Maybe goes to a drain? It's not a low point tho.

That's a lot of shark bite fittings. $$. I wonder what the purpose of those are, unless it saves enough labour to justify. Would make future service easier as you can disconnect those easily.

 

[Treefarmer]

Maybe goes to a drain? It's not a low point tho.

That's a lot of shark bite fittings. $$. I wonder what the purpose of those are, unless it saves enough labour to justify. Would make future service easier as you can disconnect those easily.

The "purpose" of the shark bite fittings is that I really like them, and I specified that they be used.? We tend to not skimp and spend the money in many areas that aren't obvious when you walk into a trailer. Shark bites are just one example.
It turns out that the plastic fitting in the center had to be used because of how it fits in there and that it had to be able to rotate a little.

 

[Grassland]

The "purpose" of the shark bite fittings is that I really like them, and I specified that they be used.? We tend to not skimp and spend the money in many areas that aren't obvious when you walk into a trailer. Shark bites are just one example.
It turns out that the plastic fitting in the center had to be used because of how it fits in there and that it had to be able to rotate a little.

Ah.

I use brass PEX fittings rather than copper in residential use, and most mainstream or higher volume campers I've seen use the plastic PEX fittings (for better or worse who knows but probably for cost)
I forget how involved you are in this build sometimes lol.

 

[Louisd75]

Another note for those of us starting to use the Cruise Master ATX suspension (Kingdom Camping, Roamer1, X195/145, etc.). I've been going back and forth with the CM support group in Australia about best practices for maintaining and using the ATX system. I was particularly curious about what inflation level to use if you are sitting stationary in camp for a long period of time (or in storage). The factory says that when stationary it's best to always keep the system inflated to highway cruising height or maybe a little bit lower. You don't want to deflate the system low enough that the bump stops are carrying much trailer weight and the air bags are compressed. Excess weight on the bump stops and compressed/deflated air bags will lead to damage in both components over time. If the system is working properly, the air bags shouldn't lose more than about 1 PSI every seven days or so. When you are at camp and you want to lower the air pressure in the bags to make the step up into the trailer easier, be sure to not let too much air out of them.

As soon as the ATX suspension was installed in our trailer, they aired up the system to keep the weight of the trailer off the bump stops and keep the air bags from being compressed for the duration of the build. They also said that they aren't seeing any air seepage in the system yet, but if they do, the wireless remote makes it easy to adjust the pressure at any time.

That's really interesting regarding storage. I've been storing my ATX deflated, resting on the bump stops going off of this statement from the manual:

"The design of the airbags used in conjunction with the control system allows for the bags to be fully deflated for storage without causing damage to the bags"

I am planning on using additional King bump stops. The hard rubber pucks CM uses don't seem to give at all. The Kings will be mounted just inboard of the CM pucks.

I haven't hooked up my controls yet as I'm still in the frame building stage. I've got things rigged up temporarily so that I can use a bike pump to add/remove pressure as I move the trailer around the garage/driveway to work on it. My final install will be using SS tubing for all of the air lines after the control panel, I'd rather not deal with the possibility of the plastic tubing becoming brittle in cold weather or as it ages. It *should* be fine but I'm more comfortable with SS tubing.

Something that I'm still not finalized on is the placement of my air tank. I'd really like to mount it vertically with the compressor supply coming in the middle fitting (looks to be the drain in your setup), the drain coming from the bottom end and their out of the top. I'll also have a dryer on the air outlet side, regardless of how I mount it. My frame is progressing slowly, so I've got some time to get it sorted.

 

[Treefarmer]

The information from the manual is really interesting. It's completely different from what the CM employee told me. Here's the email cut and paste:

"Storage wise, again depends on how long. If we’re working on a scale of a few months, then we certainly recommend storage set at ride height. This will prevent any compression damage on primarily the bump stops, however the airbags can become pressure damaged also. Pressure damage – being pressure from the weight of the caravan resting on a non-inflated bag."
Jim Williams
Customer Service Representative

We will be living in our trailer, so I don't expect we'll ever deflate the bag all the way down to the bump stops, but I don't like seeing conflicting information from the manufacturer.

If you can, I'd like to see a close up of the King bump stops you install. What model are they? Do you select them based on GVWR or amount of travel you need (or both)? Being close to the max weight rating of the ATX, we will probably want to look into that.

Thanks!

 

[Louisd75]

They're sized based off of weight and travel. I'm not pushing the weight on the ATX too much, my target max will be in the 4,000lb range. I'm looking at the 2" travel 2.5" shock. The King bump stops are adjustable. I figured I'd dial it in using a Go-Pro once I start using the trailer.

Also note that I'm planning on using the airbags to run the trailer at different ride heights depending on if I'm on or off road. While Cruisemaster likely won't recommend this, the shape of the piston within the airbags used for the ATX will help with this. It's narrower at the top and then flares out at the base. The small jounces will largely be taken up by the smaller diameter part of the piston while the bigger base part will come into play as you start to run out of travel. This causes the suspension to stiffen up as you use up the travel and *should* help to slow things down before reaching the bump stop. My observations while using the bike pump have shown that the pressure doesn't change much from just off the bump stops to reaching the end of the limit cable. Once I hit the end of the limit cable the pressure obviously increases. So basically you're not really adding pressure, you're adding volume for much of the airbag travel. My thought is to run on road at a lower ride height which puts me into the stiffer part of the air bag piston, then a higher ride height off road which will put me in the softer part of the air bag piston.

Kimberly Kampers used to publish a really good paper talking about the evolution of their suspension design and I see a lot of parallels with CM. I've attached it to this post.

My plan in camp is to use the air bags to level the trailer, then lower the stabilizers, then drop the air pressure so that the stabilizers are supporting the weight of the trailer, but my trailer is also a bit lighter than yours.

Apologies if this sounds disjointed, the kiddos are being a handful today.

 

[Treefarmer]

Thanks for the KK paper. I think the ATX is deigned to be driven at a lower height when on the pavement and then raised up as needed when travelling of road. So you should have no problem operating it that way. That GoPro video of the suspension should be fun to see.