Please help me select leaf springs (and shocks!)

[MountainD]

I am ready to order some leaf springs for my Fleetwood Neon Pop-Up build. Although leaf springs might not be the ideal suspension for my use, it is direction that I am going for right now so I would like to put my best foot forward. I am building a new frame to put the existing trailer frame onto, so I have a blank canvas for which springs to use. I live in Colorado and the trailer will be used on pretty rocky off road trails both here and in Moab--it will be towed by my Land Rover D90 and run the same 33" tires on an axle I am making using Rover hubs and disc brakes. But which springs to use... The sprung weight of the trailer fully loaded with new frame and gear will be about 1700 lbs (not including the axle/tires).

I have heard/read a bit about Samurai springs as well as Jeep YJ springs. I don't know if I should be looking at front or rear springs, lifted or "stock" height, or what spring rate/max load I should be looking at so I would truly love some advice. I will be running shocks as well, so I could use a pointer or two there as well--for instance, is it better to have the shocks in front or behind the axle? I will need to angle the shocks, but I imagine getting the correct length with as little angle as possible the better...

I have searched, and read, as you all can imagine---but now I am narrowing things down for my particular situation so advice would be awesome!!! Thanks in advance

 

[Xtreme XJ]

You might check a few of these out...
http://littlekeylime.com/MrN/mrnimages/leaf_springs.png

Maybe XJ springs ??

Good Luck...

 

[WagoneerSX4]

You can really use any leaf springs you want if you're starting from scratch. Good rules of thumb are the longer the pack and the more leaves in the pack (compared to a similar capacity pack with a smaller number of thicker leaves) is going to result in a smoother ride. So go as long as you possibly can and use a multi-leaf spring pack. Even plain-jane trailer spring packs that are 26" with 3 leaves are quite good. I recently swapped my 2 leaf slipper spring setup with proper double-eye 3 leaf springs that are about 4" longer and the ride difference is night and day.

If you're going to be doing a lot of off roading finding the right spring rate is going to be key. You don't want a lot of bouncing coming off of a rock but at the same time you don't want it bottoming out every time it drops off a ledge. I'd go with a multi-leaf spring pack, at least 6 leaves. That gives you options on removing or adding a couple and fine tuning the capacity.

 

[MountainD]

I'll look into the multi leaf packs for sure. Is there anything to watch out for in going too long a spring?

As I have been trying to make decisions, I see many sites just list the load rate and not spring rate. It seems that I would want to know both my load rating and my spring rate... but on the question of load ratings, assuming my max load is say 1800lbs, would I want my load capacity to be 900 (min) per spring?

I would think my spring rate would also tell me how much theoretical articulation and/or bounce I would be getting--so I imagine with shocks I may want slightly softer.

In regards to shocks, is it better to have the upper shock mount in front of or behind the axle? Or does that matter at all? Thanks!!

 

[pappawheely]

I tried Fabtech YJ lift springs on my trailer. Mine is heavier than 1700 lbs, closer to 2000. I was surprised but the springs would not hold that weight. I went to Atlas instead.

 

[Desert Rat 1]

I'm doing the same thing to my Coleman Taos and I'll be using Jeep XJ leaf springs, though mine will be about 1500 lbs. or less. I also have a pair of add-a-leafs that I can use if needed to play with. Place the shocks on the rear, on the same side of the shackles and as perpendicular to the suspension travel as possible.
I still have to finish building and installing the reinforcement frame, once I do; I'll let you know how it went.

These are the leaf springs I'm going to use, compared to the ones it had.


I built a 3500 lb. square tubing axle and the shocks will go on the rear, same side as the shackles.