********************** with your trailer?

[ntsqd]

Possibly an indicator could be integrated into the swing-arm so that you could set this rapidly?
Not anything exotic, just a finger and a ref point for it to point to or a window with ref marks around it and a ref point on the moving part. FFT anyway....

 

[elcoyote]

Martyn:

What type of air bags do you guys use on your AT??? And how much weight can one of those bags take? Just wondering who makes the best bag on the market in your opinion????
Thanks

The bags are rated for 100 psi at full load of 2400 lbs each. In the trailer application they are running at 50% capacity. Before selecting the Firestone we had several discussions with other air suspension builders (low rider slammers & overload spring installers) and the overwhelming consensus was that Firestone was hands down the best. Failures are rare. There are less expensive bags however, you get what you pay for.

The exact specs for ride height of the bag are 5.5" to 6.5". We arbitrarily give the 6" middle of the road measurement.

There is no need to increase the bags height off road for clearance. The trailer when equipped with the same size tires as the tow rig will have more ground clearance than the tow rig. Over inflation of the bags can lead bouncy handling off road as the bags cannot sufficiently compress to absorb the bumps.

 

[ntsqd]

Too bad SCORE outlawed trailers. Now Carl Jackson stands alone in the history of the Baja 500 as being the only one to have ever raced with a camp trailer (behind an Stroppe built Early Bronco no less!).
Just thot I'd toss out that trivia after confirming it with an EB Historian.

http://www.bajabronco.com/Jackson.shtml

EDIT: Incorrect race & added link. Thx TZ!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I stumbled across this thread while digging for a pic this morning... I had to laugh because last weekend I likely went against all the sound judgment offered in this thread.

We had pulled into a rest stop just shy of Wendover enroute to the desert north of Wells for a weekends worth of camping/exploring. I was driving the Tacoma, and it was my first time in the truck, towing my Trail Trailer setup. The restop sits a good ways above the freeway, and the on ramp offers quite the runway to build up some speed before merging back onto the interstate. Likely too much of a runway... we hit 105 Not one of my smarter moments, but the trailer towed liked it wasn't there. We also had it in the low 90's in the dirt, towed great.

That sad part of the story... my gas mileage towing with the Tacoma. 10-14 mpg with the trailer in tow

 

[Willman]

I stumbled across this thread while digging for a pic this morning... I had to laugh because last weekend I likely went against all the sound judgment offered in this thread.

We had pulled into a rest stop just shy of Wendover enroute to the desert north of Wells for a weekends worth of camping/exploring. I was driving the Tacoma, and it was my first time in the truck, towing my Trail Trailer setup. The restop sits a good ways above the freeway, and the on ramp offers quite the runway to build up some speed before merging back onto the interstate. Likely too much of a runway... we hit 105 Not one of my smarter moments, but the trailer towed liked it wasn't there. We also had it in the low 90's in the dirt, towed great.

That sad part of the story... my gas mileage towing with the Tacoma. 10-14 mpg with the trailer in tow

Supercharger????????

:drool:

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Supercharger????????

:drool:

Are you referring to the speed or the gas mileage... both suffer from the SC

 

[Willman]

Are you referring to the speed or the gas mileage... both suffer from the SC

Speed...Being able to go 105 mph with a trailer........lucky you:shakin:

lol

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

topic revisited on mud. Threads now throughly linked to each other
http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=185099

I also wrote this in the thread from my inspection of Kurt's trailer from a couple months ago, discussing the topic. I still might make the attempt to build the indpendent suspenion... I have already aquired a good amount of parts...

I have thought heavily about building an imitation independent rear arm suspension similar to AT's. Martyn have even been supportive of it which is awesome. I have been thinking about building a custom trailer for a long time. But after intense discussion with Kurt Williams, whose trailer uses a regular old straight axle and (**key being**) long leaf springs from an auto application (FJ55 rear leafs) and it hauls *** at 75 mpg on the dirt roads and 90mph on the roads just fine. Bery little liability, Kurt also drives like a madman sometimes I think this actually be my route though it is slightly "less cool"

 

[cruiseroutfit]

My reply on Mud:

Timely discussion Andre... My Trail Trailer vers.2 will have a totally different suspension underneath it... simple, yet adjustable I'm keeping quiet about it until I pull it off... stop by and I'll show you the parts. The only reason I am interested in changing suspension types is to acheive a lower profile trailer while maintaining the same ground clearance and storage capacity. I've got my new trailer design ~65% designed in SolidWorks, still waiting on some outside vendors to come up with the final portion of the design. I would love to make the "skins" out of some sort of composite, fiberglass? HDPE? Aluminum skins? Not sure yet. With composites comes the issue with sealing against moisture & dust. While my current trailer (85% fiberglass body) has been a great setup, another fiberglass tub is not readily available, and I hate to salvage that trailer (plus its likely going to a freind).

FWIW, I am completely sold on the solid axle and leaf springs if properly setup, with a major emphasis on proper setup. My trailer has ~10k miles on it... not a single issue with the handling of the leafs once I had it dialed in (proper loading techniques). I've had it on all sorts of terrain, sidehills, sand, jumps, etc... couldn't be happier. Add a sway bar into the mix and you've got something going IMO. If I was building a simple off-road trailer, I would go with leafs in a heart-beat.

 

[ntsqd]

Use a SAAB 96 rear axle. Would be perfect for this. Has the sway-bar built-in, existing hyd brakes, and only 3 connecting joints - all in roughly a straight line.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Use a SAAB 96 rear axle. Would be perfect for this. Has the sway-bar built-in, existing hyd brakes, and only 3 connecting joints - all in roughly a straight line.

That is one option (well not the 96' Saab in particular) that I have been looking into. There are a handful of cars I spotted at the local wrecker that had easy to adapt rear non-drive axles. IFS, low profile, coil (so easy to adjust load capacity), etc. I'm likely not going to go this route myself, but I would love to see a trailer as such. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a 96' Saab, it might change my mind

 

[alia176]

Not knowing diddly about Saab, I take it this model year is a front wheel drive with a solid rear (dead) axle? Got any internet resource?

 

[ntsqd]

SAAB Model 96

Rear axle is 'U' shaped, open towards the rear. One pivot point at the center of the car. Two others down the sides of the 'U' with links running from them fwds to points on the chassis roughly fore/aft equal to the center pivot. MacPherson-ish struts attached near the tires.
I learned to drive in one of these and bent the rear axle on Black Ice in So. Ca within 6 miles of the coast. I drove it places it wasn't really intended to go.....

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Very interesting. My '92 9000 has a suitable axle that would work too that I could at least look at more closely. The key to the axle is the bolt pattern though. But if you wants Saab-sized wheels that would work great I think...

 

[ntsqd]

As I recall the '95 is 5 on 205, same as ACVW 5 lug. May or may not help though.