Trailer Suspension Options

[gavinwibrow]

I keep hearing all these horror stories about trailers left on the side of the road after destroying themselves on the corrugations.

So what is the answer?

In my case I have a standard but well built 7 x 4 single axle with electric brakes and leaf springs, and it has been suggested that shock absorbers (and or air bags) are potential solutions or at least some mitigation for longevity for off road towing.

Any gurus care to comment/put me right in this ever changing world?
Cheers Gavin

[fitzy]

The slipper design leaf spring, is not up to the task. If it is bolted at both ends you're ok as a design point.
Independent is not the answer to all the problems, while on the Canning stock route we met up with a tour group in gwagons who tow trailers, they had independent on the trailers but it kept failing because of no load sharing between the axles , so back to nice long leaves.
There's more to it, but don't discount what you have.

[Vern]

I've met up with those guys to fitzy, they are towing quite a load though! They didn't seem happy with the whole setup and wanted there toyotas back when i spoke to them.

Long leaf springs with shocks would be a good set up, i believe 60 series landcruiser fronts work

[trout1105]

Adding a set of shockies is a Good idea and don't overload the trailer.
Edit, Also lowering the trailers tyre pressures on the rough stuff/corrugations is a really Good idea as well.

[rangieman]

Im of the solid axle with leaf springs bolted front and rear set up , Easy to maintain and if a problem occurs easy enough to patch up to keep going [wink11]
Now shockers im on the fence with this one as my trailer on it`s first realy serious off road jaunt broke a shocker mount , I removed the shockers 5 years ago and have done many a hard off road trip with out a concern[bigwhistle]
Id like to see all these chinese independent suspension jobies in a couple of years with no parts available to fix them[bigrolf]

[Chops]

Just returned recently from doing Googs Tk with a Chinese trailer on coils with shocks. It performed exceptionally well, getting airborne I believe on a few occasions going up rough dunes. Lowered tyre pressures at the start was all I did.
Never broke an egg 🍳 but did break my old toolbox which was right in the back corner. One of the doors got pushed open by the tent poles pushing from side to side with the motion though, but other than that, it seems nothing broke or went otherwise pear shaped.

Im yet to climb under for a proper detailed look, and that won't happen for a couple of weeks yet, but when I do, if I find anything I'll let you know.

[cjc_td5]

Our 7x4 camper has old skool eye shackle leaf springs with no shocks. The springs are nice and soft which makes the springs do the work rather than shaking the crap out of the trailer itself. That trailer has done the GRR several times plus much more rough stuff. On our last trip a spring snapped up at Mitchell Falls. It is easy to jury rig a leaf spring setup to get you mobile again and a replacement spring was less than $200 purchased from the mechanic near Mt Barnett on the GRR. Dirt cheap to repair (even if a 4hr round trip was required) and an hour to install and get underway again. Try to get parts for a flash independent setup on the GRR or similar.....

[ian4002000]

I noticed recently that the trailer spring suppliers are offering off road leaf springs with eyes at each end.
These sound like a great idea for off road use.
Ian
Bittern