Thread: Independent Suspension Design

Pedro, the local limiting straps are over the top price wise. That is the only reason i'm getting mine from the USA, chain will work fine for now.
I have a set of Mckenzie's that are to long & cost me $100 + freight with no colour option. Got a blue set for $52 delivered.
Thanks for the tips.

Cheers
David

Made a start on the nose section of the old camper, got the base tacked together and started on the vertical frame sections and compartments.
This was no easy task with a series of lines converging to a point at the front, looked easy but to a long time to work through and get right.
The frame is 50 x 25 x 2 mm with 25 x 25 x 2 mm and 50 x 50 x 2 mm. Outside skin will be 1.6 mm alloy sheet.
Sorry about the quality of the last image!

Cheers
David

Finished all the framing of the nose section & made a start on the outside skin. We got some good sections bonded onto the RHS frame with the black Fixtech, black goo seams to get on everything. The frame is also fixed to the chassis so no turning back now. I had more panels to bond on but ran out of clamps, should get the roof on to night and also make a start on the internal skin.
It's really taking shape now.

Cheers
David

Finished bonding all we could before Christmas break.
The roof is now on the nose and the old camper and nose section are now bonded onto the chassis with a few S/Steel nut-serts to assist hold down. Also cut in two extra brake lights as the stabiliser legs were blocking the view of them.
Had a delivery of shiny stuff, received our Dexter brake actuator for the disc brakes as well as the Redac remote brake controller.

Tomorrows job is fitting the wiring from the truck to camper to charge the twin batteries, also need to fit the duel battery to the 90.

Cheers
David

The night before we left for Fraser Isl i had to fill in the soon to be doors in the new nose section. I used a 20mm foam with alloy foil on both sides, then i used foil tape to tape it all in place. It looked rather rough for me but it worked, once we got to camp i just ran the sharp knife around three sides & they worked as they will with a hinge.
The trailer worked really well, the wheel travel is a little un nerving when looking in the side mirrors but the boys traveling behind said it was working great, handled the by passes very well.

Now to finish it off!

Cheers
David

Finally found a way to slow the rock & roll of the camper.

Getting an Antirock kit out of the US, very excited for it to land so i can fit it.
This has really put a damper on the progress of the camper so if it works i can start moving forward again on finishing it.

Cheers
David

Can I feel at least a little bit vindicated...
from post four of this build thread

"if you run that design.
I would run a sway bar to enable some left to right dynamic load sharing."

Anyways, great to see it out and rolling. Im sure you will get many years out of it!
Are there plans to fill in the guard sections. It just needs a little something more.
But I guess the way it is people can admire your suspension set up!

S

A very interesting thread... Nice workshop by the way! There's a few machines in there I'd like in my own workshop!! I've never really got my head around 'single axle' trailers with independent suspension. With only 3 points of contact i.e:- the drawbar, the left wheel, and the right wheel, what are the benefits? Have plans to build a trailer some day and plan to use a beam axle on radius arms and airbags, but mounting the bags behind the axle so keeping the floor low. Trailers with a single axle need only enough travel to deal with its own weight..? If it was a double axle I'd see the need for decent travel. I'd be interested in what gains you think there are. Great build tho, and fantastic metalworking! Well done!