Thread: Off road camper build

I used the old springs off my defender thats why they are so fat and long and the reason for me running them up inside the chassis. i see what ur saying the spring really need to be mounted on the other side of the 100 x 50. i think if i did that i would need shorter springs. The bushes i have in there are pre packed ones so i hope they give less play. But as soon as i get tyres on it i will check camber with and without wieght to see if the bushes are giving to much.

Youll get both bush flex as well as twist in the 50SHS
Probably not as noticeable with static weight but load her up and flog it along a rough road for a few kays then re-measure the camber

I used LR coiler springs on the trailer I speak of
The fronts were a better match for the tight geometry of a trailer and I set them to run with a compressed height of 300mm from memory

Limit your travel to 100mm up and 100mm down
A trailer will never use any more travel than that and 100mm of up travel is ample for taking the bigger hits

S

The build quality looks great- I love the jig bench, great way to keep things matched. Personally I think independent suspension is an unnecessary complication in an offroad trailer and adds things that can fail and not be easily replaceable. That said, a couple of things that might be worth considering:
When it became apparent that the little outer bearing on a standard trailer setup was inadequate, I replaced my standard trailer axle and hubs with a custom setup wherein I machined a 40x40 square axle shaft to fit inside the hollow LR stub axle spindles. The LR spindle is welded in place over the 40x40 axle and allows me to not only use the large parallel bearings but also original LR hubs and even LR disc brakes. Obviously takes LR wheels with the stock nuts too. Mine is a solid axle with toyota FJ55 leaf springs but this could easily be done with short axles- easier actually as you don't need a lathe with a huge spindle bore to take the long axle. I used bits i had lying around, but I'm sure you could pick up a couple of LR hubs and spindles cheaper than the trailer hubs with LR stud pattern.

I took my drawbar back to the side chassis rails at the front suspension hanger attachment point and welded the back end of the drawbar RHS to the front edge of the spring hangers, giving a very robust connection between the chassis, drawbar and suspension.

Just as an aside- I was taught way back that leaf springs have an inherent damping effect in the sliding friction between the leaves. I don't have any other damping on my trailer and have never felt a need for it. Also, using clamp plates and straight bolts instead of U-bolts does away with a major failure point in leaf spring arrangements.

I agree with POD that he best bearings,hubs and brakes you will find for a trailer come from a being wrecked disco! Rears are probably easier than fronts buut not much in it.

Turn up some bolt flanges to weld to your axles or swing arms and then just bolt up the stub axle, hub and wheel as per Solihull

S