Leaf sprung trailers and corrugated roads.

DesertBug · 10th May 2005, 10:29 PM

G'day All,

Having lived the past 10 months (June '04 to April '05) at Billiluna Station (Aboriginal Community) in WA on the junction of the Tanami Rd (very badly corrugated, particuarly the top 150ks) and the Canning Stock Route, I saw a lot of travellers come into the Community to get fuel etc and a lot were towing trailers, from the garden variety right through to the exotic full blown Offroad models.
In this period I was involved in the recovery and/or repairing of 4 leaf sprung trailers that had torn the front spring hangers off. This problem is generally a design fault by the manufacturer in the case of some offroad trailers and in the case of the garden variety- they shouldn't be out there as they are not designed for the type of punishment they get on these roads.
One 9 month old Offroad Camper that was abandoned due to the spring hanger tearing off and rolling, bent both spindle ends of the axle and bent both springs badly. The spring hanger was welded directly to the main chassis rail which was 50x50x2mm, yes 2mm thick tube!! The hanger was bent from 45x6mm flat bar and was welded on three sides only direct to the 2mm thick tube. What it should've had was a 150 - 200mm x 50 x 5-6mm spreader plate welded to the tube first then the hanger welded to this.
This is a bit long winded, but those of you who are planning your trips please check out the trailer thoroughly too before heading off into the outback or you too might be trying to fit all that extra gear into and onto your already loaded 4x4 and leaving the trailer on the side of the road somewhere out in the desert.
Cheers and happy travelling,
Ian.

**DiscoStew** · 26th June 2005, 11:35 PM

I have 7 leaf suspension but before I hit corrugated roads I was planing to put shockies on the trailer. However the trailer manufacturer says that shockies on leaf spring suspensions would be pointless.

I will check out the hangers though, as you suggest.

cheers
Paul

**disconut** · 30th June 2005, 04:09 AM

Originally posted by DiscoStew
However the trailer manufacturer says that shockies on leaf spring suspensions would be pointless

:!:
That sounds like rubbish to me. We had shockies fitted to our 1500kg caravan and the difference was very noticeable. The idea of the shockie is to control compression and rebound rates to keep the wheels on the road.
Try rounding a corner on a rough road at speed and see what happens without good shockies.
They are probably pointless on a 6 x 4 garden trailer.
Trev.
PS Bolt a shock absorber on a pogo stick and see how well it works.

**DirtyDawg** · 30th June 2005, 05:32 PM

Hi ya Desertbug how does the Disco like the desert heat..I would like to know as I'm off to the Kimberlys next year for a spot of Barramundi indulgences..

**DEFENDERZOOK** · 2nd July 2005, 12:40 PM

<span style="color:blue">leaf springs have some sort of dampenning effect in the way they work....
where as coil springs dont....

shocks will increase the dampenning effect......leaf or coil.....
just that the leaf springs will need less dampenning.....(weaker shocks)</span>

**one_iota** · 2nd July 2005, 06:44 PM

[quote=DEFENDERZOOK]<span style="color:blue">leaf springs have some sort of dampenning effect in the way they work....
where as coil springs dont....

shocks will increase the dampenning effect......leaf or coil.....
just that the leaf springs will need less dampenning.....(weaker shocks)</span>

It's the friction between the leaves. Converts the energy to heat.

**incisor** · 2nd July 2005, 07:59 PM

Originally posted by one_iota
Converts the energy to heat.

just what you need in a desert at night!

DesertBug · 11th July 2005, 07:23 PM

G'day Folks,

I've been off the air for a little while.
It's good to see some replies to this subject as I feel it is quite relavent to those proposing to head into the Desert country in particular where the corrugated roads seem to go on forever.
The Camper trailer I mentioned earlier had been fitted with shockers at the factory but the owner decided to remove them for some reason, although the way they were fitted they would've fallen off anyway.
I recovered this trailer and now own it (legally!!) and have removed the damaged suspension and replaced it with the rear torsion bar suspension from a '74 VW Kombivan (being a VW nut it was an obvious choice and the 2nd one I've converted) and it tows unreal on corugations with no road feel through the car (from the trailer) at all.

Dirty Dawg, I now live in the Tropics at Gove NT, and it is generally hot up here (low 30s most days all year round). July-August is the best months in the Kimberly I believe. The Discovery doesn't have any trouble with the temp up here, gauge never above normal.
Cheers.

**disconut** · 13th July 2005, 06:00 AM

Originally posted by DesertBug

The Camper trailer I mentioned earlier had been fitted with shockers at the factory but the owner decided to remove them for some reason, although the way they were fitted they would've fallen off anyway.

I know what you mean. Our J**co caravan had shockies fitted from the factory. When I checked underneath they were fitted at such an angle that they merely rotated around the top mounting bolt instead of compressing. By relocating the lower bracket position on the axle I was able to get them operating correctly. When installed properly shockies are worth the extra money.
Trev.

**Redback** · 2nd August 2005, 02:01 PM

I have just returned from our Simpson trip and our camper (which is setup for hard offroad touring) on our journey we came across some big holes and corrigations and it preformed outstanding, with out a problem, as Desertbug has mentioned about having the spring hangers welded to a plate then to the chassis this is very important as they will fall apart if not setup this way, also having the right springs is criticle too.
Ours are 7 leaf eye to eye rebounds and have no need for shocks as they are a rebound style spring, unlike independant suspension that does need shocks, my opinion is the leaf sprung trailer is stronger and less likely to break and if it does happen to break, much easier to fix aspecially in remote areas where parts are hard to get.

Baz.

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