trailer springs

**weeds** · 3rd January 2009, 08:36 AM

much the same as my other thread, need to sort out my sister camper trailer for the high country

pretty sure at the moment it has slipper type springs, so i am looking at fitting eye to eye leaf springs

any tips on selecting springs, where is a good place in brisbane to source them

shockies.....do i need them?

i have a weigh bridge at work so i was thinking of loading the trailer up and putting it across the weigh bridge, figured this would be handy for the suspension shop

**Reads90** · 3rd January 2009, 08:52 AM

I just have parobolic leaf Springs on my camper trailer. With no Shocks. It works great and does not need shocks. I was always told to keep it simple and therefore less to go wrong in the middle of no where. I gave my trailer real hell when go round Aus. I went on all the mayor tracks in Aus and the leafs were fine. I also hit a wash out at 100Ks and flew the car and trailer 8 foot in the air with no damage to either ( gods knows how). The camper trailer top hit the spare tyre on the back door, it flew up so high

**weeds** · 3rd January 2009, 08:58 AM

are your springs slipper or eye to shackle

**Slunnie** · 3rd January 2009, 09:34 AM

If you are offroading it then I'd fit shocks.

**weeds** · 3rd January 2009, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by Slunnie

If you are offroading it then I'd fit shocks.

its an onroad trailer, won't really be doing too much offroad stuff, will be doing plenty of dirt roads though

**PhilipA** · 3rd January 2009, 10:29 AM

Over time on rough roads I understand the slipper type wear the sliding surface greatly.
However the most imprtant thing IMHO regardless of which type of leaf spring you use is to take 1 spare main leaf, a set of u bolts and , a spare centre bolt.
I have seen several leaf spring campers break the main leaf. Most recent was in Palm Valley and the axle went 90degrees. The bloke thought he would get another at Hermannnsberg LOL. It is argued that leafs are better than coils because if it breaks you can bush mechanic, but once you lose a main leaf your options are limited.
Regard sPhilip A

**harlie** · 4th January 2009, 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by weeds

much the same as my other thread, need to sort out my sister camper trailer for the high country

pretty sure at the moment it has slipper type springs, so i am looking at fitting eye to eye leaf springs

any tips on selecting springs, where is a good place in brisbane to source them

shockies.....do i need them?

i have a weigh bridge at work so i was thinking of loading the trailer up and putting it across the weigh bridge, figured this would be handy for the suspension shop

Problems I can see with changing from slipper to shackle (eye to eye)
1 overall height of trailer may be different, you will also need to relocate the axle to above the spring if it is currently under - if already over then heights will be vastly changed.
2 fitting of new brackets. You would need to weld on a new rear bracket, and choose carefully the spring set to ensure lengths/offset (if there is one) to position the axle center guard. Quite a bit of p*ssing about and will need some thought to get it right. But would be well worth it if the trailer is going to be doing a few long trips on the dirt. Make sure they are greasable sets.

Important Q what is the weight?

Slipper springs will never give the trailer as good a ride as shackle. The high amount of friction at the rear of the slipper spring prohibits the spring from compressing smoothly – the spring can’t squash and lengthen at a smooth and consistent rate (does that make sense?). My opinion – slipper should only be on bitumen and fitted to “light” trailers.

Shocks – Depends on weight. No trailer really needs shocks BUT they all ride better with them. Couple years ago I sold a rather heavy trailer boat. While I owned it one of the mods to the trailer was shocks on every wheel, the difference was simply staggering. It rides SO much better and that transfers to sway and its ability to “push” the car around – in general making it a far more relaxed and safe towing experience. This is an extreme as it weighed close to 3t but it showed the difference that shocks make – if your camper is less than 1000kg I wouldn’t bother.

Where – AL-KO or Active Fabrication, They are both southside so may not suit you but you can get specs online.
http://www.al-ko.com.au/
http://www.activefabrications.com.au...jan05%20v2.pdf
As I mentioned in another thread I’m currently building 2 campers and I’m shopping (have a long list of part numbers ready to go) for running gear (axles, brakes, springs, couplings ect...) tomorrow morning, I’ll see you there

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