My 2nd Offroad trailer

[Slag]

My first attempt was a failure. The northern tool trailer just wasn't up to the types of trails that I do, nor the speed that we maintain on some of the less than smooth dirt roads.

I have decided to build from the ground up this time. I am also going to be more conscience of weight. My suspension will have approx 5 inches of up travel, and 9 inches of down travel. I am using Jeep leaf springs and may add revolver shackles. I thought about using coils and links, but I wimped out. I will likely go that route on a future build.

This suspension may be a little soft for the road. I will have to wait and see. If it is, I will figure something out. I may use a winch to pull down the suspension while on the road. I have a similar setup on my rock crawler.

I started the frame today, but forgot to take pics. I will get some in the morning when I weld up my leaf mounts.

[magilla]

Whoo hoo bring it on

[firemaniac]

A good spring and the correct shock should help tremendously, however, where articulation is concerned for a trailer, I would be looking at the tongue and hitch rather than shackles.
When the trailer "articulates" it pivots around the ball at the attachment point to the tow rig, the axle and the trailer body generally move on the same plane. To see this in action put one side of a single axle trailer up on a service ramp and pull out the tape measure, the frame to axle measurements should be the same or close to on both sides. this would make the Revolver Shackles more or less unused.

In a nutshell, i think save the money from the Revolvers, use regular shackles, and spend that money on one of the off road style hitches.

Examples
http://www.adventuretrailers.com/coupler.html
http://www.campertrailers.org/couplings.htm
And there are others.

[Slag]

Thanks for the input

I am definitely going with the adventure trailers hitch. The revolver shackle idea was hatched because I have a set collecting dust in my garage. I have normal shackles on it right now. I will play with it in that setup first. The revolvers could be a waste, but I still plan on bolting them up to see what they do.

I hope to get the trailer on an ramp in the next few weeks, before the body is started. I would hate for a mishap on the articulation ramp to mess up the walls

[Slag]

Here is the leaf/shackle setup as of 10 minutes ago.

[Jiffypop207]

Is there some sort of pin or something other than he u-bolts to keep the axle from wanting to twist?

Adam

[hugh]

Usually there is a spring perch welded to the axle tube, hopefully the angle of the picture prevents us from seeing it. Also most axles have a camber built into them where the middle is bent up, I believe this aligns the tires properly and the bend is supposed to be towards the top.

[Jiffypop207]

Usually there is a spring perch welded to the axle tube, hopefully the angle of the picture prevents us from seeing it. Also most axles have a camber built into them where the middle is bent up, I believe this aligns the tires properly and the bend is supposed to be towards the top.

Yeah, but it just looks like a drop axle upside down. I guess I did not realize they had lift axles as well.

Adam