Trailer Springs and axle travel 26x

[Burgieman]

Hello All,

I have recently acquired a Mac 26x and stock trailer. I noticed the trailer Axle has only roughly 3/4 to 1 inch of travel. (See pic)

I just replaced them with new springs rated for the trailer. I believe 3500# or #3750. My shackles have a 3” length center of eye to eye. But the travel is still the same. Is this the standard distance? It seems very limited.

Thanks!
Adam

[Wyliec]

Hi, I just measured my 26X, and the axle has 2.25" of clearance from the frame. Original springs, no furler, no additional cabinetry installed, some assorted gear onboard, an inflatable kayak and a 50hp Etec. Maybe there is some water left in the ballast tank?

[Tomfoolery]

Mine was retrofitted with a second axle, after moving the original forward. But I have a lot more clearance between the axle and the frame. Possibly due to changes in the shackle arrangement, since it's an equalized leaf system.

But the OEM springs are very stiff. They have much thicker leaves than aftermarket springs, and a much higher calculated stiffness than what you get with typical 4-leaf 1750 lb spring packs.

But having said that, it sounds like your axle is too close to the frame. And what is that between the axle and the spring? It looks like a spacer, which will put the axle close to the frame while lowering the trailer. Maybe someone added that, 'cause it doesn't look original.

Here's a pic of an OEM 26X trailer I found somewhere and saved.






Someone else's trailer, but I think it's for a 26S or D. Notice the axle under the spring instead of over it.



Mine, showing the OEM axle. Lotta room in there. You can also see that I removed a couple of leaves from the spring pack to soften it up, as they were the originals, and intended to take the entire load on a single axle.



That floor jack is helping me get the CB back into position after it fell due to an overzealous Mac Bump® allowed the boat to move too far forward without the CB being properly supported by the line. Has nothing to do with this spring thing.

[Tomfoolery]

Hmmmm, OP's last activity was one minute after posting the question, which was six minutes after joining.

[Burgieman]

Sorry guys super busy here. Thanks for all the responses. So looking at those shots there definitely not enough travel. Me not sure what the spacer is I’ll take a look tomorrow but I believe that’s where the locator pin socket was for the spring pack.

We noticed in those last posted pics the axle is under spring first shot and over on the last. Was that the same trailer before and after an axle flip. Would an axle flop be a safe alternative.

I had this same damn problem with my Toyota Americana motorhome and evening airbags never sorted it out. I’m destined for low riders I suppose.

What is the eye to eye length of the spring pack for stock trailers? Wondering if mine is shorter causing less arc?

[Burgieman]

Also no water in ballast and no serious mods. Teleflex steering, 50hp tohatsu 2 stroke, Bimini, a couple anchors, dodger, no tanks filled.

[Burgieman]

So I measured the front eye to upper shackle eye and it’s 26 1/4”. The springs I bought are SW4B springs, I replaced existing with these to match according to part numbers...

Looking at the Amazon listing it shows 25 1/4” so maybe that’s the issue?

Really appreciate the chiming in. Been busy rebuilding a barn, adding an apartment to the house and running through the boat all at once. Barn and house are on hold for the time being...

[Burgieman]

Yeah Admiral there’s a tonne if room in there. A lot of arc to the springs. So it leaves me thinking my springs are too short? If anyone gets a chance could they measure from center to center of the front to upper back spring bolts?

I really appreciate the input.

[Burgieman]

Wyliec, do your axles run over or under with 2 1/2” clearance?

[Tomfoolery]

From another thread here, not having to do with suspension, but you can see there is more gap between the axle and frame than yours has.



viewtopic.php?p=342881#p342881

Perhaps Banner_IV can tell you what the spring geometry is. I can take a few measurements of the original springs on mine later today, though the system was reworked for two axles so I can't tell you what the original spacing was from axle to frame.

Here's what mine looks like. There is no spacer block between the spring and axle on my OEM axle, however. I suspect someone added one to yours to lower the trailer.




You can see there's just a thin reinforcement for the spring stud hole in this closeup.



Plenty of room for suspension travel.



If the spring is the wrong length for the hanger depth and shackle length, you would need to do something there. A shackle that's laying over flat isn't doing its job, and would explain (in part) why the axle is so close to the frame. A few pics from farther away, showing the whole spring and shackle, would help here.

[Tomfoolery]

Oh, and the springs don't look the same as yours because I stripped out some leaves and shortened some of the remaining ones to soften the suspension. That boat and trailer don't need 7000 lb worth of suspension.

You can see the OEM springs have extremely thick leaves, so it was quite stiff. Too stiff, in fact, though being an equalized suspension it's much softer over bumps than if the two axles had no equalization between them.

Before modifying the spring pack:



Close-up of one leaf from the OEM axle against the newer Dexter 1750 lb spring leaf:



This spring looks like what the OEM springs were - 4000 lb (per pair) with 3/8" thick leaves, 26" eye-to-eye, and 4-1/4" arch. https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Leaf-S ... 51275.html

The other springs on my trailer have a leaf thickness of something like 0.23", but I can't remember exactly any more.

[Burgieman]

Thanks. Good detail. So today I jacked up the trailer to measure the spring eye to eye and it raised quite a lot before the shackles slackened. So I decided what the hull and went ahead and ordered another set. The new ones are 26” and 4200# pair instead of 25 1/4” @ 3500# pair. I also threw in a pair of adjustable height shackle straps just in case. If that sorts it out then springs should probably be 4K not 3500? I’ll post update Monday when they arrive.

[Wyliec]

Wyliec, do your axles run over or under with 2 1/2” clearance?

My trailer axle is on top of the spring pack, just as the posted pics show. Good luck with the new springs, I hope it fixes the problem!

[Tomfoolery]

Thanks. Good detail. So today I jacked up the trailer to measure the spring eye to eye and it raised quite a lot before the shackles slackened. So I decided what the hull and went ahead and ordered another set. The new ones are 26” and 4200# pair instead of 25 1/4” @ 3500# pair. I also threw in a pair of adjustable height shackle straps just in case. If that sorts it out then springs should probably be 4K not 3500? I’ll post update Monday when they arrive.

The 4000 lb (per pair) set that I posted earlier have 3/8" thick leaves, like the originals. Again, doing this from memory, but those were the thickest leaves on small springs I've ever seen. Even though the trailer nameplate says it's 3500 lb GVWR, there isn't an on an OEM trailer out there that weighs that little. The marketing fluff says the boat is 2350 lb and the trailer is 710 lb for 3060 total. Then add an outboard. And a headsail. Some safety equipment, fuel tanks (even without fuel), a porta-potti with some water, an anchor and chain, fenders, and so on. Doesn't sound like much, but most are around 4000 lb or more by the time they're configured for actual use.

Those 4200 lb springs will either have more leaves (stiffer than 3500 lb), or have thicker leaves (still stiffer), so they should deflect less when loaded. If it's still sitting too low, use longer shackles, with the caveat that the fixed hanger may be too short if it had been replaced, and/or that spacer between the axle and spring shouldn't be there in the first place. But since you're replacing springs, it would be easy to see what that spacer is all about.

[Burgieman]

Ok Springs arrived. Not 26” eye to eye as advertised but 25 1/4”. Same length as last set. But supposedly rated at 2,200 each. It now has approx 2” of travel. Without pulling it yet I don’t know how stiff but they did deflect approx 1 1-2” when loaded. Leafs are thicker than the 3500# pair. And it has four not three leafs as they had advertised. Gotta love amazon descriptions.

I’ll try to pop up a final pic later.