Trailer Springs and axle travel 26x

[Tomfoolery]

I’ll try to pop up a final pic later.

Please do, but if you can, show the shackle end with the full weight on the suspension.

And what about that thing that looks like a spacer? None of the other Mac OEM axles I've seen have that block there. Removing that would add more travel space, if it can be removed.

[Burgieman]

The spacer thing has a locator hole in the middle for the pin on the spring pack. It does appear to have been added as I can see some compression marks on the edges of the rectangular axle housing where the bolts were once installed the other way up. My only question is. If installed the other way up where would the pin on then lead pack insert? Nothing appears to have been cut off...

Hi just saw the shackle comment so will add a pic in a bit.

[Burgieman]

Also, one other note. Most of the trailer pics here with axle over spring are shown without the boat so loading isn’t at play. The springs do settle once the boat weight is set down.

Spring full shot and crutch receiver water director tube Images.

[BOAT]

Whaaat?? The trailer under 'boat' does not have any springs at all!



The "axle" as you call it is sitting right on the frame.

I guess the wheels are on some sort of a 'swing axle' or somthing.

[Tomfoolery]

Also, one other note. Most of the trailer pics here with axle over spring are shown without the boat so loading isn’t at play. The springs do settle once the boat weight is set down.

Well, that's about as good as it gets. You can see that the spring should have been 26" eye-to-eye, but what's there isn't going to make much difference. About the only way you're going to get more clearance would be to use either a long shackle, or replace that spring hanger in the front with a taller one. Something to consider if the axle slams the frame too much.

[Tomfoolery]

Whaaat?? The trailer under 'boat' does not have any springs at all!



The "axle" as you call it is sitting right on the frame.

I guess the wheels are on some sort of a 'swing axle' or somthing.

Torsion bar suspension with elastomeric rods inside the fixed axle that the live portion loads against.

Or are you just yanking my chain?

[BOAT]

Whaaat?? The trailer under 'boat' does not have any springs at all!



The "axle" as you call it is sitting right on the frame.

I guess the wheels are on some sort of a 'swing axle' or somthing.

Torsion bar suspension with elastomeric rods inside the fixed axle that the live portion loads against.

Or are you just yanking my chain?

No! For real! There are no leaf springs on my factory trailer that Clay built at the Costa Mesa plant. That's how the trailer came from the factory.

So is that what you call them? "ELASTOmeric RODS??" Never heard of those - is that how the trailer works? I saw those leaf springs in that picture the other guy posted and I said: "Hey!" I don't have any of those!"

[Tomfoolery]

So is that what you call them? "ELASTOmeric RODS??" Never heard of those - is that how the trailer works?

Take a square tube. Get a square solid bar that fits inside but rotates cleanly. Turn it 45 degrees to the outer tube, and fill those triangular corner empty spaces with rubber rods, one per corner, and tightly fitted. Now try to rotate that inner solid square bar. The rubber rods get compressed and resist the rotation of the inner bar.

Put a short arm on the end of the inner bar and an axle stub parallel to the inner bar. Now you have a crank arm that doesn’t want to rotate within the outer tube because those squishy rubber rods get squashed when the inner bar is rotated.

Anchor the outer tube to the trailer frame, and duplicate what you have on one end on the other end, and you have a torsion bar suspension.

Volkswagen Beetles and other cars had torsion bar suspension, but they just used steel bars that twisted as the ‘crank arm’ was rotated. I took my Class A CDL test, before there actually was such a thing as a CDL (just a Class 1 license by weight and type), in a Kenworth cabover tractor with trailer, and the tractor had torsion bar suspension. Big, heavy torsion bars, but torsion bars nonetheless.