Off Road Camper Trailer Suspension Confusion

For many years we had a Camel offroad job with basic 7 leaf eye to eye springs (no shocks). It was bullet proof, adequately up to the task and towed very well over corrugations.
Independent coils and shocks are all well and good, such as we have on our current Campomatic. However I would steer clear of no name independent setups as they may well not be up to the task. Given your suggested price range I am inclined to be of the opinion you would be safer sticking with a leaf setup. They are tried and proven and much easier to fix in the bush if something breaks. Avoid slipper leaf springs as they are too light for your application. Similarly shocks are a plus, but by no means essential. They may even give you grief if they are unsuitable and/or poorly mounted.

There's no doubt that a well designed independent suspension with shocks will ride better than a leaf spring set up. But I've always believed in the KISS principle. Keep It Simple and use you imagination for the last word.

Leaf springs can be used without shocks as the friction between the spring leaf provide a damping effect.

I had two different trailers and they both had eye to eye 7 leaf springs, no shocks. Never had a failure.

Good quality is the key.

If you go with leaves you need to be careful that they are not too stiff. Our first CT had 'offroad' suspension consisting of leaves and cheap shocks. 'Offroad' often means lots of leaves (which ours had) which makes them too bloody stiff (which ours was). I removed a couple of leaves and those dumb W 'spring' things and then it rode heaps better. Wheels actually moved up and down instead of it boucing over rocks etc. Shook the $hit out of everything inside before I modified it.

Now we have a cheap hard floor one one with independent suspension and shockies. Rides better than the previous one but robustness may be an issue for really tough corrugated conditions.

BTW - agree hard floor much easier to set up and pack away.

If you want a smooth riding with leaf springs, make sure what you get or have added are long leaf springs which have "compliance " in their operation. They have to have sufficient leaves for the load carried and are then able to absorb bumps and corrugations much better. Has to include shackles and not slippers as they are harsher.
Shock absorbers will also help rebound vibrations.

All too often trailer leaf springs are many leaves and relatively short length between the eyes, and therefore do not have much compliance at all.

Some earlier Jayco off road camper popup extender thingys, had short, highly curved, 9 leaf springs, on a independent arm setup and many broke axles off the swing arm.
Little wonder with no compliance. They showed an appalling lack of understanding of the requirements but were named OFF ROAD.

If $6-8k is your budget, stick to leaf springs, eye to eye.
Quality independent suspension is slightly better than quality leaf springs, but more expensive. IF you are spending $6-8k, I would be far more worried about the quality of the overall trailer, rather than whether it is leaf of independent.
We have owned a 7 leaf spring trailer from new which performed well, we currently own a 2nd hand "quality" independent suspension trailer which cost 2nd hand three times as much as our new leaf spring trailer did.
I have no doubt you will find a 2nd hand leaf spring trailer for $6-8k which will do what you want, I doubt you will find a independently suspended one which will last on corrugated road for those same $s.

Good luck Cruiser

Like Notso said keep it simple. Long leaf springs work very well as long as you use decent shocks to control what the spring does on corrugations. I have been using early Toyota hilux springs with good quality shocks for twenty-five years and had no issues.My first trip to the Cape ended with a broken multi leaf trailer spring(no shocks),I was able to weld the spring and limp home.If you have ever followed some trailers you will see that a lot of them rely a lot on the sidewall of the tyres to be the work and not the suspension,Getting it right will give you years of trouble free off road travels.Another trick is to only pack what you need for your trips and don't over load the trailer with stuff you will never use.
Cheers

This can be a very complicated process if you want top get it right. There has been a lot said on the caranvaners forum http://www.caravanersforum.com/viewforum.php?f=2 by Collyn Rivers http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/about_the_author.html. but I would be here all night trying to remember everything let alone write it.

Basically car springs have been designed to work with the human body and are therefore a compromise when it comes to vehicle handling. What is ideal for handling is too harsh for most people. Trailers and caravans don't carry people and they also can pivot on a tow ball so the springs can be harder. This is most likely why good quality trailer springs are relatively short and stiff. On the other hand though they must be properly matched to the weight they are carrying.

The best for trailers are MC2 independents but a properly designed leaf spring with good quality shock absorbers is all you need. He said the same applies to caravans. Apparently the geometry of caravan independents causes the van to lean too much which increases the chance of jack knifing.

To further complicate things he recently mentioned the 4WD OKA that he owned when he used to live at Broom. He said the stock leaf springs were excellent but he had fitted revalved Gabriel shocks. No doubt he worked out the right type of valves with his own electronic testing equipment but I can't remember anyone talking about Gabriel shocks on the net. There must be something good about them.

These are two more articles that he wrote that are always worth reading.
http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/pdf/vehicle_dynamics_complete.pdf

http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/articles/why_wheels_fall_off.html

Cruiser,
Have you also had a look at independent leaf spring, has the benefits of independent and the rugged durability of leaf.
And not a ridiculous price tag attached to it, plus all oz made.
Drive safe.
Tony F8.