Come across this post by Mr Bushtracker himself. Interesting read.
I need to qualify a few things. You need to understand, that the knowledge I impart to you is not just my own, I have done this for 50 years, and have been in caravans since the 1960's, 4x4 work in Central America, North America, Africa, and Australia; but also and more importantly I have the added advantage of not only traveling all over Oz, but staying in contact with the accumulated testing of about 1000 of our Clients that report to me on how they are going in the Bush. What this means is continuous research and development is going on. I have met up with the Army on driving tests and driving schools out in the deserts around
Birdsville, I do this full time and it has become my Life…. So have an open mind and hear us out.
On the necessity for an independent: The independent
suspension adds that tunnel effect under the unit where a normal axle
suspension would fall down in the ruts the tow vehicle was making and the axles would drag like a boat anchor bogging the tow vehicle immediately. Now, that is the most common reason that people think that the independent
suspension in necessary-NOT TRUE. The independent
suspension breaks up the killer of caravans- Harmonic Motion. That engineering term means the motion builds on itself, it doesn’t happen very often; but when the ruts and the spacing happen to coincide with the speed the bounces build on themselves and that shock destroys campers-caravans and the like. Harmonic Motion has destroyed countless of trailers, caravans, campers, broken-turned them upside down, on their side, smashed them up, broken hitches-walls-frames- and generally created havoc over the last 30-40 years. Almost every time I got bogged in the '80s on Frazer, in the bush, on every beach from the
Daintree north to the Southern NSW coast, to black soil country in the west, to bulldust wet grease in the Outback, was because the axles on my trailer hit the ground like a plow when the wheels fell into the ruts of the tow vehicle. Axle
suspension are not the go in the real Bush…
Now, don't be offended, but let me tell you of another myth that is being abandoned in the Outback. This next myth is that the trailer has to follow the track of the tow vehicle: Not true anywhere in Australia, Africa, or Europe, or where our vehicles are running except on
soft beach dune sand where the tow vehicle packs it down a bit. No one I know likes driving on soft dry dune sand and avoids it like the plague. Bushtrackers are not built to track like the tow vehicle because it
ruins the layout, and in unnecessary. We could build like that if you wanted, but not until you understand the disadvantages. Obviously you have to arrange your layout to suit such a track. But in almost all conditions except soft dune sand, it is better to track outside the disturbed soil that the tow vehicle is digging in the hard going.
With a beam axle
suspension, it tends to dig in and plow dirt instead of rolling over it, while with our load-sharing
suspension the load is transferred from front to rear and rear to front and it by nature rolls over the sand better instead of digging in.
We would only custom build them narrow if it was purpose built just for sand dunes. Narrow also means that they are more unstable and easier to turn over if you have to make a radical high speed move on the highway to avoid an accident.. This is the biggest disadvantage and why you cannot do it on a larger van. I personally will never have a narrow track towed trailer or caravan again having owned both, so maybe you need to think about that one a bit and discount the Myth.
Our vans will go more
places than most 4 x 4 vehicles will go. The truth is that where one vehicle comes to grief, a better one would get through with a Bushtracker on the back. I know, I have tow eye loops on the back of my chassis of my Bushtracker and have towed many a poorly equipped 4 x 4 through areas where they have gotten bogged.
Our vans routinely go through bad areas, mud bogs, deserts, Cape, all over; and have skid plates on the back half of the chassis to drag them off ledges of false river channels and the like until the
suspension hits the ground again. We are not building the look and style of Outback off-road vans like some, we are building the real thing. You at least need to understand what we are doing and more importantly why. Come to the Factory and see for yourself why we are Number One. Why we build the best, have the best engineering, the best equipment, the nicest interior finishes, and why we build more Off-road vans than anyone and are still Booked ahead as far as we are… And find out why our Customers are the ones that sell our vans for us…