Camper trailer suspension.

Hi Wes L
Just got back yesterday from another trip to Weipa in our Cape York trailer which has independant trailing arm suspension and this was it's 8th trip up there and not once has it let me down, so for my money that is what I would go with
Cheers Poppy
P.S The road up 2 weeks ago was great, but turned to bleep e by the time we came home yesterday

G'day

My thoughts.

I am not a fan of straight leaf spring suspension ( commonly used on most soft floor camper trailers ) I believe these suspensions are far to rigid and lack any real damping control. They cannot offer a well controlled ride and the axle movement required .

A leaf system, properly set up, with gas shock absorbers and a good solid axle does work well, but I have seen very few properly done.

The independent with coils and gas shocks (usually trailing arms) is a good choice but can add anything up to 1000 or so dollars to the price of a trailer. They offer good ride and look after the trailer and contents quite well.

I have a system of long trailing arms, coils and gas shocks with a panhard rod on my trailer (soft floor) which works very well and has to date proven quite rugged.

My thoughts

Regards

Paul

Hi Wes,

I had Alko on my old soft floor camper, and it tracked and handled very well, even on the rough stuff. My new hard floor has trailing arms, coils and shocks, and so far just as good.

I also have to admit I am not a fan of leaf springs.

Cheers,
Greg

I have towed two Trak Shak campers off road. One had leaf springs and the other has independant coils.

Both towed very well and I have no complaints. The leaf sprung trailer was borrowed and I towed it from Sydney to Shark Bay mostly this was on sealed roads but it did do a bit of bumpy stuff as well and I was pleased with the way it handled. It was the only trailer I had really towed off road at that time.

I own the coil sprung version of the same trailer and have had it for 9 years. It has been to Seisa (Cape York) as well as many other extended trips and countless shorter trips to all kinds of destinations, including the Blue Mountains and the Victorian High Country.

After 9 years I replaced the shockies just a month ago. The bushes were replaced once before. That is the only suspension repairs I have had to do. The suspension has proven to be robust and reliable, I hardly consider the trailer is there most of the time. To give an example of how good a ride it gives we have never broken an egg. Also I carry a standard 2 foot fluro for lighting when we get a powered site and I have not broken a tube on that either.

I like my independant coils, in case you haven't guessed.

Duncs

I'll relay some farm experience, our tandem trailer has slipper springs (not load sharing) and hauled very heavy weight (cattle, calves, hay, pallets, etc) over difficult terrain as well as on road without any troubles for the last 12 years. for simplicity and cost leaf is the go (solid axle is a must), ride and refinement, probably the independant. consider your chances of a breakage and then which is easier to fix.
Meanwhile, I'll be carrying my eggs, veg and fruit in the cruiser.........
NickR

Just went through the same process. Brought a Pioneer camper with leaf springs as the independant added significant cost to the exercise. Do you recall when the only vehicle you could buy had leaf only. Now the only mainstream vehicles with higher load carrying capacity are those with rear leaf ie the patrol, hilux and cruiser etc with rear leaves. For simplicity the leaves are the way to go, easy to replace and easy to repair in an emergency. There is no doubt though the ride differnce is there between the leaves and coils with shocks. Though I travelled behind a mates campomatic last week and compared it to my pioneer and the difference was pretty minor. Only on the really decent bumps on the black top could I see a difference. Once off road and the speed went down you couldn't pick it. So if you have the $$ then definitely go the independant suspension. If you want to save a few bucks then go the leaves. Most campers and vans of the road today would have leaves, coils are mainly in the higher prices hard floor campers and some vans.

The best suspension of any is by "Track".(Coil, asymmetric link, Koni shocks) Simpley unbeatable. Would say the ride in the trailer is superior to almost any car that towed it.
Trailing arm coil suspension with shocks would be next & by far the most popular system fitted to decent offroad units. Alco have had issues in the past in severe conditions or when heavily laden. Forget leaf springs all together!
No affiliation ................. track trailers
Cheers Craig...............

If leafs are Australian made not imported stuff from India, and they are fixed each end (eye to eye) and they are around 60-65mm wide and they have the rebound spring to settle the springs own over the rough stuff THEY ARE BLOODY GREAT.

Problem is that people put cheap leafs on and if they fail blame ALL leafs.

For ease of fixing when you are remote and the difference in price IMO leafs win hands down.

I have been to many remote parts with a variety of leaf sprung trailers and had no problems.

Ted