Independant Suspension

personally I dont see how independant suspension makes a great difference on a trailer. Its free to ride where it sits as opposed to a car with 4 wheels. There might be a small reduction in unsprung weight, but a leaf spring solid axle with a shock absorber setup correctly is simple robust and easily replaceable/repairable-and PROVEN.

I agree with fisho64, my leaf sprung, unshocked C/t has given no problems &
has done most of the usual outback trips. Your contents will always benefit from
judicious packing, & I'm sure you are joking about "fine dinnerware". You will
be unlikely to find parts for your independant job in the less populated area,
should you encounter problems. Plenty of far more useful stuff could be had
for that $$.cheers...oldbaz.

Well Troy,

The phrase 'you get what you pay for' comes to mind here, closely followed by the annoyingly true 'buy cheap, buy twice' which I have experienced far too many times.

As I type this I can see the underside of my new KK and I'm thinking to myself, yep it was expensive but heck, it looks bloody tough. I'm also reassured by the fact that KK will back their quality by the long warranty, no matter where I take it. To me that says a lot about the quality of the product.

How many of us on here have taken their 4wd's to places the brochures claim they're designed for only to be knocked back by the dealership department when you try and get them fixed under warranty. "sorry sir, you went where with it and did what... ?"

Troy you just need to follow a leaf sprung & an independant coil trailer over some rough tracks at speed to see the difference. When a trailer with a beam axle hits a pothole it tends to skip around & bounce more. The vast majority of coil setups have longer wheel travel & therefore soak up large potholes without bottoming out. I would go as far as to say a quality coil sprung trailer would ride smoother than any car towing it which has got to be easier on the van & it's contents.
Deciding whether it's worth spending the extra cash would come down to how much rough driving you expect to do & at what speed you like to drive.
A good eye to eye leaf suspension with shocks will still work well & be reliable.
Cheers Craig..................

Thanks for the input guys!
The main reason I am even considering the independant coils, is due to the choice of the camper. Had we been going for a tough offroad camper trailer, I'd be thinking they will just go anywhere regardless of suspension.
We (wife, and 2 little fellas, 3 and 1.5 years old) are planing on our around Oz trip, so for a bit more comfort to the kids and wife, (and possibly the only way I managed to convince her to come) we opted for a less offroad, more comfortable, pop top camper.
Doing the research, and physically seeing the build quality's and difference, we are going for the Goldstream Wing1 offroad.
Now comes the reason for my questions on independant. Being not so dedicated to offroading, will the independant relieve some of the stress encounted with long stretches of corrugations, rocky tracks and the like.

As for fixing on the side of the road, what reall difference is there? Coils can be found everywhere these days, and if it's welds being busted, it'll be equally hard to fix. I guess on one side you may have broken or bent axle's to bother with, the other broken wishbone. Is either way better or worse to fix, and in what way?

The main issue is, I can put what ever options on the camper now, so I'd hate to find out later that I should have.

Thanks again for the differring opinions, and sorry if I've just repeated myself, I just thought I'd give a bit of insight into the reasons for my questioning.

Even differing opinions on the camper would be great!

Cheers again
Troy

Our previous camper was a Jayco Dove with beam axle.
Our new camper is a Goldstream Storm with the independant suspension.
Is there a difference....YES,,,and its a bloody big one.
With the dove even tho it towed reasonably well, i always knew it was there.
With the Storm i only feel it when we hit the rough stuff.
Hire a camper with a beam axle for the weekend,,,then do the same again with a camper that has independant suspension and FEEL the difference for yourself.

meow.

rick.

I wonder how many people with with independent suspension on their trailers have IFS and even IRS on their tow vehicles?

Just a thought...

We have found that the larger goldstream really makes no difference to where we go, we just take our time and enjoy the trip..:)
Upgraded from the Dove when the two eldest left home and have never looked back.
When we got the Dove, we spent about three years doing bits and pieces to it to get it the way we wanted. When we got the Goldstream i simply said i want this and this and this and this,,,lol and the list went on. Simply put i wanted a camper that had all the little additions we had put on the Dove,,,,,,but straight from the factory and Goldstream were only to happy to help....(and take our money as well lol :) ).
At the end of the day we are very happy with what we have and it goes where ever the Patrol does. :)


meow.

rick.

Troy,
I am about to get started on building a camper trailer and have been giving the suspension question a real hard look. There are two aspects to consider: the way the trailer is sprung and damped and the way the axles are located in position.
Leaf sprung beam axles and independent trailing arms both allow the axle to move back as it is deflected upward but, in the case of independent trailing arms, both wheels continue to point straight ahead, But the beam axle steers to the left or right momentarily, which can set up a sway, or make the trailer bounce around a bit.
Independent setups with coils or air bags tend to offer a lot more wheel travel and therefore a potentially smoother ride, provided that they are properly damped with the correct shock absorbers.
Whatever you chose, the spring and damping rates have to be a compromise, matched to the loaded and unloaded weight of the trailer. The best suspension geometry in the world won't perform if the spring and damping rates are wrong. I think this is where the off-the peg independent units have an advantage in that they have long wheel travel and have already been tuned for best performance. But they seem to be limited to about 1500Kg for off road work. One manufacturer even advises that you pull the bushes out once a year for inspection! Bugger that!
Without any first hand experience, I'd shell out for the independent suspension and look to recover a good deal of the extra money at resale.
Cheers
Keith

Independent does ride smoother but to what end?? so your eggs get a nicer ride? big deal. My leaf sprung camper (and the 2 before this) have been all over the country and never broke an egg so, since my eggs don't complain, I save my money.

Your choice of suspension (provided whatever you get is good quality) is far less important that you choice of brakes.