Hauling *** with your trailer?

[dieselcruiserhead]

I remember a discussion that I think Scott was saying the independent rear suspension of the adventure chaser trailer was killer for going fast and not losing control.. I was wondering if people had opinions on different kinds of suspensions for different trailer setups and their benefits and drawbacks? A

[Andrew Walcker]

I'm running one of the AT Horizons with the Independent/Air Bag suspension and am amazed at how smooth it is over wash board roads. In addition, hitting ruts and rocks is not even noticeable from the tow vehicle and is even hard to see the trailer moving up and down from the rear view mirror. Pretty amazing at how well it works!

[BogusBlake]

Hauling ***... you mean like this?

http://www.muleranch.com/images/WFRide2006/TrailerLoading.jpg

:victory:

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

I have a Tentrax with the torflex axle 2500lb. The bonus is ground clearance under the axle. The minus, I've gone through three lantern globes (Coleman lantern stored in an injection molded case with a small towel wrapped around the globe) While traveling. It's a rough ride.


I'm so impressed with the suspension on the Tentrax, I'm eventually going to get an Adventure Trailer.

[Andrew Walcker]

:xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma
Hauling ***... you mean like this?

http://www.muleranch.com/images/WFRide2006/TrailerLoading.jpg

:victory:

:xxrotflma :xxrotflma :xxrotflma

Whys does the guy have a bike helmet on???

[spressomon]

I'm running one of the AT Horizons with the Independent/Air Bag suspension and am amazed at how smooth it is over wash board roads. In addition, hitting ruts and rocks is not even noticeable from the tow vehicle and is even hard to see the trailer moving up and down from the rear view mirror. Pretty amazing at how well it works!


X2

[Tucson T4R]

My King Kamper trailer runs independant suspension with Fox Monotube shocks and cone shaped poly bump stops. I have been really impressed with how well the trailer sucks up rough roads and stays under control running fast down sand washes. The suspension minimizes trailer lean when crawling through deep ruts or over unavoidable rocks in the road.

Seems like a rugged, well thought out design.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m125/bgarland40/KamperSuspension.jpg

[calamaridog]

I'm so impressed with the suspension on the Tentrax, I'm eventually going to get an Adventure Trailer.


What about changing the suspension on the Tentrax instead?

[cruiseroutfit]

I've been more than please with my current leaf sprung setup... though they are much longer than the average trailer leaf, and have a longer shackle to boot. I've had it up to at least 75 down dirt roads... eggs don't have a problem back there :D

I looked at some of the torsion axles, thought about doing a simple trailing suspension, but in the end the leaf spring seemed to fit the bill.

[Redline]

Need encouragement... ?

Sell the Tentrax, buy a Chaser. Yes you should. :smiley_drive:



I have a Tentrax with the torflex axle 2500lb. The bonus is ground clearance under the axle. The minus, I've gone through three lantern globes (Coleman lantern stored in an injection molded case with a small towel wrapped around the globe) While traveling. It's a rough ride.


I'm so impressed with the suspension on the Tentrax, I'm eventually going to get an Adventure Trailer.

[Redline]

Surely a 'possibility' but I wold guess it would be a better return on his investment to sell the Tentrax stock, and start over with one already engineered with such a suspension.

Of course, it's not just the suspension, but other features of the Adventure Trailers that offer more space and amenities. (I'm not trying to knock the Tentrax; I considered buying one pretty seriously about a year ago).



What about changing the suspension on the Tentrax instead?

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

What about changing the suspension on the Tentrax instead?

I looked into that. I know how I am. I would change it to a leaf spring and still want Independent suspension.. The tentrax does not provide enough room for the required fab work. I'm tired of breaking glass products (Lantern globes X4, bottles etc.) in the trailer.

AT has done their homework with this design. I'm sold on it.

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

Redline is right on track. The tentrax was great 5 years ago. AT is the way to go in my book. It has to be now...The Tentrax is sold!

[Scott Brady]

I have towed a lot of trailers, most with the torsion axle. I had even sworn off trailers because of issues with handling (a little incident on MEX2 comes to mind).

The Chaser has made me a believer again, and I can MOVE on the dirt with it in tow. 9,000 miles to the Arctic and back too.

I am considering reconfiguring my truck to use only the trailer for camping systems, I am that happy with the arrangement.

[Redline]

Now that is a substantial endorsement! Makes me glad I decided to plunge into Chaser-dom and lighten the load on the rear axle of my 4x4s.




I am considering reconfiguring my truck to use only the trailer for camping systems, I am that happy with the arrangement.

[Tucson T4R]

:iagree: I like having all my camping stuff on a trailer. It keeps everything organized at home between trips, ready to go and it gives you more room in your truck to either carry more paasengers or just run lighter when unhooked and exploring the back country. As long as the trailer is rugged with independant suspension and an articulating hitch...life is good.:elkgrin:

[Scott Brady]

:iagree: I like having all my camping stuff on a trailer. It keeps everything organized at home between trips, ready to go and it gives you more room in your truck to either carry more paasengers or just run lighter when unhooked and exploring the back country. As long as the trailer is rugged with independant suspension and an articulating hitch...life is good.:elkgrin:

Exactly! :D

[Martyn]

The suspension system on our Adventure Trailers allows for an extremely smooth ride over a variety of different conditions. It transmits little if any movement from the trailer to the vehicle, and a comment many of our customers say is “I forgot I was towing a trailer”.

Here in lies a problem. It seems that people are towing trailers at speeds on the highway that exceed the speed limit, and are pulling the trailers off road at higher speeds than are prudent.

On road towing any trailer reduces the tow vehicles performance when engaging emergency maneuvers, this is true not matter how well the trailer performs on the road.

Off road the driver have to imagine he / she is towing a 3 axle vehicle, and paying attention to the fact that there is an other axle that has to pass over an obstacle AFTER the tow vehicle has gone over it, and BEFORE they accelerate away. Some drivers are slowing their vehicles to pass over an obstacle and then start to accelerate before the trailer is over the obstacle. The increased forward motion of the trailer is then transmitted upward !!

In our trailers the dampening of this upward motion is exaggerated if the airbags are inflated over the suggested 6” height as there is now nowhere for the upward compression to go. If the airbags are at their recommended height much of the upward motion is absorbed.

So PLEASE PLEASE when towing any trailer stay within the safety zone.

[Redline]

Great points to keep in mind Martyn. I definitely was guilty of not keeping my pace down until the trailer axle made it over the same obstacle the tow vehicle had just concurred, but I learned quickly after I watched the Chaser get tossed from side to side more roughly than I would have preferred. I want to clarify the 6-inch thing. Is it six inches of total bag height or six inches total spring assembly height (including the mounts, top & bottom caps). My impression is that it's 6-inches of black bag (spring), but want to be sure.

Having just finally used my Chaser for the first time this past weekend for a brief overnight trip, I felt that for slower speed rock wheelin' where the one Chaser tire would roll off a rock and one tire would quickly pivot down and the other would pop up (twisting mostly on the rock&roll hitch), I might want to let a little air out of the bags compared to what I had (not sure if I was at 6-in, but was close) and letting tire pressure out like on the tow rig was helpful. For example, I was running 9-psi in my BFG 265/75R16 tires on 8-in. wheels on the Chaser. 4Runner had 10-psi in the fronts and 16-psi in the rear due to the substantial weight on the rear axle (two large dogs in kennel in the back of the wagon, 20-gallons gas, full water tank, tools/recovery gear in the nose box with the battery). I also think it would be nice if I changed to wheels with less back-spacing and/or different off-set to make them stick out a bit more. Right now my tires/wheels are quite close to the body, my proposed change would still have the tires well under the fenders. I thinking is to possibly add some stability, make the Chaser's track width closer to my tow vehicle, and to add clearance for chains.


The suspension system on our Adventure Trailers allows for an extremely smooth ride over a variety of different conditions. It transmits little if any movement from the trailer to the vehicle, and a comment many of our customers say is “I forgot I was towing a trailer”.

Here in lies a problem. It seems that people are towing trailers at speeds on the highway that exceed the speed limit, and are pulling the trailers off road at higher speeds than are prudent.

On road towing any trailer reduces the tow vehicles performance when engaging emergency maneuvers, this is true not matter how well the trailer performs on the road.

Off road the driver have to imagine he / she is towing a 3 axle vehicle, and paying attention to the fact that there is an other axle that has to pass over an obstacle AFTER the tow vehicle has gone over it, and BEFORE they accelerate away. Some drivers are slowing their vehicles to pass over an obstacle and then start to accelerate before the trailer is over the obstacle. The increased forward motion of the trailer is then transmitted upward !!

In our trailers the dampening of this upward motion is exaggerated if the airbags are inflated over the suggested 6” height as there is now nowhere for the upward compression to go. If the airbags are at their recommended height much of the upward motion is absorbed.

So PLEASE PLEASE when towing any trailer stay within the safety zone.

[spressomon]

Great points to keep in mind Martyn. I definitely was guilty of not keeping my pace down until the trailer axle made it over the same obstacle the tow vehicle had just concurred, but I learned quickly after I watched the Chaser get tossed from side to side more roughly than I would have preferred. I want to clarify the 6-inch thing. Is it six inches of total bag height or six inches total spring assembly height (including the mounts, top & bottom caps). My impression is that it's 6-inches of black bag (spring), but want to be sure.

Having just finally used my Chaser for the first time this past weekend for a brief overnight trip, I felt that for slower speed rock wheelin' where the one Chaser tire would roll off a rock and one tire would quickly pivot down and the other would pop up (twisting mostly on the rock&roll hitch), I might want to let a little air out of the bags compared to what I had (not sure if I was at 6-in, but was close) and letting tire pressure out like on the tow rig was helpful. For example, I was running 9-psi in my BFG 265/75R16 tires on 8-in. wheels on the Chaser. 4Runner had 10-psi in the fronts and 16-psi in the rear due to the substantial weight on the rear axle (two large dogs in kennel in the back of the wagon, 20-gallons gas, full water tank, tools/recovery gear in the nose box with the battery). I also think it would be nice if I changed to wheels with less back-spacing and/or different off-set to make them stick out a bit more. Right now my tires/wheels are quite close to the body, my proposed change would still have the tires well under the fenders. I thinking is to possibly add some stability, make the Chaser's track width closer to my tow vehicle, and to add clearance for chains.


Ditto on the "where to measure the 6". The air spring sits higher on the rear side than it does on the front side...since it is not perfectly vertical. But maybe you can show me at Pyramid :) .

[Bob_Sheaves]

The suspension system on our Adventure Trailers allows for an extremely smooth ride over a variety of different conditions. It transmits little if any movement from the trailer to the vehicle, and a comment many of our customers say is “I forgot I was towing a trailer”.

Here in lies a problem. It seems that people are towing trailers at speeds on the highway that exceed the speed limit, and are pulling the trailers off road at higher speeds than are prudent.

On road towing any trailer reduces the tow vehicles performance when engaging emergency maneuvers, this is true not matter how well the trailer performs on the road.

Off road the driver have to imagine he / she is towing a 3 axle vehicle, and paying attention to the fact that there is an other axle that has to pass over an obstacle AFTER the tow vehicle has gone over it, and BEFORE they accelerate away. Some drivers are slowing their vehicles to pass over an obstacle and then start to accelerate before the trailer is over the obstacle. The increased forward motion of the trailer is then transmitted upward !!

In our trailers the dampening of this upward motion is exaggerated if the airbags are inflated over the suggested 6” height as there is now nowhere for the upward compression to go. If the airbags are at their recommended height much of the upward motion is absorbed.

So PLEASE PLEASE when towing any trailer stay within the safety zone.
Thank you for your timely comments. I assume, taken from experience and expressed well. A stone in a sling is no less dangerous.... ask Goliath....

Best regards,

Bob Sheaves
CEO
catNET Incorporated
http://www.catnetsolutions.com

[Martyn]

Great points to keep in mind Martyn. I definitely was guilty of not keeping my pace down until the trailer axle made it over the same obstacle the tow vehicle had just concurred, but I learned quickly after I watched the Chaser get tossed from side to side more roughly than I would have preferred. I want to clarify the 6-inch thing. Is it six inches of total bag height or six inches total spring assembly height (including the mounts, top & bottom caps). My impression is that it's 6-inches of black bag (spring), but want to be sure.

Having just finally used my Chaser for the first time this past weekend for a brief overnight trip, I felt that for slower speed rock wheelin' where the one Chaser tire would roll off a rock and one tire would quickly pivot down and the other would pop up (twisting mostly on the rock&roll hitch), I might want to let a little air out of the bags compared to what I had (not sure if I was at 6-in, but was close) and letting tire pressure out like on the tow rig was helpful. For example, I was running 9-psi in my BFG 265/75R16 tires on 8-in. wheels on the Chaser. 4Runner had 10-psi in the fronts and 16-psi in the rear due to the substantial weight on the rear axle (two large dogs in kennel in the back of the wagon, 20-gallons gas, full water tank, tools/recovery gear in the nose box with the battery). I also think it would be nice if I changed to wheels with less back-spacing and/or different off-set to make them stick out a bit more. Right now my tires/wheels are quite close to the body, my proposed change would still have the tires well under the fenders. I thinking is to possibly add some stability, make the Chaser's track width closer to my tow vehicle, and to add clearance for chains.

Attached is a picture showing how to measure the 6" of airbag inflation. After measuring the height a few times try to get used to the shape of the bag when correctly inflated, this way you have a good idea of where you’re at when it comes to height. Remember that the airbag height will change with loading and unloading the trailer. Once loaded inflate to 6”, once unloaded deflate to 6”. What is it with our inability to measure 6”?? :)

To space your tires outward from the chassis we can have 1.5" or 2" adapters made for you that will match your bolt pattern. I don't have the prices in front of me but it would be around $120 - $150 for a pair. Let's see what you need at Pyramid.

[Redline]

Martyn:

I look forward to your expert opinion at the Pyramid Lake gathering:-)

I would prefer not to run adapters, plus if I change to an inexpensive aluminum wheel with different backspacing (already have them on the car) I will loose the weight of the steel wheels too, have better balancing, etc.

My stock wheels are probably going to become my off-road wheels and the aftermarket ones can be transferred to the trailer.

[Andrew Walcker]

The suspension system on our Adventure Trailers allows for an extremely smooth ride over a variety of different conditions. It transmits little if any movement from the trailer to the vehicle, and a comment many of our customers say is “I forgot I was towing a trailer”.

Here in lies a problem. It seems that people are towing trailers at speeds on the highway that exceed the speed limit, and are pulling the trailers off road at higher speeds than are prudent.

On road towing any trailer reduces the tow vehicles performance when engaging emergency maneuvers, this is true not matter how well the trailer performs on the road.

Off road the driver have to imagine he / she is towing a 3 axle vehicle, and paying attention to the fact that there is an other axle that has to pass over an obstacle AFTER the tow vehicle has gone over it, and BEFORE they accelerate away. Some drivers are slowing their vehicles to pass over an obstacle and then start to accelerate before the trailer is over the obstacle. The increased forward motion of the trailer is then transmitted upward !!

In our trailers the dampening of this upward motion is exaggerated if the airbags are inflated over the suggested 6” height as there is now nowhere for the upward compression to go. If the airbags are at their recommended height much of the upward motion is absorbed.

So PLEASE PLEASE when towing any trailer stay within the safety zone.

Martyn-

Very well stated and I agree with your statements. The trailer is so transparent that it is easy to forget that it is even there. I've really got to remember to check the bags to make sure they are at the correct height. Do you recommend running the trailer tires at a lower pressure, or does that just increase resisitance/drag?

[spressomon]

Attached is a picture showing how to measure the 6" of airbag inflation. After measuring the height a few times try to get used to the shape of the bag when correctly inflated, this way you have a good idea of where you’re at when it comes to height. Remember that the airbag height will change with loading and unloading the trailer. Once loaded inflate to 6”, once unloaded deflate to 6”. What is it with our inability to measure 6”?? :)

To space your tires outward from the chassis we can have 1.5" or 2" adapters made for you that will match your bolt pattern. I don't have the prices in front of me but it would be around $120 - $150 for a pair. Let's see what you need at Pyramid.


Ok...a picture's worth...

Rule is vertical at 50% fore/aft on top. I was measuring the 6" at the back...I'll try it your way this weekend!

[Redline]

Exactly, me too. They are taller at the rear, so I was slightly over-inflating the springs.



Ok...a picture's worth...

Rule is vertical at 50% fore/aft on top. I was measuring the 6" at the back...I'll try it your way this weekend!

[spressomon]

Exactly, me too. They are taller at the rear, so I was slightly over-inflating the springs.


And measuring 6" at the rear portion of the spring I was under inflating...

[Willman]

Attached is a picture showing how to measure the 6" of airbag inflation. After measuring the height a few times try to get used to the shape of the bag when correctly inflated, this way you have a good idea of where you’re at when it comes to height. Remember that the airbag height will change with loading and unloading the trailer. Once loaded inflate to 6”, once unloaded deflate to 6”. What is it with our inability to measure 6”?? :)

To space your tires outward from the chassis we can have 1.5" or 2" adapters made for you that will match your bolt pattern. I don't have the prices in front of me but it would be around $120 - $150 for a pair. Let's see what you need at Pyramid.

Martyn:

What type of air bags do you guys use on your AT??? And how much weight can one of those bags take? Just wondering who makes the best bag on the market in your opinion????
Thanks
:)

[Martyn]

Martyn:

What type of air bags do you guys use on your AT??? And how much weight can one of those bags take? Just wondering who makes the best bag on the market in your opinion????
Thanks
:)
We are using a Firestone airbag. Our supplier offers all the brands but has only had one failure with a Firestone in 4 years. The failure was in a big rig after the driver had run it on empty.

I believe the bags are rated at 2000lbs each so a total load of 4000lbs (Mario has the specs. I'm sure he will correct me if I'm wrong here). This vastly exceeds the load rating of the trailer. The bag is also strong enough to support the trailing arm, hub, rim and tire so no limiting strap is needed.

The bags have internal bump stops so given the weight of our trailer can be run empty in an emergency.

[Redline]

Cool extra info Martyn regarding the internal bump stop and no need for limiting straps.



We are using a Firestone airbag. Our supplier offers all the brands but has only had one failure with a Firestone in 4 years. The failure was in a big rig after the driver had run it on empty.

I believe the bags are rated at 2000lbs each so a total load of 4000lbs (Mario has the specs. I'm sure he will correct me if I'm wrong here). This vastly exceeds the load rating of the trailer. The bag is also strong enough to support the trailing arm, hub, rim and tire so no limiting strap is needed.

The bags have internal bump stops so given the weight of our trailer can be run empty in an emergency.

[ntsqd]

Possibly an indicator could be integrated into the swing-arm so that you could set this rapidly?
Not anything exotic, just a finger and a ref point for it to point to or a window with ref marks around it and a ref point on the moving part. FFT anyway....

[elcoyote]

Martyn:

What type of air bags do you guys use on your AT??? And how much weight can one of those bags take? Just wondering who makes the best bag on the market in your opinion????
Thanks
:)

The bags are rated for 100 psi at full load of 2400 lbs each. In the trailer application they are running at 50% capacity. Before selecting the Firestone we had several discussions with other air suspension builders (low rider slammers & overload spring installers) and the overwhelming consensus was that Firestone was hands down the best. Failures are rare. There are less expensive bags however, you get what you pay for.

The exact specs for ride height of the bag are 5.5" to 6.5". We arbitrarily give the 6" middle of the road measurement.

There is no need to increase the bags height off road for clearance. The trailer when equipped with the same size tires as the tow rig will have more ground clearance than the tow rig. Over inflation of the bags can lead bouncy handling off road as the bags cannot sufficiently compress to absorb the bumps.

[ntsqd]

Too bad SCORE outlawed trailers. Now Carl Jackson stands alone in the history of the Baja 500 as being the only one to have ever raced with a camp trailer (behind an Stroppe built Early Bronco no less!).
Just thot I'd toss out that trivia after confirming it with an EB Historian.

http://www.bajabronco.com/Jackson.shtml

EDIT: Incorrect race & added link. Thx TZ!

[cruiseroutfit]

I stumbled across this thread while digging for a pic this morning... I had to laugh because last weekend I likely went against all the sound judgment offered in this thread.

We had pulled into a rest stop just shy of Wendover enroute to the desert north of Wells for a weekends worth of camping/exploring. I was driving the Tacoma, and it was my first time in the truck, towing my Trail Trailer setup. The restop sits a good ways above the freeway, and the on ramp offers quite the runway to build up some speed before merging back onto the interstate. Likely too much of a runway... we hit 105 :D Not one of my smarter moments, but the trailer towed liked it wasn't there. We also had it in the low 90's in the dirt, towed great. :D

That sad part of the story... my gas mileage towing with the Tacoma. 10-14 mpg with the trailer in tow :(

[Willman]

I stumbled across this thread while digging for a pic this morning... I had to laugh because last weekend I likely went against all the sound judgment offered in this thread.

We had pulled into a rest stop just shy of Wendover enroute to the desert north of Wells for a weekends worth of camping/exploring. I was driving the Tacoma, and it was my first time in the truck, towing my Trail Trailer setup. The restop sits a good ways above the freeway, and the on ramp offers quite the runway to build up some speed before merging back onto the interstate. Likely too much of a runway... we hit 105 :D Not one of my smarter moments, but the trailer towed liked it wasn't there. We also had it in the low 90's in the dirt, towed great. :D

That sad part of the story... my gas mileage towing with the Tacoma. 10-14 mpg with the trailer in tow :(

Supercharger????????

:drool:

[cruiseroutfit]

Supercharger????????

:drool:

Are you referring to the speed or the gas mileage... both suffer from the SC ;)

[Willman]

Are you referring to the speed or the gas mileage... both suffer from the SC ;)

Speed...Being able to go 105 mph with a trailer........lucky you:shakin:

lol

[dieselcruiserhead]

topic revisited on mud. Threads now throughly linked to each other :)
http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=185099

I also wrote this in the thread from my inspection of Kurt's trailer from a couple months ago, discussing the topic. I still might make the attempt to build the indpendent suspenion... I have already aquired a good amount of parts...


I have thought heavily about building an imitation independent rear arm suspension similar to AT's. Martyn have even been supportive of it which is awesome. I have been thinking about building a custom trailer for a long time. But after intense discussion with Kurt Williams, whose trailer uses a regular old straight axle and (**key being**) long leaf springs from an auto application (FJ55 rear leafs) and it hauls *** at 75 mpg on the dirt roads and 90mph on the roads just fine. Bery little liability, Kurt also drives like a madman sometimes :) I think this actually be my route though it is slightly "less cool" :)

[cruiseroutfit]

My reply on Mud:

Timely discussion Andre... My Trail Trailer vers.2 will have a totally different suspension underneath it... simple, yet adjustable ;) I'm keeping quiet about it until I pull it off... stop by and I'll show you the parts. The only reason I am interested in changing suspension types is to acheive a lower profile trailer while maintaining the same ground clearance and storage capacity. I've got my new trailer design ~65% designed in SolidWorks, still waiting on some outside vendors to come up with the final portion of the design. I would love to make the "skins" out of some sort of composite, fiberglass? HDPE? Aluminum skins? Not sure yet. With composites comes the issue with sealing against moisture & dust. While my current trailer (85% fiberglass body) has been a great setup, another fiberglass tub is not readily available, and I hate to salvage that trailer (plus its likely going to a freind).

FWIW, I am completely sold on the solid axle and leaf springs if properly setup, with a major emphasis on proper setup. My trailer has ~10k miles on it... not a single issue with the handling of the leafs once I had it dialed in (proper loading techniques). I've had it on all sorts of terrain, sidehills, sand, jumps, etc... couldn't be happier. Add a sway bar into the mix and you've got something going IMO. If I was building a simple off-road trailer, I would go with leafs in a heart-beat.

[ntsqd]

Use a SAAB 96 rear axle. Would be perfect for this. Has the sway-bar built-in, existing hyd brakes, and only 3 connecting joints - all in roughly a straight line.

[cruiseroutfit]

Use a SAAB 96 rear axle. Would be perfect for this. Has the sway-bar built-in, existing hyd brakes, and only 3 connecting joints - all in roughly a straight line.

That is one option (well not the 96' Saab in particular) that I have been looking into. There are a handful of cars I spotted at the local wrecker that had easy to adapt rear non-drive axles. IFS, low profile, coil (so easy to adjust load capacity), etc. I'm likely not going to go this route myself, but I would love to see a trailer as such. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for a 96' Saab, it might change my mind :D

[alia176]

Not knowing diddly about Saab, I take it this model year is a front wheel drive with a solid rear (dead) axle? Got any internet resource?

[ntsqd]

SAAB Model 96
http://sg.geocities.com/saabv4portal/main.jpg
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u196/ntsqd/D0410453.jpg
Rear axle is 'U' shaped, open towards the rear. One pivot point at the center of the car. Two others down the sides of the 'U' with links running from them fwds to points on the chassis roughly fore/aft equal to the center pivot. MacPherson-ish struts attached near the tires.
I learned to drive in one of these and bent the rear axle on Black Ice in So. Ca within 6 miles of the coast. I drove it places it wasn't really intended to go.....

[dieselcruiserhead]

Very interesting. My '92 9000 has a suitable axle that would work too that I could at least look at more closely. The key to the axle is the bolt pattern though. But if you wants Saab-sized wheels that would work great I think...

[ntsqd]

As I recall the '95 is 5 on 205, same as ACVW 5 lug. May or may not help though.

[alia176]

can someone post a pic or two of the rear axle in question? I'm just dying to see the appeal!

[Tucson T4R]

I don't know if this is helpful or not. Here's a picture of the independant suspension on my King Kamper Trailer. Poly bump stops, coil springs with limit straps, and Fox shocks....let me know if you want any more detailed pics.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m125/bgarland40/KamperSuspension.jpg

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Ask.........Nuclear Redneck..........How he likes his.......

It got a bit tippy along the Coyote Canyon Trail in Anza Borrego............it actually almost tipped over! .......but I think he still loves it!

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i156/ScenicWonderRunner/2007_1118TacoDocExPoMeetNGret0152.jpg

Here is a serious ....underbody shot along the Coyote Canyon Trail.




Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

Don't tell him I showed these pics!

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i156/ScenicWonderRunner/2007_1118TacoDocExPoMeetNGret0257.jpg


http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i156/ScenicWonderRunner/2007_1118TacoDocExPoMeetNGret0255.jpg

He said it went flying and almost tipped over on the way up the rocky Coyote Canyon Trail........Luckily I took a nap in the "SWR" at the bottom of the trail............!....I'm not Stupid!:victory: :p ;)

[Andrew Walcker]

Interesting, we just took two AT Horizons and an AT Chaser up Coyote Canyon on Sunday w/out a single problem.

[Scenic WonderRunner]

Interesting, we just took two AT Horizons and an AT Chaser up Coyote Canyon on Sunday w/out a single problem.

Oh Darn!

Why didn't you invite me>?!!!

I still need to master the uphill....rock garden climb!!!:safari-rig: :safari-rig: :wings:

[Andrew Walcker]

Oh Darn!

Why didn't you invite me>?!!!

I still need to master the uphill....rock garden climb!!!:safari-rig: :safari-rig: :wings:

Next time, I missed out on the last M&G run so was just trying to catch up w/ the cool kids:)

[Martyn]

Interesting, we just took two AT Horizons and an AT Chaser up Coyote Canyon on Sunday w/out a single problem.

It's the off road learning curve. It's always best to progress from dirt roads, to easy trails, to harder trails to dial in the handling characteristics of a trailer. But that's a hard thing to tell anyone in the off road community.

Once Nuclear Redneck gets dialed in he'll be fine.

Take the fender off, place it on a flat smooth surface and hammer out the "new" bends. Spray it with some semi gloss black paint and it's good as new.

[Scenic WonderRunner]

It's the off road learning curve. It's always best to progress from dirt roads, to easy trails, to harder trails to dial in the handling characteristics of a trailer. But that's a hard thing to tell anyone in the off road community.

Once Nuclear Redneck gets dialed in he'll be fine.

Take the fender off, place it on a flat smooth surface and hammer out the "new" bends. Spray it with some semi gloss black paint and it's good as new.

Great Point.........

He also had a Stick Shift.........which was part of the learning curve.

I also caught some shots of some rocker panal damage........Sliders should be next on da list! He knows that.............


You can find my pics ....here

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9452



(this post is in no way making fun of the Nuk!....he did a great job with his 5 speed over da rocks!)
.

[Martyn]

The clutch and manual gear box is an art. Those of us who have automatics tend to take the whole thing for granted.

[Andrew Walcker]

The clutch and manual gear box is an art. Those of us who have automatics tend to take the whole thing for granted.

I have my automatic to be able to sip my coffee on the trail:coffee:

If Nuclear Redneck didn't have too much experience with his trailer than he did pretty darn good job navigating the rock gardens with a stick and the Chaser!