Thread: trailer advice

I have managed to acquire an old caravan chassis from my next door neighbour with the aim to reuse the (new) drawbar, suspension and mechanical brake system for a motorbike trailer. It currently has mechanical drum brakes with a 2000kg rated hitch, the suspension is a 5 leaf unit with shackles at either end. The axel is 40mm square so that is about 1000kg rated. The axel is too narrow but that is easily widened without it costing me anything. My questions are:

Can I remove 1 leaf on the springs to provide a softer ride as I am also looking at installing shock absorbers to reduce the trailer bouncing. If the leaf is removed what sort of approximate load rating would I have?

Due to the reduced weight that it is likely to be compared to the original caravan can I back off the large nut on the coupling to reduce the internal spring pressure which will then reduce the amount of force required to activate the brakes. If so what is the best way to adjust the brakes and secondly is it normal for the nut to be tack welded to the shaft because mine is!!

I think that is about it for the moment, any replies are greatly appreciated.

cheers

Yozza

Firstly the nut on the coupling should be tight...most of them will be either pinned, welded or something....if this nut lets go, the trailer gest its freedom

There are at least two different springs available for overriding couplings...though you may not need to chage it anyway.

You don't adjust the action of over riding brakes appart from the usual shoe adjustments and the cables if you have them...the braking action is more or less self adjusting.

As for removing leaves......it is done.....trailer springs are in general very stiff for what they are rated.
Remember most trailers do not have either shock absorbers nor bump stops

as for the axle...Um yeh better off buying a new axle the right length.

back on the springs...serioulsy think about some better springs..something out of a hiace or L300 van should be about right these springs will be longer, and softer riding than trailer springs.....remember to mount them in the same attitude as found on the vehicle....this will mean packing up the front spring mount several inches.

cheers