Trailer Suspension

Anyone have the proper name for this system.... I am rehabbing the trailer while my boat "summers" in Santa Barbara and need to get some parts...

Looks home made to me, not sure how that leaf spring is supposed to allow the beam to flex with no shackle or slider on it.

Nope not home made, made by Peek trailers.. I have seen a few of these over the years.... just a little overkill for a Prindle 18

Weird.

If the trailer beams are a standard spacing I'd just swap a torsion axle on. "If" is a big word though sometimes.

Its likely off the shelf parts on all of those bushings, along with that leaf spring. Some measurements should be all you need at any decent trailer parts shop.

If is the key word... which it is not...



And they do.. tore into it last night and just got back from the trailer store... with the exception of the shocks everything is available.. surprisingly the bearings, races, and seals were in excellent shape considering their age, but they're getting a work over too.. The springs etc.. all in good shape, or should I say I have far worse cursing down the freeway..

Those shocks were common on old school lifted 4x4s. I imagine Ebay could produce some, or I believe there are kits to convert Rancho 5000 series shocks over.

I bet those Rancheros would be really stiff shocks for what he has there (not to mention pricey). I put a set on a Nissan 4x4 I had once and the ride turned into the equivalent of a log wagon.

I'm not sure what the coilover shocks add to that suspension anyway, though...Having both the leaf spring and coil over shocks is nothing but redundancy...leaf springs provide a bit of frequency absorption through friction between leafs and don't typically use shocks (on trailers anyway). However, in that application, I presume those leaf springs only serve the purpose of a fourth link in that suspension system and keep the axle in place while the coil over shocks do most of the suspension work.

With that in mind, I would consider something like the Gabriel load carrier shocks. They have some with a variable rate spring that only starts to add relative load carrying capacity under some compression...that should be pretty good for that application. You would need to call someone and give them travel dimensions for that shock to figure out which version would fit.

https://www.summitracing.com/search...ing&keyword=gabriel%20load%20carrier

what type of boat will you be carrying? This setup seems more suited for pontoon/deck boat types that are very heavy...?

It kinda looks like a De Dion rear car suspension.

Other than boat trailer racing, do you really need an independent suspension?

Prindle 18.... it is the trailer that came with my $100 boat... I cut of the risers that held the boat... fronts we 14" and the rears were 18" as pictured... In talking to the trailer store guy the other day he was pretty versed on these things. Told me they manufacture made a one size fits all trailer





I got this boat a good 200 miles from my house... there was a few times it felt like it was not even back there when towing it home,, it was pretty smooth... Boat Trailer Racing hmmmmmmmmmmm you got me thinking here!



I don't think these are the original shocks... there is another trailer with the same set up at our storage yard... a Hobie 20 that hasn't moved in 13 years... that has some Sears $9.99 specials...

Summit Racing... they can burn a hole in your pocket pretty quick..

No, certainly not the original..I wouldn't expect that the original shocks would still be available but you never know, I suppose.

$80 isn't bad for a pair of coil over shocks that include the springs.