Anyone have experience

[Bob B]

pulling a trailer with leafs and a straight axle vs. independent trailing arms w/ air bags.

I am gathering parts for my upcoming trailer build. I have no off-road trailer experience, but have seen two different suspension styles. I plan to do longer trips both on and off-road. I will be pulling it behind a tj with a stretched WB. I don't have any suspension parts yet except for some air bags. I can fab either style, but I'm looking for:
Input from someone that has towed both styles.
Pros and cons that might make one better than the other.
So whatcha think?

 

[mesha]

No input on the trailing arms, but they seem like more work then they are worth. Unless you goal is coolness, then go for it. I would also like to get educated on why they are better than leafs. Hopefully, someone will post up that knows.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Leaf springs are stupid easy to dial into your needed spring rate and height. Air bags with trailing arms are obviously very doable but I don't think the added complexity is worth it for a simple trailer that above all just needs to be reliable. If you do end up with springs, skip short trailer springs and go with something that moves like a longer auto leaf. I'll tow my trailer as fast as anyone out there both on and off the road, hard to say if an independent suspension would improve the ride/tow but I can't see any need for change with what I have now. I was planning to use 80 Series radius arms and air bags at one point but having seen a few air-bags fail thus leaving you limping is a no go solution for me.

 

[bryson]

... I'll tow my trailer as fast as anyone out there both on and off the road...

I have borne witness to this... The trailer is very stable at Ludicrous Speed.

Consider this word math ridiculousness... if simple = good, reliable = good, and cool = good, the following statement must be true:

Cool = good but simple + reliable = good + good! That's double good!

Therefore simple and reliable > cool. Can't argue with those numbers... err words.

You like it.

 

[rholbrook]

There is always Torsion axles, could help with ground clearance.

http://www.trailerpart.com/torsionaxles.htm

 

[bryson]

There is always Torsion axles, could help with ground clearance.

http://www.trailerpart.com/torsionaxles.htm

When mounted properly, torsion axles offer no more ground clearance than a traditional straight axle.

 

[Bob B]

I'm not worried about "cool" and much as function. If a bagged/trailing arm suspension has more advantages over a straight axle, then I don't care about the difficulty in the build. If not, then a straight axle is great. Kurt has a great point about the blown bag. I didn't think of that. That's a check against that suspension. I'm gonna put a RTT on top of the trailer lid, so it will have a higher COG. I'm looking for the suspension that will keep it on it's wheels. Which ever it is. As for torsions, I just feel like they won't have enough travel and tune-ability.
I plan to put the trailer on 37" tires, so that axle will have more clearance than the tow rig.

 

[mesha]

My off road trailer has leafs. I think they work just fine and have never wished for a different suspension.

 

[Bob B]

ok, what leafs are you running. I'm planning a m416 like trailer.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I used Land Cruiser take-offs I had here, ~42" long, nothing special. I yanked several leaves to get them into a much lighter spring rate, thinking I'm around 125 lbs/inch? I've hear XJ rear springs are easy to come by and a good match on a trailer.

 

[blznnp]

my trailer has leafs on it, the smaller style, it pulls just fine at 75mph and little faster. simple set up for sure. as for bags blowing, as long as you don't mount them with anything that could come close to rubbing on them and you get a good brand, you shouldn't have any problems. I have had a few mini trucks with air ride suspension and the only time that i blew a bag was when some metal rubbed on them from the control arm plate snapping from hopping. but other than that i never worried about my bags blowing. but for a trailer it just seems like you would want something with less suspension components that dependable. to much stuff just makes more things that could happen.