Trailer question

[PeteB]

If your mate reckons it bumops him in his Disco, what exactly is the symptons. Does it "bump" into you on braking and away from you on accelerating, bounce when towing empty or just feel uncomfortable? It could be that it is just a bad tower!

[Dean Lofthouse]

If it does it all the time it is a common thing. I experience this when towing the mewp and it's because it's a twin axle trailer, the farther the spacing the worse it is.

 

Imagine driving slowly over a speed hump. You could have the weight distribution spot on but what happens is the first axle lifts on the hump taking nearly all the weight, because that axle is forward of centre, most of the weight is then behind that axle and as a consequence is lifts the nose of the trailer up and the back of the towing vehicle.

 

then when the rear axle hits the hump and takes the weight, most of the weight is then forward of the axle pushing th nose down.

 

So imagine this happening driving along the road over each undulation in the road, in quick time the nose of your trailer is jolting up and down and the further apart your axles are the worse it is.

 

You can dampen the effect by either moving the axles closer together or adding weight onto the back of your vehicle.

 

Imagine if you moved one axle forward to the front of the trailer and one to the back end, when the front axle goes slowly over the hump and sits ontop of it "all" the weight suddenly behind that front axle and is lifting up the nose of the trailer, visa versa the rear

 

If one of your trailers tows better than the other it will be because it either has one axle or the axles are closer together than the other

[Tom D]

If it does it all the time it is a common thing. I experience this when towing the mewp and it's because it's a twin axle trailer, the farther the spacing the worse it is.

 

Imagine driving slowly over a speed hump. You could have the weight distribution spot on but what happens is the first axle lifts on the hump taking nearly all the weight, because that axle is forward of centre, most of the weight is then behind that axle and as a consequence is lifts the nose of the trailer up and the back of the towing vehicle.

 

then when the rear axle hits the hump and takes the weight, most of the weight is then forward of the axle pushing th nose down.

 

So imagine this happening driving along the road over each undulation in the road, in quick time the nose of your trailer is jolting up and down and the further apart your axles are the worse it is.

 

You can dampen the effect by either moving the axles closer together or adding weight onto the back of your vehicle.

 

Imagine if you moved one axle forward to the front of the trailer and one to the back end, when the front axle goes slowly over the hump and sits ontop of it "all" the weight suddenly behind that front axle and is lifting up the nose of the trailer, visa versa the rear

 

If one of your trailers tows better than the other it will be because it either has one axle or the axles are closer together than the other

 

Spot on Dean, I sometimes use my brothers 16ft twin axle Ifor, It does the same thing although its not too bad in the landy, its worse in leaf sprung pickups like his, partly because leaves aren't as good as coils and pickups tend to be lighter at the back when empty.

[John Hughes]

I drive along the level motorway at 55mph and get the jolting most of the time, it is worse when the road is slightly bumpy.

The new damper I fitted had about the same resistance as the one it replaced, I could push it in by hand but it took some effort and went in slowly. I assume a u/s damper would have little resistance.Maybe the old damper was not the right one to start with? I think I will check with Bradley.

 

Unfortunatley I think Dean is on the right track and that the problem stems from the two axles being too far apart on a relatively short trailer. There is a gap of 6 inches between the wheels, on my Brenderup which is much longer the gap is only 4 inches.

Thanks for your help.

John