My second winter project was to beef up my tired old axel with adjustable spring loaded shocks. I first lowered my axel 1 inch to acomodate larger tires [215 r 14's]then added the shocks as follows

Lyndon Laney
Where did you buy the shocks? Is that a home made bracket? What about the top bracket, do you have a picture? Spring rating for the coil over shock? I thought about doing this on my 13' Scamp. Did you weld the bracket to the axle arm?

first I will apoligse as tuere were suposed to be 2 pictures
They are from JCWhitney the part # and price are on the picture the braket [I will try for a picture of] i fabricated from a 2x2 CRS 1/8 wall steel tubing. And the top needs no bracket as it is mearly a 1/2 x6 inch class 5 bolt through the frame from inside the trailer under the overhang with a spacer to line it up with the bottom mount. I welded the lower bracket to the flat surface of the axel arm. This could have been bolted on by drilling and tapping mount holes.

More pictures

Nice job Lyndon..... Simple and very effective.
I will remember this is ever needed.
Joe

I have been contemplating this fix for several hours after reading it....... At the expense of incurring wrath for asking, isn't this an attempt to beef up an overloaded axle? Or, are you experiencing severe sway? The latter would be a good reason to do this, but if it was the former, an axle upgrade would be the solution. Please don't fire any heat rounds at me, but I have been sitting here looking out and the snow with my mind whirling.. Larry

The top mount method is essentially the same as used by Monroe with their trailer shock absorber retrofit kit, like I put on my Boler (see Shock Absorber Retrofit, Boler B1700RGH). The Dexter shock kit uses a welded-on bracket for the top mount, and a stud (rather than loop) shock end at the top. My Boler has a leaf-spring axle, so the bottom mount is unrelated to Lyndon's situation, but the top mount is the same situation.

My only concern with this top mounting method is that Monroe specifies it for the intermittent loading of shock damping, not to continuously carry load due to the coil spring.

The bottom mount bracket is nicely constructed.
That doesn't look like a typical Dexter Torflex "rubber torsion" suspension (which offers no similar face to which to attach a bracket); instead, it appears to be a big rectangular box... maybe solid bar. What axle is it, Lyndon; AL-KO?

There are a couple of holes in the face of the bracket which is welded to the suspension arm; are they to provide more weld length?

I have been considering the reason for the coil spring, as well. I assume that the axle is not overloaded - that the axle's bearings, etc. are suitable for the load - because Lyndon has described this as "Help for tired axles", not undersized ones. For me, a concern would be that if the rubber rods (which serve as both springs and bushings) are degraded to the point that they no longer work adquately as springs, then they may not work very well as bushings, either, and alignment and control of the suspension arms may not longer be good.

In the end, I'm wondering about the ride height of the suspension, or the angle of the suspension arms. Is it sitting under load at the designed angle for the suspension (assisted because it is tired by the coil springs), or lower because the rubber is worn out, or higher because the coils are boosting it?

The mounting method would be equally valid if the desire were to mount simply dampers (shock absorbers), without the coil springs. Personally, I think added shocks - even with a new at and not at all "tired" suspension - is a great idea.

No sway problems just trying to get it back to the new leval as last season I noticed that the tires had rubbed on the wheel wells the trailer is a 95 and has traveled 80,000 miles And when not in use is always op on blocks.

This is bloody brilliant. A quick and inexpensive DIY 2-link suspension that makes use of what's already there. I love it!

As long as the torsion rubber isn't so far gone that the thing rattles around this ought to work really well.

I'd like to know more about the top mount for the shock -- I'm assuming a bolt runs through the frame (and is not simply welded to one side), right? I guess you could drill a hole through the frame then insert a nice piece of appropriately sized DOM tubing and weld around both ends. The top bolt would run through that.


I'll have a peak under tonight to figure out if my axle is cast or box tube. Shamefully, I don't know offhand.

Dang. Ours is old. Cast type. So much for that idea...

Another benefit of this arrangement is the loading on the frame is not only spread out of a longer length, but changed from torsional to part torsional and part direct.

Most of these trailers are not real stout, frame-wise. As corrosion and "wear and tear" work over time, a mod such as this might just give quite a few more years of usefulness to the original frame.

My father just put air shocks on my 1980 Scamp. I needed a new axle and my dad insist he was able to fix it.....well, he did. It works out great.
I'll be posting pic's sometime this week.

I have pulled it some 5000 miles now with no noticable tire wear[much farther than the original tires went] And they have taken most of the bounce from paved segmant roads out.and seems to ride smother . Nothing jarred loose inside as before