Trailer Springs & Wheel Bearings

[tryhard]

G'day all,

I'm looking for some guidance regarding trailer maintenance.

I have a 5mtr quintrex cruiseabout sitting on a trailer of unknown origin.

It has started riding very hard on the road & bangs & clangs over the smallest of pot holes & road imperfections.

Looking at it closely, I have noted that there is only a gap of about 4mm between the axle & centre crossmember of the trailer frame.

the axle has been hitting the crossmember, evidenced by clear marks. This means that there is insufficient resilience in the leaf springs and that the suspension is no longer doing what it is supposed to.

The existing Springs have 6 leaves.

Question is what sort of springs do I use. ?

I am sure that there would be an appropriate rating based on the weight of the boat, but dont really know where to start looking. (any one know what the likely weight is ?)

Also, how does one determine what sort of bearings are the right replacement ones?

Over to the collective brains trust.

thanks

[chrisg]

Hey tryhard

First things first

Go to the Quintrex website and the motor website and you should be able to find the hull weight and motor weight repectively. I'm guessing but I would say about 450kg for the hull and 120kg for the motor.

Your then need to add the weight of the trailer say 200kg and another 200kg for fuel, tackle etc.

So on that your touching 1000kg. If thats close building in some leeway I would look at springing for 1200kg so you need 2 springs rated to 600kg each.

Where I would be careful is if the trailer is unknown the axle may be underrated for what you want to do. You would want a 1200kg axle too.

Any compliance plate, brand etc on the trailer? Is the axle round or square..what size ie 40mm square?

As for bearing they will either be Ford or Holdens. Beat way is to take them out of one wheel, clean them up and take them to the auto shop..you'll soon find out.

Hope this helps a bit.

Cheers

C.

Edited November 22, 2008 by chrisg

[pelican]

Hi

Put a photo up if you can as it may not be what you think.

If you can get a shot of the springs from under the trailer it would help a lot. If you have amate get them to sit on the guard and do a second shot as I want to see what is moving.

Photo of trailer manufacturer plate showing weights etc or details off it would be good but many trailers get modified so it is no guarantee that the same weight or quality springs and axel are still under it if it is an oldie.

Marks on the axel and chassis should realy never occur so your thinking is right but you have to resolve if this is from trailer design, overloading ( camping gear o annual holiday) , underated springs or fittings or a failure in the springs you have.

You are right in feeling somethng is up but diagnose exactly what it is before doing anything.

As per the above post springs are available in all sorts of ratings and sizes and a few of the trailer websites will tell you where to measure to order the correct ones.

Edited November 23, 2008 by pelican

[brickman]

the axle hitting the cross member makes me laugh when i puchased a brand new boat we had the same prob i was lucky i noticed before we left[what a dh] it was resolved by moveing the axle foward about 1.5 inches and can be done if your spring hangers are bolt on with u bolts if you do have to move them make shore they are square or you trailer will track sidways

cherrs gary

[Guest Aussie007]

while your at it make sure the tow ball is fitting nicely into the coupling theres a little adjuster on the top and make sure u have a 2" ball not a 48mm i think they are the amercian balls as this can make the banging noise your hearing

[tryhard]

Hi

Put a photo up if you can as it may not be what you think.

If you can get a shot of the springs from under the trailer it would help a lot. If you have amate get them to sit on the guard and do a second shot as I want to see what is moving.

Photo of trailer manufacturer plate showing weights etc or details off it would be good but many trailers get modified so it is no guarantee that the same weight or quality springs and axel are still under it if it is an oldie.

Marks on the axel and chassis should realy never occur so your thinking is right but you have to resolve if this is from trailer design, overloading ( camping gear o annual holiday) , underated springs or fittings or a failure in the springs you have.

You are right in feeling somethng is up but diagnose exactly what it is before doing anything.

As per the above post springs are available in all sorts of ratings and sizes and a few of the trailer websites will tell you where to measure to order the correct ones.

Pel,

Here are the Photo's.

[tryhard]

Pel,

Here are the Photo's.

I did not have anyone to stand on the Guard for me though!

There does not appear to be a manufacturers plate.

Thanks all for the responses here's some answers to the queries raised

Whilst I've owned it, the boat has never been used to carry holiday gear (quasi Box traler)

Leaves do not appear broken but definately look shagged out!

Moving the axle will not resolve the problem, only move it & the boat is already pretty well balanced for towing.

I definately have a 50mm ball - no movement in the coupling.

Thanks

Edited November 23, 2008 by tryhard

[chrisg]

tryhard

How can I put this......mmmmmm.......your springs are #$@#ed!

Did you find out the weights?

C.

[pelican]

Looks like someone in the past may have changed the axel from under the springs to above it to get a lower launch height. The person who did that should be pretty proud of himself and has probably got a Darwin award nomination in susequent years. You could do it and still have suspension travel by using overlay or drop axels depending on mudguards.

Those springs are had it.

The next step is to check how springs are attached to the chassis. Some have welded plates to shackels and others have u-bolts and some have a seperate angle iron with suspension attached by ubolts to the chassis.

Depending on what you have and weight of boat will determin what you will need to buy and how to fit it.

Depending on budget how long you want to keep the trailer and the condition of axel hubs and bearings it is sometimes cheaper to buy a inclusive hub to hub kit galvanized.

Site sponser can probably get a quote if you get the details on size and style or suggest someone to do it.

How_to_measure_Springs.pdf

How_to_Measure_Axles___U_Bolts.pdf

Edited November 23, 2008 by pelican

[yockman]

Definitely worth replacing those springs. The big drama that can happen, apart from the axle banging on the frame, is that one of the leafs breaks, falls out, a couple more follow, and then the axle is floppin' round on the remaining springs.

Speaking from experience, this isn't pretty at about 15kph, so can't imagine what it would be like at 100kph.

Cheers,

Yock

[Yarraone]

You can put the axel below the springs which will give you more clearence, but this will also lift the hight of your trailer in general.. (not by much) As faras the bearings go, when you buy new bearing kit it should come with new cups as long as the inside diameter matches your axel then you can put either ford or holden bearings when you changes your cups in the hub.

[tuffy]

Or, take it to the spring bloke at Rydalmere. For a few hundred bucks it'll take away the pain.

Cheers, Tuffy