Trend to non loadding sharing caravan suspension

woolman · Guru

Trend to non loadding sharing caravan suspension

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Yes unless the chassis or draw bar goes all the way under van ? Atleast to suspension ! Its hardly an off road van !! Normal I think its how vehicles are treated ! But your NOT in it to know how its traveling . I was driving down a metal road to farm
Station . 40 kph seemed about the correct speed due to bumps and the way the dust builds up in front of tyres !! We this moron passed us !! 80kph easy . I could see the microwave etc bouncing around through window !! They stopped at same place . Spent the next two days cleaning the spilled milk from carpet etc . Saved 5 min going faster ! Lost two days cleaning up !! Then the smell of milk in van ! Some learn the hard way !!

Whenarewethere · Guru

In the manual for my Land Rover, towing rating for off-road is the same as an unbraked trailer, 750kg. It is a mute point that the car has up to a 350kg towball weight.

So it's no point having some off-road behemoth as you can't take it off-road anyway.

oldbloke · Guru

In a word, "marketing".

Hitting the road · Senior Member

i have independent non load sharing coil spring suspension under my tandem van. It tracks well and gives good ground clearance without a live axle or beam axle between the wheels.
I was camped at Flinders Beach at North Stradbroke a couple of years ago with our previous camper trailer, which also had independent coil spring suspension, a fellow with a fairly standard single axle van was already camped. I did get bogged coming in to the camping area as the sand was powder like and pretty well bottomless on the back entry track where I had to reverse up having missed the turn.

Chatting with the chap later, he said he had a hell of a time getting through as the beam axle on his van acted as a plough all the way dragging through the sand in the centre of the track.
That is where an independent set up comes in to it's own, there is no beam axle to drag trying to grade the centre of the tracks.

For on road use a beam axle is fine, but not much chop when you venture off the black stuff...

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Hitting the road wrote:
Chatting with the chap later, he said he had a hell of a time getting through as the beam axle on his van acted as a plough all the way dragging through the sand in the centre of the track.
That is where an independent set up comes in to it's own, there is no beam axle to drag trying to grade the centre of the tracks.

For on road use a beam axle is fine, but not much chop when you venture off the black stuff...

Neither of you let enough air out.

Cheers,

Peter

Craig1 · Guru

Plenty of hot air let out on here Peter

vince56 · Senior Member

My observation is people who swear by their independent off-road suspension have never towed a heavy caravan that has beam axle and load sharing springs, I have owned both and would not go back to independent after my latest van with beam and load sharing, MUCH more stable.

Clarky 1 · Senior Member

I have owned and towed both types.

There are for and against arguments for each system.

Peter,

I think you may have missed Hitting the Roads point when he referred to a track where the ruts from the wheels were deep enough to cause the solid axle to foul on the hump between the wheel ruts. This is a *how long is a piece of string* situation and deflating tyres may not help the result.

Craig1

Hot air can be a problem at times, good point, particularly if on a deeply rutted track when you have let the hot air out. biggrin

The different suspensions have there advantages but it does depend on the surfaces and conditions,

My independent is fantastic on the highway and on relatively smooth gravel roads and because I rarely venture off road these days this suspension is much more kind on the van itself and it contents.

If one travels on unmade roads particularly with deep potholes then the roller rocker load sharing suspension comes into its own. Its design certainly smooths out the potholes but this same suspension can let you down when on an undulating road where the van can get a real surge going when the suspension attempts to counteract each low to high section.
As an example The road between Claremont and Charters Towers was very undulating and the roller rocker kit did not travel anywhere near as well as the independent.

After having all types of suspension I have found that non load sharing semi elliptic springs are the worse and I would not entertain that type of suspension under a caravan.

For the places I drive and the use is mainly on sealed roads be them good or bad condition then my choice would be the new independent suspension hands down.

Off road is probably more a sales term as has been said but it will depend on the conditions and the higher aspect of the independent can be a real advantage if having to travel unknown sections in the bush.

Each choice is personal, use what you are happy with, and what will be the best for you.

With suspensions there are *horses for courses*

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Clarky 1 wrote:
Peter,

I think you may have missed Hitting the Roads point when he referred to a track where the ruts from the wheels were deep enough to cause the solid axle to foul on the hump between the wheel ruts. This is a *how long is a piece of string* situation and deflating tyres may not help the result.

Nope. A beam axle is always higher that the tug's diff in hard surface conditions. If the diff or axle is contacting the ground in soft surface conditions, the tyres are sinking too far and reduced pressures will fix that.

Problem comparing the rides with beam Vs independent is that most leaf springs are way too short for decent performance. Fix that and you can have the best of both worlds, including better stability of leaves due to the adverse roll centre height that you can not fix with independents.

Cheers,

Peter

Rob Driver · Guru

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Clarky 1 wrote:
Peter,

I think you may have missed Hitting the Roads point when he referred to a track where the ruts from the wheels were deep enough to cause the solid axle to foul on the hump between the wheel ruts. This is a *how long is a piece of string* situation and deflating tyres may not help the result.

Nope. A beam axle is always higher that the tug's diff in hard surface conditions. If the diff or axle is contacting the ground in soft surface conditions, the tyres are sinking too far and reduced pressures will fix that.
Problem comparing the rides with beam Vs independent is that most leaf springs are way too short for decent performance. Fix that and you can have the best of both worlds, including better stability of leaves due to the adverse roll centre height that you can not fix with independents.
Cheers,
Peter

Good point Peter,

Clarky, you idiot, I would have thought you would have known that. biggrin

As a man of your knowledge you have surprised me.

I have had both types of suspension under vans I have owned and I prefer the independent suspension over leaf springs on most of our highways and bi ways in this country.

I like to travel comfortably at my age.

Hitting the road · Senior Member

"Nope. A beam axle is always higher that the tug's diff in hard surface conditions. If the diff or axle is contacting the ground in soft surface conditions, the tyres are sinking too far and reduced pressures will fix that."

I hear you Peter, but in fact lowering the beam axle through reduced tyre pressures won't always be the answer. This loose sand was "bottomless" and powdery.

As we all know increasing the tyre contact patch is the tried and proven way to get through soft sand. In this scenario I had the tyre pressures down to 15PSI on the tug, and 10PSI on my camper trailer....the same pressures I always used when driving through sand.

It was still pretty ordinary going i can tell you. This bloke was a pretty experienced caravanner / camper. To the point he even had a riser in the ground to tap some water from ground water supply, he said he was a regular camper at Inskip and Fraser Island as well as Straddy.

That said the ridge in the centre of this particular track was quite high already due to lifted 4wd's passing through...a beam axle setup was always going to be a non event.

The point I was making was I believe an independent set up is always going to be superior in general off road conditions...

BAZZA44 · Senior Member

We have Simplicity " Load Sharing " Independent " suspension under our van, best we have ever had.

Whatever you have it MUST be load sharing.

Barry

Clarky 1 · Senior Member

Rob Driver wrote:
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
Clarky 1 wrote:
Peter,

I think you may have missed Hitting the Roads point when he referred to a track where the ruts from the wheels were deep enough to cause the solid axle to foul on the hump between the wheel ruts. This is a *how long is a piece of string* situation and deflating tyres may not help the result.

Nope. A beam axle is always higher that the tug's diff in hard surface conditions. If the diff or axle is contacting the ground in soft surface conditions, the tyres are sinking too far and reduced pressures will fix that.
Problem comparing the rides with beam Vs independent is that most leaf springs are way too short for decent performance. Fix that and you can have the best of both worlds, including better stability of leaves due to the adverse roll centre height that you can not fix with independents.
Cheers,
Peter
Good point Peter,
Clarky, you idiot, I would have thought you would have known that.
As a man of your knowledge you have surprised me.
I have had both types of suspension under vans I have owned and I prefer the independent suspension over leaf springs on most of our highways and bi ways in this country.
I like to travel comfortably at my age.

Got me Rob

No, I knew that biggrin biggrin

I was only testing ya biggrin