Trailer probs

[Blaster Bretty]

G-day bloke's, im having dramas with my trailer, it came with the 12 footer glass runabout I brought and has an unusual independent coil spring set-up, (same as on a car but no shockie's) the trailer used to tow ok when I had the old 6hp johnno on the back being towed by a v8 commodore, once I upgraded the motor on the boat the old coil springs on the trailer ( about motorcycle size ) were too soft for the extra 30-40kg's of motor and used to bottom out quite bad, I chopped off the old and rusted small spring's and put in a pair of VN commodore coil springs and the problem was fixed, only thing was on the way out to cabbage tree point I noticed at around 90-100kph that the small 10 inch wheels and skinny tyre's were kinda sliding and drifting a bit on the road, they had heaps of tread and good pressure but I just didnt like them, On went a set of new hubs and 14 inch wheels + tyre's, problem fixed again.
Now the big problem started as the old V8 commodore got replaced by a mitsubishi d-cab ute, when towing the boat down to the local boat ramp on the logan river to see how the height would be on the new ute, I noticed the boat rocking side to side at only 50kph, as if yoou were right next to the boat + trailer and rocking it, as I increased to 60kph it got worse and I feared losing the whole thing, A quick stop and check and all seemed fine, once I got going again the same thing happened.
My first thoughts are ,is the suspension on the ute much more rigid and therefore transfering more bumps into the boat trailer resulting in even more rocking and swaying? any thought's out there!! could I put some shocks on the trailer to dampen the spring rebound? of maybe even bracing a bar between the two arms on the independent set up so as they now will work as one?


Bretty

[Angla]

I think you would fix the problem with some 'Levelriders' or anti sway bars. They are a tension system that attatches to the tow bar and has heavy duty spring bars attatched to the trailer.
Go down to a 4x4 place and talk to them

Chris

[Roughasguts]

Are your tyres scrubbing?

Hows there alignment are they completley straight and in aligment to the direction there going. It sounds like there not and you never fixed the original problem just covered it up a little by adding more mass to slow things down.

Get a couple of straight edges and attach to the tyres horizontally, then measure the distances between the straight edges front and back. One has to be pointing in I think and constantly trying to steer the trailer in or out until it no longer can and bounces to releive the load it's building up.

You could check them vertically to, any splayed wheels could have the same effect.

That's provided you have good tyres to start with, they could just be crap as well, pressures okay ?

[wiz]

Can you post some pics of the trailer, axle and spring setup

[Blaster Bretty]

Are your tyres scrubbing?

Hows there alignment are they completley straight and in aligment to the direction there going. It sounds like there not and you never fixed the original problem just covered it up a little by adding more mass to slow things down.

Get a couple of straight edges and attach to the tyres horizontally, then measure the distances between the straight edges front and back. One has to be pointing in I think and constantly trying to steer the trailer in or out until it no longer can and bounces to releive the load it's building up.

You could check them vertically to, any splayed wheels could have the same effect.

That's provided you have good tyres to start with, they could just be crap as well, pressures okay ?

Hmmm yeah roughy, you could be headed in the right direction, only thing is it all went well till I hooked it up to the different vehicle, the V8 commodore had a great ride, smooth and comfortable, much different than the triton ute im now using and also the towball height is much higher than the car used to be (almost 1 foot maybe more) the car had independent rear suspension too wheres the ute has leafy's, I thought this may have been a contributing factor.
Tomorrow after work I will be checking the straightness and pressure's of the trailer wheel's just to try and track this problem down, watch with interest bloke's!!

Bretty p.s love that avatar roughy

[Blaster Bretty]

Can you post some pics of the trailer, axle and spring setup

Man ive tried so many times in the photo shop thingy to post fish pics but I just cant sort it out "sheesh" Will try this also.
im having probs making the pics smaller.

[wiz]

Are you saying with the trailer hitched to the ute that it now does not sit level to the ground?? This may actually be your prob. If the trailer is to nose up you may need to get a tongue that dips down to allow the trailer to sit level, this allows the weight to be evenly distributed

[Roughasguts]

BB, you need a level tow ball, the height should be the same so trailer and tow vehicle look level.
I bet you can't reverse the trailer at the moment with the tow ball height so high, it would wonder all over the place.

A tow bar place should be able to knock up another tounge for bugger all.

[Blaster Bretty]

Wiz + roughy, yeah the trailer does sit up now (nose points in the air) I can still reverse ok with boat on coz I can see it but yes it would be difficult if the boat wasnt there.
Trailer levelness is looking like the gremlin so far!

Bretty....... Thanks bloke's, got a lot of needed info tonight, Cheers

[Blaster Bretty]

Dammit... I just went out to the shed... took a couple of pic's, cropped em to 74kb and still cant work out how to post em, got work in the morning so will have to have a crack tomorrow after lunch, any tips on pic showing will be greatly appreciated!!! Grrrrr

Bretty

[Blaster Bretty]

Ok a lot of hard working days have gone by since my last post on this topic but at long last I think I got it right.
I've chopped and re-welded the main bar that goes to the towball and corrected the height ( with a few extra bracing weld's ) and after quite a few beer's with a mate we found that there was almost no weight on the towball, meaning I could pick up the trailer with boat on with only two finger's, most bloke's on here were saying you should have 5-10% of the total weight of boat and trailer on the towball (which I didnt have) so now i've chopped off the resting pole of the trailer and moved it forward a good 5 inch's, This has changed the weight distribution greatly and I now have to give it a good lift to pick it all up and also now need the mrs to help me move it about the yard.
Took it out for a test drive this morning and it all came back with a big tick beside it!! I only took her up to 85kph but she held true and straight, stopped at the servo and checked all tyre pressure's and had a good looksie at my welding mod's and all looks sweet as.
Here's hoping bloke's ..... problem fixed!!! now all I have to do is wait for the bloody next RDO "sheesh"
Thanks to all that have helped me and given info on this topic, greatly appreciated!

Bretty