Wheel house axle springs

[hawkeye43]

Here a tip I learned from a spray foamer. Take 4" grinder and put a wire knoted brush on it. That does a great job of trimming the high spots down, with very little work. It is dusty, but can be sucked up with a shop vac. Be very carefull around any wires, or you will be fixing them,

[eagle_3464]

Here are a couple of images of a design I am working on for the wheel house suspension. I have shackled each end of the spring to the frame getting the full benefit of the intended design of the spring, not just one end of the spring. With the axle centered and over the spring will reduce the tipping in of the wheels. This design will also eliminate the stressed shear point caused by stuffing one end of the spring inside a tube as seen on many wheel houses. The winch will likely go on the pivoting arm with the cable eye on the frame.

[rbs]

on your design couldn't you put the front shackle mounted on the tubing so you only have to deal with one pin on the rear of the spring? maybe a piece of channel coming down off of your rotating tubing. I like the design alot!

[eagle_3464]

Ryan, I had first thought of fixing one end of the spring to the rotating wheel mount. After thinking more about it, I determined that the axle and that end of the spring would then share the same center point of rotation. Therefore, that end of the spring would be useless similar to stuffing it inside a tube like on so many trailers. For both ends of the spring to be effective, the eyes must be mounted independent to the action of the axle. An added benefit is that the rotating tube structure is fixed to the frame at 3 points rather than just at each end which will resist twist in the rotating member. I'm not excited about the extra pin but IMO it will be a better suspension than most out there.

[Gordie]

eagle I really like your design and thanks for sharing .

I think that type of axle set up would work better with a coil spring design because it have less wear parts/pins.

It would also be intresting to see if a torsion axle would benifit from this design as well.

Also on a your design you could possibly get away with using a slip type spring and that is how most lighter style trailers are set up and like Ryan is mentioning and is is on that basis that I build them as well and was talking about in a earlier post

[rbs]

I got you, then you would just have to have a pin on the large upper part. I was just trying to figure out a way to do it with 1 pin on each side. I like the Torsion style tho. That would get rid of the springs all together. Like I said I like the design!

[LightningBG]

I've thought about using torsion, but the stubs are so long it didn't seam feasible without making the wheel well very deep.

[BertBuddy]

I've thought about using torsion, but the stubs are so long it didn't seam feasible without making the wheel well very deep.

I have tried this also, it seems I can't find a torsion stub shorter then 16" and then you want to add a wall in there, the best I could come up with was leaving just over 4' in the inside between the wheel wells. The nice thing about springs is that they are thin and easy to replace if something breaks, where a torsion, you have to replace they whole thing and they are really long

[eagle_3464]

I think that type of axle set up would work better with a coil spring design because it have less wear parts/pins.

It would also be intresting to see if a torsion axle would benifit from this design as well.

Also on a your design you could possibly get away with using a slip type spring

I haven't found a coil-over type shock with adequate load ratings that is economically priced. If there is, maybe someone could point me in the right direction. I have worked with Reliable Tool engineers in the past and unfortunately any stub style torsion axles are 16" from hub face to end of torsion tube. For drop down type wheel house frames you would need about 8" hub face to end.

Maybe I am missing something (I'll go back and read) but how would a slipper spring work any differently. You still need a slipper pad surface over the top of the spring so how would you get that end under the pad. The spring is already fixed to the axle at it's center point. Using the same pivoting frame as the axle as fixation to either end of the spring will render that end useless, same as you get stuffing one end inside the tube.

[Gordie]

On the slipper spring one side is fixed (I'm thinking of your style for this) and the other side the spring lays on the pad and the pin is the part that is over the spring.

the spring slides back and forth and has its limited travel up and down the back and forth is what takes the stress off the spring in the first place.

For a coil I wouldnt use a coil over shock I would usea coil spring from a truck/car suspension like one off of a 1986 camaro those coils were not to stiff and would not take a lot of pressure to losd with the hand crank.

I would on the non pivot side of your assembly mount a coil spring with a base keeper like the ford trucks used to have then on the pivot are I would have a spring keeper that would come obver the spring and keep it aligned straight.

The torsion axles are a pain to work with due to lenght but I need to rethink that procedure before I elaborate on it but I do have a few ideas on it I just need to think it out abit more.

like useing the way your pivot arms are to load the tension on the torsion axels and having them roll the wheels at the same time.

easier said than done but Ive been working on something like this for quite sometime just have not got it yet and your Idea helps that much more.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Here is a pic of a coil spring setup

[eagle_3464]

Nice looking setup ripper. Those outer frame members must be about 6" tall? The hydraulics is a little more costly than what I am trying to accomplish and I don't think that system would work very well on a 6-1/2 ft frame. Very nice though for those wanting to go that route. Just another idea that someone could possibly build from, thanks.