TOPIC: TRAILER SPRING SUSPENSION...

I've been hearing this clunking sound when i go over uneven road surfaces. At first i thought it was the hull bouncing on the rollers due to bad springs. I spoke to frank a. and he told me to check out the bushings in the shackles which are nylon and in the front eyes they are rubber. He also told me to bring it up and he would give me a hand with it, but it came off so easy i think i can re-assemble by myself..thanks frank. (these are double eye springs 2" wide x 27 1/2" long by the way.) So i dropped the spring on one side and disassembled. The rubber bushing 1"w x 2" x long x 3/8 id. is shot. Pretty sure that is where the clunking is coming from. But heres the problem...try and find parts for a 2"wide spring.....FUGGEDABOUDIT!!!
i was told by a suspension shop that 2" springs are used for 10,000 loads. The mantaray, merc, 9 gal.fuel, and battery weigh under 800 lbs. Whoever built my trailer must of figured the mantaray would be full of water or someday he might buy a meteor..hehe... Can't find parts for it...been lookin for 2 days. Also its 27 1/2 long. DON'T MAKEM DAT SIZE.. frank said i might have to have them custom made, and you know what that means!! Maybe i'll just re-assemble and live with the clunking. To rebuild it with 1 3/4" wide x 1000lb springs, with all the hardware and welding would cost over $500 around here.

Ron, there's only four things to be welded, and that's the spring/shackle holders on each end of both pieces of angle steel. This should not cost a lot of money to have done, especially if you tape the holders right where they need to be on the angle (or mark it with a sharpie, whatever) and take them to a shop and just have the 4 things welded on. Before they're welded on, you'll want to clamp the two pieces of angle back to back and drill mounting holes to match what your current ones are (I assume you can move the axle back and forth on the trailer?). Once that's done, it's simply a matter of assembling the new springs.

I've done this before, but a long time ago. Nevertheless I have a good MIG welder here, and a good floor mount drill press. It wouldn't take me long to figure it out. You know what that means.

Frank

ron,remember when you had your boat and trailer here ,i told you that your springs were shot,you could see where they were bottoming out alot,and they were pretty straight,do you have a tractor suppy store nearby,im pretty sure you can get new springs there at the least ,or a new axle,for not alot of money.john

John, Ron's problem is that the springs (and brackets that hold them) are an odd size - 2" wide 1st of all, and an unusual length (eye-to-eye) that does not match up with lighter weight springs. I figure he could get by with 1000# springs, maybe 1250. They list these springs as # capacity each, that's why I think he could get by with 1000 or 1250. What do you think?

I got 1/2 a mind to weld up some new brackets on pieces of angle steel for him, but would need to know the eye-to-eye size of whatever new spring he wanted to use, and how long and wide the angle steel needs to be.

Frank

john, it is a new 2000lb. 2"dia. round axle. i installed it after the harveys lake incident in 2009. the clunking only started this season and i was told it was due to worn out rubber shackle sleeves. so i jacked up one side and dropped the spring and saw that rubber sleeve ...all shredded. the other end which attaches to shackle has a nylon sleeve, can't
tell if thats bad or not. if that rubber sleeve was ok then i would guess its the springs and i would get new ones but no one has 2"w springs.also NEW 2"w spring would be overkill for my light load.i have a very odd size leaf spring. its flat when on the trailer, but arches up 3" when off. i tested it with my $20,000 dollar spring tester and it flattened out but didn't break. : :

john, i'm going ahead and ordering new 1250lb. springs. i got under the trailer and found 2 wear spots on the drivers side where the u-bolts from the spring are hitting the frame. you were right but i didn't remember lookin at them when i was by you. i'm going to take it up to franks in a few weeks and we will install them. ron

yeah guys your right,i think 1250s would be the way to go.
and yep ron remember i showed you that the sping was hitting and put a mark on the frame,and it was compleatly flat just like your picture.
if you take it to frank you have the best i can think of working on it,if he wasnt so far away i have trailers that need alot of TLC ,and he takes his time and does it right,john