Cable suspension trailer

[rctoys]

Primary advantage i believe is a smoother ride also the ability to adjust the trailer bed height for easy loading and unloading is a huge plus. I hate seeing trailer being pulled that are not level

 

[Mark W]

How is the ride smoother?

One factor that comes to mind immediately is that this suspension will be firmer and stiffer at small amounts of travel, getting softer and weaker at large amounts of trouble. This is the opposite of what you would want for a smooth ride and sufficient locating capability.

How much suspension travel does your trailer have? How much does the cable stretch? What is the load on the cable? How much load would you consider the trailer rated for? What sort of loading or stress do you calculate for the pulley points?

Mark...

 

[rctoys]

When I jump up and down on the trailer with the generator on it it goes anywhere form 2-4 inches for travel. I would never put more than 500- 600 pounds on the trailer. The pullyeys are mounted to a 1" solid steel rod (welded to the frame and the 1" steel support rods) with a grade 8 bolt and bearings inside the pullyeys I did no calculations but must be capable of 3000-4000 pounds of stress .The cable looks like it only stretches an inch may be 2.

 

[rctoys]

Just finished the side rails, they sure help the look. Here is a pic

http://s1291.beta.photobucket.com/user/rctoysinc/media/siderails_zps92f7e6c7.jpg.html

 

[rctoys]

Here is also a video I just posted on You tube. I hope the link works better than my drill did, but I built this a couple years ago for my log splitter to get it from the back yard to my driveway,, it works great on my new trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV89rjqwaOM

 

[rctoys]

Started my fenders today this is the steel skeleton, They have been straightened and primed since this picture. Since the wheels move up when lowering the trailer they needed to be removable, you can see how that is done. Hope to get them done in a couple days, the paint will take a full day to dry.

http://s1291.beta.photobucket.com/user/rctoysinc/library/side rails/trailer fender?

 

[sggoat]

As for suspension bridges--take a look at the Tacoma Narrows bridge-=I think there is a utube video of it's collapse.

 

[rctoys]

That will happen all the time when improperly / under designed. There are 1000's of other cable suspension bridges out there that have not and will not fail. Not saying the trailer is the best or is for everyone but to add springs or shocks or torsion suspension is just boring for me. I like it and if it breaks (like many trailers do every day) I will fix it and make it better. In the mean time put on another 50 miles to the barn and back, that's 3 trips out there so far, gonna add the welder to it which is another 250 pounds or so and make a few trips that way as well.

 

[Mark W]

Sometimes boring is good. There is really no excitement that I want out of my trailer suspension.

Sooner or later something WILL fail in your setup if it is used on anything but the smoothest roads. The only give that you have besides the tires is flexing of the frame and anchor points of the pulleys and stretching of the cable. This will fatigue the metal until cable snaps or frame tears.

Steel cable has very low elasticity. It does not like being stretched.

Casually saying ..."if it breaks (like many trailers do every day) I will fix it and make it better" ignores any possible impact on others around you on the road if (for example) it fails after hitting a pothole at 65 on a two lane highway and starts flailing around behind you as you try to get stopped... or if it wags your tail right off the road or into oncoming traffic.

Chances are that there will not be any adverse effect to anyone nearby when your suspension fails. but I would be worried enough that there might be that i would suggest rethinking that viewpoint


A simple spring mount at any one of your pulley points would solve the problem of over stressing your components. and give you a smoother more stable ride as well.


Mark...

 

[rctoys]

time will tell, I will keep you all posted. I do have safteys in place for a cable / pulley failure that will not effect the handling ability to easily and saftely get off the road Thanks again for the comments.

 

[cody c]

time will tell, I will keep you all posted. I do have safteys in place for a cable / pulley failure that will not effect the handling ability to easily and saftely get off the road Thanks again for the comments.

ya, let us know how it goes, I guess were curious to see if it does work or what you have to do, to work the bugs out.

 

[misterpepper]

I had a guitar string break on me one day. High E string, so the littlest one on the guitar. I'll be darned if that little thing didn't whip around and stab a hole clean through my middle finger starting with the fingernail. I know sometimes it seems like most everything that gets designed is a me-too product and nobody ever innovates, but the reality is that most of the time things get designed the way they do because it's the best way. I'm not saying this to say that your cable suspension is a bad idea, I'm saying it because if it turns out to be a bad idea it could be a very very dangerous one. Please be careful. Try to break it. Overload it and take it out on a bumpy, desolate road. The price of a replacement cable is pennies compared to a replacement life.