Self leveling trailer???

[Ditcherman]

I suppose one important question -which may or may not be obvious- in all this conjecturing would be which of the 2 vehicles would roll over first?

I laughed at your question but it is serious. But I think it has a logical answer, and that is that the tow vehicle has two axles, and you can manage how far over you're leaned most (some?) of the time by getting one tire up when one dips. The trailer "if" built with the same CG would go over first because there's no opposing axle counteracting the lean. So we just build them lower. Low enough? I had some people worried - actually scared - when they first saw my truck on the trail. These guys knew 40's well and mine looks like a 40 (ish) but they didn't understand how heavy it was underneath - the lower links are 46" 2.5 x .5 wall DOM just to start with...

I'm shooting for the opposite of this, which at the time had no sway bars.

 

[ntsqd]

Ask me how badly I worry about not being one of the kool kids.

It happens, spend some time on Expo and you'll likely see instances of a trailer rolling.

Those valves being slow to respond is a bonus in my mind. If they react too fast there is the real risk that they'll make the situation worse, not better.

With the weight attached to the valve's lever and with the valve oriented so that it hangs straight down normally then when the trailer tilts the weight moves the lever to counter-act the lean. It would require two such valves, one for each air spring, because they need to respond in opposite directions. There likely would be a need to damp the oscillation of the weights or such a system could make things worse, not better.

I have no need for it, but I did create a design for a coil-over sprung light trailer suspension that could easily have it's ride height adjusted so that it sits level statically. Uses COTS parts for the most part.

That's the other thing that people get lost in, they think that since their TR has XX" of wheel travel that the trailer needs it too. That's a formula for an easy to roll trailer. They don't need a lot of wheel travel because instead of articulating they rotate at the coupler. Only need enough wheel travel to deal with the big hits.

 

[Ditcherman]

Ask me how badly I worry about not being one of the kool kids.

It happens, spend some time on Expo and you'll likely see instances of a trailer rolling.

Those valves being slow to respond is a bonus in my mind. If they react too fast there is the real risk that they'll make the situation worse, not better.

With the weight attached to the valve's lever and with the valve oriented so that it hangs straight down normally then when the trailer tilts the weight moves the lever to counter-act the lean. It would require two such valves, one for each air spring, because they need to respond in opposite directions. There likely would be a need to damp the oscillation of the weights or such a system could make things worse, not better.

Oh got it, they're mounted with the lever parallel to the axle (if it wasn't hanging down) or the plane of rotation parallel with the axle. On trucks and trailers they're mounted with the lever front to rear, perpendicular to the axle, so that's what I was stuck envisioning.
Very ingenious. That's the outside the box thinking I was looking for.

We keep spare airbags on the shelf too. I might experiment with them and a valve and see what the timing looks like. My gut tells me standard stuff is going to be too slow, and I'll want some of those (cool kids) car bouncing valves. Rolling a tire up and over a rock and expecting a response in time is a quick ask, IMO.

I have no need for it, but I did create a design for a coil-over sprung light trailer suspension that could easily have it's ride height adjusted so that it sits level statically. Uses COTS parts for the most part.

That's the other thing that people get lost in, they think that since their TR has XX" of wheel travel that the trailer needs it too. That's a formula for an easy to roll trailer. They don't need a lot of wheel travel because instead of articulating they rotate at the coupler. Only need enough wheel travel to deal with the big hits.

It's funny what people don't understand, that's why watching the people at a boat ramp is so entertaining.
It takes all kinds, I'm just glad to one of 'em.

 

[ntsqd]

We all have our blindsides, our pre-conceptions and assumptions. It's easy to get tunnel vision on projects and not see the accurate bigger picture. It's easy to make assumptions that are incorrect. I try hard not to and still do it too frequently myself.

I've not used those leveling valves for anything yet, but on discovery of them I put them on a mental shelf should some future project benefit from one (or more). That they would be slow to respond I would expect to be designed into them. Such a system as they're designed for needs to be slow to react to changes so that road bumps aren't causing the air springs to change pressure.

Oh, boat ramps! Yeah, there's a whole thread on those on the ADV forum. Some pretty amusing, some pretty amazingly stupid stuff going on there.

 

[NMBruce]

A rolled TR is a whole lot bigger problem than a rolled trailer.

I will agree with you on this. I think people need to look at the TR and the size and weight of their trailer to determent what is best for them.