First thing you gotta know about my stepdad is that he pretty much rocks. If I don’t know how to do something or I don’t have the tools… there’s a very good chance not only is he capable of helping with my problem, he’ll get down and dirty with me till its all worked out. And he’s also not one of those beat around the bush types and I am so okay with that! When I asked him to help me with adding a leaf spring suspension setup to my trailer his response was, “you lemme know when you’re ready and I’ll be there!” So yeah, Gerald pretty much rocks. You’ll be seeing pictures of this guy in action .. prepare to be impressed.
So last summer when I tore down the old shed I learned that hauling a trailer with no suspension whatsoever equals just a little bit bouncy. Actually yeah definitely bouncy. As you can see in the picture below the axle and tires are directly attached to the frame, so I felt every bump in the road.
So you can only imagine that after a few camping trips my newly built trailer would be falling apart. So that was just flat out not going to work. Just way too dangerous.
I called some local places for pricing on a leaf springs kit, but their prices just didn’t fit my budget. So then Gerald suggested to go check out a Pick-A-Part place, where we could just pull off ones that would work. This idea would have been fun.. for about 20mins.. and then finding correct size bolts and rubber gaskets would have been a huge pain in the tail. So, then I used Google.
eTrailer.com is awesome. Great prices, tons of information on their site, and a very wide selection of parts and accessories. After spending several hours trying to figure out exactly what I needed, I ended up calling up customer service. I definitely recommend a lady named Bridget- she knows her stuff! So this is the setup that best suited my needs:
With shipping and handling, all the parts and bolts and nuts required to do this job ended up being $106.00 and arrived 4 business days later. I definitely would use eTrailer again.
And seeing as how we live in Colorado.. and its spring time.. of course I had to wait 2 weeks till I was able to install my new parts. Because it snows in April.. and May. So dumb. But snow outside doesn’t stop me from opening up the box and assembling it all anyways!
So now onto the install and Gerald doing his thing! Weekend #1 is April 28 & 29, 2013.
Gerald showed up around 10am with his grinder and plenty of cutting discs. Which is good thing because we had a lot of welds to cut! Put the trailer on jacks and away we go!
Here is the axle removed and cutting off the old U-Bolt plate.
Cutting off old spring seat from the axle.
A nice clean axle ready to be re-attached.
Making sure the frame surface is clean and without rust
Oh turns out the frame wasn’t perfectly square. Imagine that. But we got it worked out. Now clamp on the rear shackle.
Tack it on to hold it in place.
Once its all tacked and square.. welding time!
Roll axle into place.
Adjust U-Bolts so everything is lined up.
And boo-yah.. its done!
There’s no way I could have gotten this done on my own. A few more adjustments and some paint it’ll be all done. What a great start to this project! Thanks Gerald!
- J
Total money spent so far:
250 Trailer
60 Hitch and Accessories
15 Magnetic Trailer Light Kit
106 Leaf Springs
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$431.00
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