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Bouncing equipment trailer

P

Pete in Holland MI

Member
Son just bought a 18' equipment trailer with 6000# axles on it. Pulls nicely with a tractor on it, but empty, it can start to bounce right on up thru the truck, and it starts to get worse after an hour of highway driving. Wheels are balanced. Pulling it with a 1/2 ton Chevy.

I went for a ride with him, closely watching the trailer from the mirror. I did not see any hobby-horsing going on.

I'm thinking the whole rig is not flexing and taking up the road bumps when empty, and that dropping the tire pressure from the 60 or 70# to 35-45psi will be adequate for an empty, or nearly empty trailer, and give some cushion to absorb road bumps with.

The fact that it seems to get worse after an hour of driving, seems to point to warm tire pressure going up, making harder tires, and making the whole situation worse.

Thoughts ?
 
bought a brand new trailer once and it bounced rather bad pulling out of dealers lot.
Within a mile I returned to dealer and one of the four tires was not fully seated in one area on the inside. Made tire out of round.

If your trailer has ST tires, I would run them with no less than 10psi below the max. pressure notice on tire.
Running them at half psi will likely ruin them.

Make sure tandem suspension swivel points can swivel.
Those $10/hour trailer builders sometimes like to run the impacts a tad too long binding up the parts that need to move.
 
When you get a chance, read about the shockerhitch discussion back a little bit on this page, lots of good info. Apparently some of what you're experiencing is related to the way some of these late model pickups are "sprung" for the purpose of ride quality, Good Luck, been there, didn't like it either, Dale
 
That happens with equipment trailers because the trailer weight is not enough to make springs flex.Lowering tire pressure will help and longer tongue will help but you can't totally get rid of it.
 
How does the trailer sit when hooked up empty to the trailer? Hitch might be set to high or low and the trailer not level.
 
My BIL trailer shakes his 1500 Dodge empty. He put 150# sackconcret up front. Not enough tongue weight.
 
I have a 20 ft 14k implement trailer. I attached spare tire to the front. I have a tool box attached to tongue. Even fill tool box with concrete pavers if I have a great distance to drive. It still kicks my truck when empty. Put 3000# on trailer that weighs about 3000# and no more bouncing.

What I hate the most is driving on interstate and bridges. I call them bridge bumps. A major bump getting on bridge and a major bump getting off bridge.

Wish I had a large water tank to attach to front of trailer for ballast. Fill with water when trailer is empty and drain water when trailer is loaded.
 
I never have that trouble with my trailer when it is empty but have about 400 + lbs. with tool box, spare tire,chains and binders along with straps, winch and battery and other tools.
 
How well are the tires balanced? Mine used to jump all over empty. Since I worked at a car dealer with a road force balancer I balanced the tires set for the least vibration. After that the trailer pulled like it was on air.
 
You have to consider that the road surface is mostly the problem, not tire balance. Around here roads are tot table top level and smooth. That 1" variation in the road every 100' will make a trailer bounce around.
 
Are they balanced with an electric spin balancer or an old bubble balancer? Bubble balancer is a total waste of time now.
 
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