Softening the Suspension on an M101CDN Trailer
- Thread starter BrettDez
- Start date
Pics of my setup after some trial and error
The M101cdn in the pics is about 2000 lbs fully loaded (pics are with it loaded). It has a steel lid with an RTT on top of the lid as well as batteries in the front tongue box and an extended tongue.
These pics show the OME/ARB CS013FA leafs I installed with 2 extra new leafs bent and added by a spring shop. According to ARB (who I spoke to directly), the CS013FAs are the CS012FAs with the added heavier duty leaf. The CS013FAs cost $170 US for the pair from Northridge4x4.com and it cost me $160cdn per leaf to get the extra leafs added
Initially without the extra leafs the springs went completely flat. After the leafs were added, as you can see in the pics there is some decent arch to them.
The bushings I used were trail gear Toyota stuff which were too large for the eyes on the leafs so I had to grind/sand them down to fit, I also had to drill out the holes in the trailer for the new greasable bolts. I used the trail gear stuff as I wanted to use the trail gear greasable bolts and bushings.
The bump stops are Daystar KU09016BK and from what I read you should get 1-2 inches of compression as they are a progressive bump stop. When I installed the bump stops I got 2 - 8" pieces of 1"x3" square tube which I bolted to the frame in place of the old bump stops, I was then able to center the new bump stops in the middle of the ubolt plate. I also got a couple pieces of 1/8" steel sheet cut so I could drill 4 holes and place it on top of the ubolt nuts, this allowed me to create a larger flat space for the bump stops to hit and hid the threads of the u bolts with new nuts to hopefully reduce the chance of them hitting the bump stops and tearing them apart. The square tube added to the frame rail, bump stop and the square sheet on top of the ubolt nuts created the full bump stop height which I feel will keep the leafs from getting reverse arched.
We had to drop the eBrake line since it was too short with the new leafs. We did this by cutting a piece of round pipe and used extended bolts which you can kind of see in the pics.
At the same time I upgraded the nappa shocks to some old ones a friend had kicking around his shop which I believe were from a 40 series land cruiser. I think I still want to give some adjustable a try so I can tune the suspension a bit better but that is something that will be done down the road as they are 100bux a pop (RS999338).
Overall trailer rides much better but with it being so heavy I should have started with leafs that had a stiffer rate. The CS013FAs are rated at around 250lbs/in which from what I was told means, for every 250 lbs the spring will compress 1". There are other options out there which are around 350 lbs/in (rancho, trail gear).
Before the upgrade, every time I would hit a decent rock/bump in the road the wheel would come off the ground, I even managed to flip the trailer last year but that was partially due to the springs and partially just due to how top heavy the trailer is and the fact the trail I was crawling down was quite off camber. When the trailer was sprung over by the previous owner the bump stops were never extended, I ran the trailer pretty hard through some rough conditions which must have reverse arched the stock springs too many times.
Cheers,
Jeff
The M101cdn in the pics is about 2000 lbs fully loaded (pics are with it loaded). It has a steel lid with an RTT on top of the lid as well as batteries in the front tongue box and an extended tongue.
These pics show the OME/ARB CS013FA leafs I installed with 2 extra new leafs bent and added by a spring shop. According to ARB (who I spoke to directly), the CS013FAs are the CS012FAs with the added heavier duty leaf. The CS013FAs cost $170 US for the pair from Northridge4x4.com and it cost me $160cdn per leaf to get the extra leafs added
Initially without the extra leafs the springs went completely flat. After the leafs were added, as you can see in the pics there is some decent arch to them. The bushings I used were trail gear Toyota stuff which were too large for the eyes on the leafs so I had to grind/sand them down to fit, I also had to drill out the holes in the trailer for the new greasable bolts. I used the trail gear stuff as I wanted to use the trail gear greasable bolts and bushings.
The bump stops are Daystar KU09016BK and from what I read you should get 1-2 inches of compression as they are a progressive bump stop. When I installed the bump stops I got 2 - 8" pieces of 1"x3" square tube which I bolted to the frame in place of the old bump stops, I was then able to center the new bump stops in the middle of the ubolt plate. I also got a couple pieces of 1/8" steel sheet cut so I could drill 4 holes and place it on top of the ubolt nuts, this allowed me to create a larger flat space for the bump stops to hit and hid the threads of the u bolts with new nuts to hopefully reduce the chance of them hitting the bump stops and tearing them apart. The square tube added to the frame rail, bump stop and the square sheet on top of the ubolt nuts created the full bump stop height which I feel will keep the leafs from getting reverse arched.
We had to drop the eBrake line since it was too short with the new leafs. We did this by cutting a piece of round pipe and used extended bolts which you can kind of see in the pics.
At the same time I upgraded the nappa shocks to some old ones a friend had kicking around his shop which I believe were from a 40 series land cruiser. I think I still want to give some adjustable a try so I can tune the suspension a bit better but that is something that will be done down the road as they are 100bux a pop (RS999338).
Overall trailer rides much better but with it being so heavy I should have started with leafs that had a stiffer rate. The CS013FAs are rated at around 250lbs/in which from what I was told means, for every 250 lbs the spring will compress 1". There are other options out there which are around 350 lbs/in (rancho, trail gear).
Before the upgrade, every time I would hit a decent rock/bump in the road the wheel would come off the ground, I even managed to flip the trailer last year but that was partially due to the springs and partially just due to how top heavy the trailer is and the fact the trail I was crawling down was quite off camber. When the trailer was sprung over by the previous owner the bump stops were never extended, I ran the trailer pretty hard through some rough conditions which must have reverse arched the stock springs too many times.
Cheers,
Jeff
