Boat tail project based on a single wheel trailer...

[BamZipPow]

Made a quick run with the original rubber puck installed and I can say that I really miss the air spring ride. I believe the air spring isolated the road vibrations much better than the solid rubber puck. Too bad the air spring I installed wasn't able to handle the load.

I might try a lower PSI in the air shocks to see if it will make a difference or not in the road vibrations.

I've ordered a bigger single convoluted air spring (a used one fer $25 shipped from eBay) and I'll see if that will fit within the dampener section or not. The Goodyear/Enidine Y1-1B5-500 should fit and has a bigger air volume than the Goodyear Y1-1S3-013 that I used before. Since the air volume is bigger, I should be able to run a lower PSI to perform the same load rating as the smaller one.

Both the base and top mount plate of the bigger air spring are aluminum vs the plastic plates on the smaller one. I'll have to drill some extra holes in the dampener section so I can mount the new air spring.

If it doesn't fit without rubbing in the dampener section, I'll have to extend the area with some metal plate or cut down the boxed in area. I'll be consulting with a local metal fab shop if I go in that direction. I'm looking to bolt the plates in place but if I have to git them welded in place...I can have that done, too!

[BamZipPow]

Pulled the rudder off and put on new reflective "1WD" lettering on the both sides of the tail cone.

Over 24' of belly pan!




The new air spring should be here by the weekend. Too bad I have to take the wheel assembly, the Lazy Susan belly pan, and the wheel pant back apart again.

[BamZipPow]

Just dropped the swivel wheel assembly off to the welder to have them extend the upper and lower plates so the new air bag spring will fit. Unfortunately it wouldn't fit in the dampener housing.

My failed experiment with the dog toys...


New air bag spring compared to the original rubber puck.




You can see where it would rub against the swivel housing.


I will be installing a jounce stop or the original rubber puck (secured on one side only) so the air bag spring doesn't squash itself. I'm estimating I should have about a 3/4" to 1" range of motion to work with. The small air bag spring only went up to a 560lb rating. The new air spring goes up to 1250lbs at 1" stroke and 560lbs at 2" stroke at 100psi. I think that ought to do it.

[BamZipPow]

Got my fork assembly back and the welder did a great job at welding the extension on. This added about another $200 to this project. Since the air bag spring is further away from its pivot point, it should provide more reaction to the road.







I aired up the new air bag spring to 30psi just using a bicycle pump! The original rubber puck is fastened in its original position only on the top side which should provide bottoming out protection. I should be able to hook everything up and do a test run tomorrow morning to see what improvements this bigger air spring brings to the table.

I will not be reinstalling the Lazy Susan belly pan or wheel pant on at this time until I'm done testing out the air bag spring. There's nothing like pulling everything off just to fix things.

[BamZipPow]

Couldn't wait until morning so I hooked Dark Aero up and went fer a spin.

I went to the Lowes where my rig was posted on reddit so I could shop fer some stainless steel fasteners. Got approached by 3 people about my rig. Another person was snapping piccies when I came back out. Ended up chatting with him fer about 30 minutes and showed him everything on the truck including the cab cover as well as the Sparebumper device. Maybe he'll go and buy a Sparebumper device to help protect his family.

First impressions...I really did miss driving with the air spring when compared to the original rubber puck. It seems as though the bigger air bag (as well as the longer distance from the pivot point) provided more air to dampen the road with as the ride seemed a lot smoother than with the first air bag spring. I didn't put any sand ballast in Dark Aero on this trip but I will load up the trailer in the morning with about 180lbs to see how well it will handle the load increase.

So size does matter when it comes to air bag springs.

I'm tempted to go out and drive around some more...

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Got approached by 3 people about my rig. Another person was snapping piccies when I came back out. Ended up chatting with him fer about 30 minutes and showed him everything on the truck including the cab cover as well as the Sparebumper device.

Make sure you include all that parking lot chit chat time in your average speed calculations.

[BamZipPow]

Loaded up with 120lbs of sand ballast over the single wheel. Bumped the air pressure in the air bag spring up to 50psi to account fer the extra load.

The smaller bumps in the road seems to have less of an impact on the road vibrations felt through the truck. Can't say it helps on speed bumps though...

[BamZipPow]

Been doing more brainstorming on how to reduce or eliminate the sand ballast from the design. The current sand ballast setup is used to keep the rear wheel planted to the road when traversing over bumpy roads. The current geometry of the air shocks don't allow immediate engagement fer these smaller bumps.

I figure I might be able to change the angle of the air shocks so they would be closer to a 45 degree angle to git the maximum amount of energy transfer and the air shocks would engage quicker compared to the near vertical position they are in now. The key will be to allow fer clearance of the tailgate when the tailgate is in the lowered position and how much articulation range the new position will allow. It may have to be where the tailgate cannot be in the lowered position when traveling with Dark Aero when traveling in extreme approaches...not that I have ever done that with the current setup.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by aerohead

How about some of those 'CAUTION : RADIOACTIVITY' emblems?
Or: 1/2-Law of Thermodynamics

Fallout Symbol Decal Sticker | Zazzle

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Pulled the rudder off and put on new reflective "1WD" lettering on the both sides of the tail cone.

I haven't been here in a while, but I have to say that fin looks pretty cool. You're really going all out on this!

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by BamZipPow

Been doing more brainstorming on how to reduce or eliminate the sand ballast from the design. The current sand ballast setup is used to keep the rear wheel planted to the road when traversing over bumpy roads. The current geometry of the air shocks don't allow immediate engagement fer these smaller bumps.

I figure I might be able to change the angle of the air shocks so they would be closer to a 45 degree angle to git the maximum amount of energy transfer and the air shocks would engage quicker compared to the near vertical position they are in now. The key will be to allow fer clearance of the tailgate when the tailgate is in the lowered position and how much articulation range the new position will allow. It may have to be where the tailgate cannot be in the lowered position when traveling with Dark Aero when traveling in extreme approaches...not that I have ever done that with the current setup.

All I can think of,is to create a short pivoted link (which won't obstruct the end of the tailgate) which translates the bucking forces of the trailer to a double-armed pivot,which then translates the pivoting motion to the air-shock which is moved lower or under.Indycars and Formula -One cars do creative things with their suspension with components at odd geometries.