Torsion bar setups works well for highway use, but once you get off the highway, its springs all the way.

 

Why? I can see they would have more travel distance, but I can't say I've ever bottomed out my trailer and I drive all over On highway and off, and on road and off road.

 

As a matter of fact I have seen a 3 axle trailer with a rubber torsion system, and it works quite nicely.That would be the Airstream 34 ft. classic travel trailer. This trailer has used this system for more than 20 years, with outstanding results. I have personaly had four trailers with rubber suspension, from a 24 ft. travel trailer ,all the way to a 39 ft. 5th. wheel. As per my experience there is no comparison.

 

BTW, the new trailer is a ford color, dark shadow gray, silver metallic pinstriping, should look good behind my black truck

 

There is always an exception to the general rule, and someone to point it out. I will reiterate the point - there is a drawback to torsion axles in that a trailer can wind up being up on one axle with the other axle hanging - ALL the trailer weight on one axle. Try this:
http://dexteraxle.com/i/u/1080235/f/6-8K%20Catalog/4000-6000_lbs_10-05_80_res.pdf

Plain text, big letters: Caution - triple axle assemblies are not recommended for torflex axles.

Their words, not mine.

 

I've seen tri-axle torsions as well... maybe they aren't Dextor axles?

 

Airstreams are Deutch Hensen with Bilstein shocks. A top shelf setup, that has proven itself over many years and hundreds-of-thousands of miles.

 

I've bottomed out spring axle trailers before. I like my axles to have lots of flex for going through ruts. Spring axles are probably going to be slowly phased out like carb's, but like carbs there will always be a few holdouts that will never get a rubber axled trailer.

 

Torsion axles are fine for light loads and on highway use. However, do to the fact Torsion axles do Not load share, they are not suitable for heavy loads and rough road or off highway use. For heavy loads and rough road or off highway use Leaf spring axle systems are the only way to go.

Torsion axles provide a slightly smoother ride on highway usage and offer a little lower deck height, but they do not provide the versatility or load capacity of leaf spring axle setups.

All torsion axle trailers must be towed with the trailer level at all times otherwise one axle will be forced to carry excess weight and possibly overload the axle which can lead to premature axle or tire failure. With a leaf spring trailer the trailer does not have to be towed in a level postion since the axles load share and distribute the weight evenly.

Yes you can find triple torsion axle trailers, but the torsion axle manufactures strongly recommend against installing torsion axles in a triple axle application. This is do to the fact that torsion axles do Not load share. So driving over speed bumps, elevated driveways etc can force one axle to bear the majority of the trailer load, and on triple axle trailers it is easy to overload the single axle & tires since the load is Not shared. In addition torsion axle trailers have a much higher point load on the trailer frame and lead to increased stress and localized loading of the trailer frame. Also uneven loading of multiple torsion axle setups causes the ride characteristics of the trailer to be adversely affected leading to unfavorable harmonic characteristics and CG shift, which can lead to ill handling trailers.

On lightly loaded trailers you can sometimes get away with torsion axles in a triple configuration, but the wear and tear on the axles and trailer frame are accelerated and the potetntial for premature tire failure is much higher. Basically all triple torsion axle trailers are poorly designed and engineered, and are built against the recommendations of the axle manufactures. The trailer manufactures with triple torsion axle trailers are counting on the fact that the trailers are lightly loaded, and always used on smooth highways. The main selling point of the triple torsion axle trailers is a lower deck height and slightly smoother ride on the highway.

So if you want to limit your towing to light loads and smooth highways then torsion axles are fine, however if you need triple axles or to tow heavy loads or on rough roads then leaf spring axles are the way to go.

 

Hey, Blackhat, nice summary. You spelled it out better than I did. Didn't realize when I posted that I had to draw them diagrams in the sand......Wonder if we got through to them yet?? Naahhhh......probably not.

 

If torsion axles aren't good for a load. Then why do almost all stock trailer manufacturers use torsion axles as a standard? The one that we have ordered has 7000lb torsion axles, and is 20ft long. Trailer manufacturers overbuild, because they know that farmers could care less about ratings, we pack as many cows as we can fit and go for it. If torsion axles were as bad as you say, no one would use them...

 

Just got back from the AQHA Congress in Ohio... you had me climbing under every triple axle trailer there. There were several dozen. ALL were torsion axles, including the $250,000 24,000lb trailers made by Sooner. In fact, I didn't see a single new trailer on the property (out of several thousand trailers there for sale) that had springs. Could ALL the trailer manufacturers be that stupid? Or maybe they found a way around that recommendation that isn't unsafe, given they are all certified by the American Trailer Manufacturers somethingorother safety orginization?

 

Velly intelesting. Thanks for the real world field work. Assuming the 24k lb ones were set up with triple axles? I would gess thats a 7000 lb. axle we are talking about then?

There were two new 5th wheels in the family this year, and both were spring setup. Course they weren't $250,000 trailers either.

 

I didn't look at the GVW plate. I would assume they would be 10k axles; the 24k weight was DRY. Add 1200lbs per horse (these were 4-5 horse trailers) plus equipment/water/propane...

All of these were horse trailers and stock trailers. There were very few cargo/dump trailers, and I didn't look at those. I THINK that several of those were springs, but they were also much lighter than the horse trailers.

 

Hello all;
I was recently looking into a new equipment trailer (Goose neck) with a weight rating around 14-15k. After looking into it, the torsion setup had several advantages including better ride. After looking into it and hearing some of the bad stories, I could never talk to anyone who had one of the bad stories happen. It was always this may happen, or this could happen. Never this happened to me. At this point I was starting to believe that when you load a torsion axle to the danger point as described above you are in as much danger with a steel spring. The same conditions that will damage a torsion bar axle will bend spring axles and break springs and shackles. (Yes I have broken springs and bent axles through heavy tough farm use.)The trailer I was looking at was a twin axle equipment trailer with torsions rated at 7,000 each. I would in no way call this a light duty trailer.