Curt Beast Mode Suspension

[SageRpod]

New thread that popped up on the Rpod Forum. Forest River announced this will be a build option on the Rpod series. It's already a build option on some No Boundaries trailers. Black Series trailers have been using this suspension configuration for a couple of years at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT3JIGSsNzk

[Rockhead]

Wonder what frame strength will be needed for this set up looks good

[Brian B-P]

The video describes this system as "unique", which is hilarious given that it is just like the many trailing-arm independent coil-sprung and air-sprung suspensions already available for trailers, mostly in the Australian market. It looks just as good (and just as crude, but with toe and camber adjusters) as the other products.
https://cruisemaster.com.au/suspensions/systems/

I couldn't find any evidence of this system on the Curt website, so I wonder if it is actually in production. The video is entirely computer renderings, so they may not have built one yet.

Originally Posted by Rockhead

Wonder what frame strength will be needed for this set up looks good

Near the end of the video the suspension is shown mounted to a subframe, which would be the easiest way to use it with a trailer frame not designed for it. Otherwise, a suitable crossmember would be required; a Torflex provides that structure in the form of the fixed square cross-tube and brackets.

[Escapist]

I found a Lippert video comparing an actual Curt Independent Suspension or a test model to what appears to be Lippert's Steel Spring suspension and Lippert's Torsion suspension.

Here is the U-tube location:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw1mEo6wGv0

They drove 3 separate travel trailers on a similar course and recorded the results. Curt came out very favourably on the units they tested.

[LarryandLiz]

When I saw this thread’s title: “Curt beast mode supervision”. …. I thought the topic was about how to supervise backing up a trailer or Secondly (and I’ve heard about this on this forum so this is what I thought and at times practise) … do not allow any side talk or interruptions while hooking up the trailer to tug (like other campers coming over to talk). We’ve learned that it is best or indeed important to focus on the task at hand while hooking up. Else important things can be missed.

Of course it’s possible to stay focussed without being a beast

[Doug2000]

This is absolutely ridiculous!!!! With 3 point of contact, 2 wheels and the hitch there is no reason for independent suspension except for a slick salesman selling this upgrade. Airbags on a solid axle would be ideal but independent is stupid.

[Civilguy]

That’s an interesting point about having independent suspension when two wheels and a hitch only provide three points of contact.

We saw a Black Series trailer on our May and June four corners trip. I don’t recall the specific location, but it was stranded by the side of the paved highway because one of the trailing arms had asserted its independence and was splayed out like a broken leg. It’s probably reported somewhere on another forum.

[Civilguy]

Huh. After watching the video with three different trailers and no information about the respective dimensions, loads, and tire pressures, the whole setup isn't exactly what you'd call a well-controlled study.


But, the voice-over does give us some critical clues: "...suspensions are super-critical because what you want is the shock being absorbed by the suspension and not being transferred into the unit itself..."

Yes, it's a comparison of coil springs with gas shocks to leaf spring and "torsion axle" suspensions without shock absorbers. So, the differences in the results aren't particularly shocking.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Doug2000

This is absolutely ridiculous!!!! With 3 point of contact, 2 wheels and the hitch there is no reason for independent suspension except for a slick salesman selling this upgrade. Airbags on a solid axle would be ideal but independent is stupid.

It is certainly true that in order to conform to surface irregularities, a structure with three points of support (such as a single-axle trailer) does not need suspension compliance. The entire trailer will just be tilted to follow the orientation of the plane defined by the three supporting surface points.
It is also true that with four or more points of support (such as a tandem-axle trailer), some compliance in those supporting points (so, suspension compliance) is needed or the support will be uneven and some points (tires) will be in the air on an irregular surface. That means that at very slow speed, a single-axle trailer doesn't need suspension at all. Whether the suspension is a beam axle or independent is irrelevant.

Once the vehicle starts moving, and static support is replaced by dynamic behaviour, the situation changes greatly. It is clearly not acceptable for the trailer body to move to follow every bump in the road, so suspension is required. If the ability to articulate to follow surface irregularities while parked or crawling were the only requirement, tandem-axle trailers would just have walking beams pivoting on points fixed to the frame, with no springs. While some heavy trucks still use essentially this approach, no one would find this acceptable in a travel trailer at highway speed.

When one tire goes over a bump, an independent suspension allows that tire to move up and down without forcing the tire on the other end of the same axle to tilt... and so independent suspension provides better ride and road grip, if all other factors (such as spring rate) are equal. All of this is equally valid whether there are one or two (or more) axles.

Long-travel trailer suspensions were popularized in Australian outback camping/travel trailers. The long travel and associated compliant (soft) springing are not for crawling through extreme terrain - they are beneficial on rough roads at road (not crawling) speed. Independent suspension has the same benefits (primarily ride) on those roads as in other applications. While many of these trailers have tandem axles, the road travel considerations are the same regardless of the number of axles, and long-travel independent suspensions are suitable and common on single-axle trailers.

Three-wheeled motor vehicles all have suspension, because it is required dynamically, even though it would not be required to sit parked on the ground with all three tires in contact. They also routinely have independent suspension, for the same reason that four-wheeled motor vehicles now routinely have independent suspension.

[SageRpod]

A fellow on the Rpod forum purchased a R192 with Beast Mode suspension. The following link is to a marketing video. He indicated there were several on the lot to choose from.

https://youtu.be/57kaMfiegFU.

At :22 you get a pretty good look at the suspension. It appears both axles and swingarms are mounted to a frame that is then mounted to the Rpod frame as a single unit. Having owned an Rpod, I can't imagine the body holding together if someone decides to test the limits of the suspension.