# Is this a good test for the smoothness of a trailer's ride?



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

The axles and suspension on my trailer are supposed to be really good. Well of course, every manufacturer will tell you how great its products are, so it's hard to know for sure.

I brought the trailer back home today. I drove from the barn to my house. The drive includes the terrible pot-hole filled gravel road out of the barn, a road with lots of severe dips and bumps (speed limit 50mph), the highway (including a flyover), a u-turn, and my neighborhood streets.

So what I did was, before I left the barn I put a rock (about half the size of my fists and I have smallish hands) on the trailer tongue. When I got home, the rock was still there, and in fact didn't look like it had moved at all. Does this tell me that my trailer suspension really IS good? Has anyone else ever tried this?


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Not to me....sorry.
Tells me your hitch location is stabilized...

I think a better indication of "is the trailer suspension good" is to use the trailer suspension as your reference.
Maybe the glass of water...does it spill...
What I would actually do is load the horses and put your phone duct taped to the wall on video and drive....
Your daughter probably has a phone if not your husband...do the same with their phone and use a lower point of viewing from.
Drive cause _you_ are telling a story watching your horses move, listening to the creaks and groans of metal flexing and seeing a floor flex, bend and shift and if you think your new trailer will not do those things.._*.it must*_ or it will tear itself apart in a few hundred miles of driving forces.
You actually seeing all of this "live" will tell you much about your driving skills and abilities and what you need to concentrate on or correct when you watch your animals pitch and move.. 

Every manufacturer promotes their product in glowing words...it is advertising and how to sell and nothing wrong with it.
Is your trailer the best ride, IDK...
Is it the worst ride, IDK...
I do know it is not just the trailer but it is the "person" behind the wheel of the tow vehicle that can and does dictate much about the ride quality.
Do not think it is just be overly cautious in how your drive....it is how you drive, how you brake, how you accelerate, what your reaction is to drops and heaves in the road surface, pot-holes and pavement surface how it is laid and how old it is ...

The question you ask is _not_ a simple answer, not to me...
So much goes into the ride quality based on environmental and you...you as the driver can make better or worse.
That's what I got....I do want to read others feelings and opinions.
🐴...


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

When you say a glass of water, do you mean like put a glass of water on the floor of the trailer and then drive with it? Or better yet, a glass measuring cup, filled to a certain line, and then see how close to the line it is when you get there?

I like the idea of taking a video of the horses while I'm driving them around. I am still thinking about getting a camera for the trailer, too, but right now I'm afraid it would be super distracting for me to have it live while I'm driving.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

The idea of videoing is you to *not* watch while driving which by itself is *very dangerous...*
Your attention when driving truck and trailer is to _never_ waiver cause what you can get away with in your little put-put car just wrecked your truck, trailer and harmed your animals.
You are a new driver to a trailer and even to a truck from your small little put-put car....
You need no more outside distractions....you will wreck!
Cameras have a place and usefulness but not for the driver to watch like you make it sound...and never for the driver to watch but the passenger actually.

So unless you are a very accomplished towing driver...forget it, please just forget that idea you will watch the inside of your trailer going down the road..
Trust me, if there is a problem you will know and feel it in the reaction of your trailer and through your steering wheel...honest.
🐴...


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

Good thoughts. If I get the camera, I'll make sure the video part is always pointed at the passenger's seat so it won't be a distraction.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

Just a FYI...
I can not watch _{endlessly}_, nor have it on as it takes my attention even as a passenger and makes me motion sick, violently so.
Be very careful what your plan is for that camera and how much you have it on....a flip of a switch and its active.
Me, nope unless you give me many barf bags....
I'm positive not the only one with this...
🐴..


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

horselovinguy said:


> Me, nope unless you give me many barf bags....
> 🐴..


 I have a few friends that even as passengers can't read or watch videos, even while on a train, are you the same?

In the box we hire the camera is way above us, in the middle above the area where the rear view mirror would be. Is there no way your daughter can come with you and she can watch it? That's why I'll initially be driving with another person so they can keep an eye on the horses. I have also considered just sticking a cheap dash cam inside so I can watch the footage back instead.


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