SUSPENSION TRAVEL
How much travel should a coil suspension
system have? Suspension travel is defined by
the driving conditions. For blacktop touring,
travel is kept to a minimum.
An offroad independent coil setup, however, is
quite different. Take AL-KO’s Enduro Outback
setup, for example. Its control arms and coil
springs are designed for maximum travel —
140mm, in fact.
Cruisemaster’s semi-offroad system, however,
has 100mm of travel, while its XT offroad
setup offers more than 130mm of travel.
“The split of the wheel travel is also important,”
Andrew Goddard said. “A poorly designed
suspension may have adequate travel in one
direction and not enough in the other.”
Independent coils are well-suited
to this type of terrain.
ONE SHOCKER OR TWO?
The tow vehicle only has one shock absorber
per wheel. So why do most independent coil
suspension systems for caravans use two?
“A heavily loaded caravan on extreme,
corrugated roads on a hot day will require
heavy-duty shock absorbers with an
increased heat dissipation rate for optimised
ride performance,” Jibu John said. “Otherwise,
the excessive heat combined with oil bubbles
can cause early fading and degradation of
shock absorbers.”
AL-KO is investing in the development of new
shock absorber designs that satisfies higher
heat dissipation rate for offroad requirements
using a single shock absorber setup.
AL-KO's Enduro Outback system being
tested in 'real-world' offroad conditions.
From Cruisemaster’s perspective, it’s a
somewhat controversial topic.
“In the early days of Cruisemaster XT, our
customers were pushing the boundaries of the
product and needed higher ratings and body
control,” Andrew said. “The easiest thing to do
was to add another dual tube shock.