Roadmaster Comfort Ride Slipper Spring System - 7,000 lb Axle

Video Transcript for Manufacturer Discussion - Roadmaster Comfort Ride System

Hello neighbors, it's Brad here from etrailer, and today I have Jeff from Roadmaster. And we're gonna be taking a look at something that a lot of people don't think about on their campers, and that's, well suspension, you know And a lot of times people buy a camper, and they go, "Well, it is what it is. That's the ride that we're gonna get." And that's not necessarily the case, correct Absolutely. You can always turn around and increase the customer's ride on their fifth wheel, or their travel trailer, by just doing a simple modification and changing it out to slipper springs. There are other several products that you can look at as well. So a slipper spring, for those of you that don't know, what exactly is that compared to a normal just leaf spring So a normal leaf spring, what you have is an equalizer that's in between that's connected with links.

So typically what happens is, is as the energy is being absorbed by one wheel, it's actually being transferred into the other axle, and so on and so forth. So you get a lot of unnecessary movement back and forth, up and down, out, and outward as well. But what we'll primarily do, is try to reduce all the shock that's going into the trailer. So is that lease spring as a slipper, it becomes almost floating in the sense, correct Correct. So basically what it does, our picture that we have here is my unit after I did the install.

So typically what we do is remove the equalizer. We mount our slipper spring box. And then what happens is, is we have our slipper spring that goes into the box. And as that, as your wheel hits a bump, the spring actually slides in and out of the slipper spring box. So does that, with the slipper spring, does that keep the axles a little bit more in-line than a traditional leaf spring Yes, it does.

So whenever you hit a bump, what you're gonna notice is, we have some slow motion video as well, but you, when we hit a bump, you'll actually notice that the wheel, the axle's moving vertically instead of horizontally also. Brad As the a way suspension should be. Jeff Correct. Correct. So without a slip or spring or just normal suspension, you have a story with your own trailer.

Not that many miles on it, and maybe some issues with bushings. Yeah. So basically what happened here, is you're looking at my newer fifth wheel that I have. I recently talked to one of my dealers that was up in Northern California. He said, "Hey, did etrailer put your system on yet" I said, "No, not yet. It's actually in my garage. I haven't put it on yet." He's like, "Well, what are you waiting for" I was like, "Well, just been really busy. Haven't had the opportunity to do it yet." He's like, "Well, are you getting ready to do any service" I was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna go pack my bearings." He says, "Well, when you do so," he says, "Do me a favor." He says, "Pull one of the bolts out." He goes, "For your existing spring." He goes, "Just kinda let me know what you see." So I went home, packed my bearings, did exactly what he said, pulled that, pulled that bolt out, looked at it, and the, the bronze bushing inside was completely wore out. And so once I determined that, I decided to go ahead and do the install of my, on my own for the comfort ride system. So, as far as, okay, this is your own driveway, you did this yourself. Yeah, it's actually at a campground in Needles, California. Okay. How bad was it to do So typically, I mean we normally for a double axle, eight hours, for a triple axle, 10. In this case, because I'm very familiar with the product, I do it quite often. I was actually able to do it in under eight hours. Okay. And as far as the kit, obviously we have a triple axle here. So you have the two boxes. Does it also come with the shocks So the shock absorbers are separate, but a complete kit will be the slipper spring, the shot, the slipper spring box, and then you add the shock get, the shock kit to it. And basically what happens is, is we're looking at upwards of 80% increase in rideability for that, for that trailer. Okay. And then as far as choosing a comfort ride, you know, say someone's kinda landed, that they want to get the comfort ride, how do they determine which kit is right for them So if they wanted to, to look at which kit's gonna be proper for them, so we have the shock kit, which is separate from the slipper spring kit. What we need to know is diameter of the axle. Okay So once we determine the diameter of the axle, that gives you the proper shock kit. And then what we need to know is the weight capacity of the spring. And once we have those two, we can set you up with the proper kit. Okay. Now living with it, you know, a lot of times with suspension people go, "Okay, it's, it's, you know, a decent amount of money be putting in this. A little bit of work to get it installed. Does it really make a difference" It makes a night and day difference. Especially when you're towing, you'll notice that you don't get the excessive wag out of your, out of your trailer when you're driving down the road. Especially if you're hitting bumps or potholes, you're gonna notice that there's a lot less energy being transferred into your coach. So a lot of times people notice, "Hey, I got screws that are starting to back out, or I'm starting to having to seal my coach more often. Because we're absorbing all that extra energy down here with the shock absorbers, we're noticing that that's not quite happening quite as frequently. Now, there's definitely a lot of different options when it comes to, you know, suspension enhancement. But why would someone want Roadmaster versus anything else that's out there Well, we are a US manufacturer. We manufacture everything ourselves in Vancouver, Washington. If you ever get the opportunity to come on out, we'd love to give you a tour. But more importantly, I'd say we do manufacture all this in-house, so it is a made in the USA product. We're very proud to advertise that, but we also back it with a lifetime warranty, 'cause we are able to build that quality into the product. And that's peace of mind. I mean, you one and done. Exactly. You buy it, you get to enjoy it. You know it, the warranty's gonna outlast the trailer more than likely. Jeff Exactly. So that's pretty cool. So adding this comfort ride to a travel trailer is definitely gonna enhance your driving experience, as it, more suspension is generally a good thing. You know, as you're towing down, your truck's gonna be squattin', and you have points that are gonna pivot. But each of those points are potentials for it to get, to be a little bit harsher ride. And factory suspension on travel trailers are, well they're pretty old school to say the least. Pretty old school. Yeah. And this is a much better system. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, having slipper springs, as well as the shocks, it's really gonna give you, well a comfortable ride. Yeah. And we're giving the customer independent suspension axle to axle. Which is awesome. Yeah. And that's really using, you know, newer technology, and putting it into stuff that should have caught up by now. But it's great that this is an option. So you know, if you're really hauling quite a bit, and you're not happy with the way that it goes down the road, this is gonna be a great option for not only your trailer, but all the contents inside of it. Jeff Exactly. And as far as the installation goes, if this is something that's maybe beyond your scope, you don't have the place to do it, the tools to do it, or even the want to do it, you can use our dealer locator, and that way you can find someone close to your area to get this installed for you. Huge thanks to Jeff for taking a second to give us a little bit of insight into the Comfort Ride for Roadmaster here. Yeah, definitely. Thank you. Thank you.