I have a 24' torsion axle enclosed that does the job your describing. Its my first experience with torsion axles and have 0 complaints. I lifted mine 4" for ground clearance by just adding a tube to the underside of the frame and welding it back togeather, less then a 4 hour job.

 

Leafs, simple, reliable and won't dry-rot.

 

Leafs would be my preference. I had tandem 5500# on my last 24' enclosed and it rode great full or empty. On my new trailer, they wouldn't do leafs or I would have. It has tandem 7K axles and it rides like shit - super stiff. Leaf spring axles are cheap to replace if you bend an axle (it happens easier than you think) and they help keep the overall cost of the trailer lower. I also have a suspicion about the torsion axles being stiffer yet when it's cold out.

 

If you're putting a lot of miles on it, torsions are the way to go.

Shackles and bolts become wear items, we were replacing them once a year on the rental trailers.

Aside from that the torsion axles ride a lot better. We notice a significant decrease in the number of fatigue cracks on piping/welded joints of our mobile skids since going to all torsion axle trailers.

 

This is pretty much what I have always read, 50/50... This trailer will primarily be used for one long trip, likely a 10k mile trip with no provisions for any major maintenance. So the ease of repairs for a leaf sprung trailer seam nice. Not worried about the cargo in the trailer. The roads will be the smoothest time they ever see. More worried about reliability and ease of maintenance.

 

If your buying new there should be no maintaining on a 10 000 mile trip. I like the fact that on my torsion axle there is nothing really to maintain, it just works.

 

Got 2-7k torsion on mt 28' goose. In 10 years and at least 100k miles no issues. Its smooth and quiet.

 

Torsion all the way I have fixed more leaf sprung trailers than I can count. Also swap alot of torsion axles in place of leaf spring axles for all the ranchers around here in there horse trailers never seen a problem with a torsion axle short of being bent from driver error!

 

i have two identical ball hitch trailers. one tilt deck has torsion, the other leaf spring both are 14 k rated

both the same age

the leaf spring has needed center pins, a u bolt and the complete suspension rebuilt once entirely and the also wear items like broken center pins and cracked springs over the last 10 years. it rattles, clanks and banks on dirt roads and bounces pretty hard when partially loaded and empty


the torsion axles trailer. hasn’t required any maintenance of the axles other than brakes and bearings. rides decent even when empty and partially loaded.


my gooseneck was leaf spring it was a constant upkeep game, u bolts stretching or working loose. always checking with the torsion rig i inspect for frame cracks so far so good


My 14’ 10k trailer is on springs and it’ll stay that way. part of the discussion is mileage. my trailers regularly cross the 100k+ mile threshold after 2-5 years. i do plenty of hauling on gravel roads and logging trails at our ranch. overall i love my trailer with torsions its been relatively maintenance free and smooth riding but i do not regard it as being anything less or more than the leaf springs.

my two 14k lbs tilt decks are constantly dragging close to max weight or more. they owe me no favors. i think for pavement and washboarded gravel roads the torsion is really hard to beat ride wise. my leaf spring equipped units are simple and reliable too but even with slipper spring setups they foo seem to require a little closer examination. my GN and the other two trailers definitely show wear and tear after a year on washboard roads and heavy loads. the above items like to wiggle loose but that doesn’t persuade me to not run leaf springs its just a fact/byproduct of heavy use and a lot of use

 

depends on if you want to raise and lower your hitch if you haul loaded or empty. Leafs share the weight loaded and unloaded. torsions unless level one is carrying more load. Off road leafs will share the load better. By the time you wear pins and shackles out you will be putting on the whole brake backing plate rebuild kit and all anyway. if then even. I have a 1960 enclosed trailer with lots of miles on it in the last 13 years I had it, who know before. But have you ever seen a 8x20 enclosed trailer that old?. It did have greasable shackle bolts ect and is just now needing shackles and bolts. which are cheap. I did replace one axle after a bearing went and was more of a pain to find and get parts so just bolted a new axle right in for 300. Torsion woulda been 750. how often do you see a trailer towed level like its supposed to be?

 

I've never heard of the long-term issues with leaf springs. Interesting.

 

Load it front heavy and you'll blow tires constantly.

 

I got tandem torsions on my boat trailer, and had tandem leafs on my flatbed. Both are 3500lb. The boat trailer doesn't like the bumps as much as the leafs, and overloads an axle worse if the tongue isn't set at the perfect height.

Both trailers have probably 20k miles so I can't speak much about dependability. Haven't had problems with either.