Boat trailer clunking and popping over bumps. Solved

[cvtech1]

I have a 19 ft boat on a Mcclain trailer and it makes this awful popping and clanking noise over bumps. It's fine on smooth roads. Also when I jump up and down on the fender I can hear it sometimes. Any suggestions? Someone mentioned it could be a bushing.on the leaf springs. He is a boat engine mechanic so not to sure.

 

[dingbat]

Could be any of a number of things. Broken leave spring(s). Shackle(s) loose. Bushing(s) shot.

Only one way to know for sure is to crawl under and take a look

 

[ahicks]

Low tongue weight could be your evil here too. Even if the trailer seems to be pulling fine, if the trailer doesn't have enough tongue weight, it doesn't take much of a bump to unload you coupler and have it come crashing back down, taking up any and all slop in the hitch area. That can make quite a racket....

Kind of like pulling the trailer empty vs. fully loaded. Any trailer I've ever pulled always pulls better/quieter when loaded vs. empty.

 

[mark in new jersey]

Not saying this is the problem you're experiencing, but it's what I had happening: Try inserting your coupler into your receiver.....no trailer...inset the pin, then grab the ball & yank up & down. Any movement? That may very well be the clanking you're hearing.

My coupler (class III) was fairly loose in the truck's receiver, and that resulted in a lot of "clunking & banging" as the coupler "pivoted" up & down around the lock pin. Not a lot of movement, really....but enough to be quite noisy while under load. Tongue weight didn't have much impact one way or the other.

I know this will sound like a BS solution, but a single wrap of duct tape around the inserted end of the coupler cured the issue 100%. It tightened the coupler in the receiver "just enough" to reduce almost all of the motion and deadened / dampened whatever motion remained, preventing steel-to-steel banging.

 

[Tassie 1]

Turn the volume on the car radio up.
avoid bumpy roads.

 

[82rude]

Adding to the above suggestions roll up the window.:joyous:

 

[madsonp]

Make sure you have the right size ball for your hitch also.

 

[gm280]

If you have a square receiver hitch, you could be hearing that square hitch banging in the receiver section making that noise. Just a thought.

 

[ahicks]

As our OP hasn't bothered with a reply after posting nearly 60 days ago, I'm assuming he's left the building....

 

[cvtech1]

Sorry guys it was the leaf springs making all the noise. I changed them.

 

[Captain Caveman]

cvtech1 wins some kind of award for good etiquette! It may have taken more than 1.5yrs, but he posted the outcome. At least somebody will be able to search for this and find a resolution.