Trailer shock install

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I bought a home made trailer on CL about 4 years ago.  This was prior to me beginning to weld and an understanding of what is a bad vs good weld.  Got it for cheap and there is a reason.  I have gone through many of the welds and added additional bracing but if I were to post it on this forum it would have been laughed at.  Anyways, it is a standard flatbed trailer with leafs.  It is REALLY BOUNCY and I am considering adding shocks to try to get better behavior from it.  I paid about $500 for it so I am stuck between selling it and buying another or going with a cheap rebuild.  I only use it to bring quads to the land for the kids so it isnt seeing a lot of use.A) can this be done and does anyone have advice re location etc and / or maybe pics ?B) will I see any results that will mute the bouncing if I do this?Thanks in advance.
Reply:How heavy are the axles?   If they are 5200 lb or greater you may not have enough load on it.  Just a thought.  Could you remove a leaf from the pack to smooth out the ride some.Miller BobcatHarris cutting outfitMiller spectrum 625 plasmaVariety of shopmade tools
Reply:shocks may help, but you'll still get bounce from the tires. you don't have a heavy load on it especially when empty. Which I'm sure is when you have the most problem with the bounce. If you're going to add shocks, add your brackets to the spring plates (the flat plate the U bolts go through to clamp the axle to the springs). that way you're not welding to the axle and potentially weakening it. You can do just do a bolt through a cross member for the top mount. if you don't have one directly above the axle, add one. Just so you know. Most trailers are bouncy when they are emptly/lightly loaded.There are no problems. There are only solutions. It's your duty to determine the right one.Hobart Handler 210Airco 225 Amp MSM Stinger
Reply:Before you weld on shocks, I would also look closely at the spring packs. If someone repurposed a light set of car springs you won't be able to add shocks to control them. Trailer leaf springs and car leaf springs are engineered to work in fundamentally ways. A set of weld on spring hangers, shackles and leaf springs from someplace like Northern Tool would also be price competitive with going the shock route.
Reply:Springs are springs.  what they are off of has no bearing on how they work. They may be to heavy or to light but you can still control them somewhat with shocks. Shocks allow the axle to move up easy and down slow. The only thing is to get the balance right between spring load  and shock load.  Mac
Reply:Well, shocks specifically DAMPEN harmonic motion. Frequency is not slowed. Allows you to use much lighter shocks to allow for greater motion, and gives a smoother perceived ride. When you have light springs and shocks on a trailer and towing vehicle, you can get a LOT of harmonic motion transfer between the trailer and vehicle. That's why a vast majority of trailers have no shocks. Airbags, yes. They behave more like springs anyway. If a trailer DOES have shocks it was engineered to. Shocks should not be added to a trailer that isn't engineered without them unless you are *really* sure they will do what you intend them to.The key element I brought up, Toolmaker promptly parroted. "get the balance right between spring load and shock load." Shocks don't affect how much capacity a spring has. If your trailer has a set of weak small car springs on it, you are potentially under capacity for your planned load. Bluntly, welding on shocks to fix a capacity issue is like buying a fish a bicycle.
Reply:Thanks for the info everyone.  I am going to look and see if I can remove a leaf from there and if that makes the impact i am looking for.  Its pretty bouncy even with two quads on there and the way it is built the guy could have grabbed leafs from anywhere.I am looking for a cheap solution as I am not that into the trailer financially and if I were going to build it up I would probably sell it and start with a different platform.However, if I can reduce some of the bounce, then it would suit my needs pretty well.  Hadnt thought about a different spring pack for it, so that may be a way to go.  Also, with the shock, the point of accurately matching is a point I hadnt considered.  Since I dont know whats on there this would be difficult.Again, thanks for everyones input.