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I came up with the following design for a single wheel trailer:

Single wheel trailer

Single wheel trailer

The shock absorber is missing in this drawing.

What is the best way to mount the swingarm to the horizontal plate? It needs to pivot.

I was thinking about pillow blocks, but I'm not sure if they are suitable for this application. Design should be as simple as possible and easy to fabricate.

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    $\begingroup$ Some further detail would be helpful here, along the lines of labeling the parts of your drawing and maybe providing a picture/link to the pillow blocks you are suggesting. $\endgroup$
    – grfrazee
    Aug 26, 2015 at 14:43
  • $\begingroup$ My first thought was also pillow blocks. Could you please elaborate on why you think they might not be appropriate? Do you need something more like a ball joint for an additional degree of freedom? Or, do you need a fixed joint for one less degree of freedom? $\endgroup$
    – gmclapp
    Aug 26, 2015 at 15:50
  • $\begingroup$ How much movement are you realistically going to see? I think pillow blocks might be a bit much. Given the size of the wheel and the minimalist brackets the load can't be all that high... I'd consider just welding on two tabs with holes drilled through them and bolting it together with the appropriate spacers and bolt (one that is not threaded where it will be pivoting around) $\endgroup$
    – m4p85r
    Aug 27, 2015 at 7:56
  • $\begingroup$ The plate looks flimsy right now. It is going to take some torsional loading which might break the welds if it is not strong enough. $\endgroup$
    – John Alexiou
    Nov 1, 2016 at 23:08

2 Answers 2

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I would have drilled 2 holes in a bracket and then welded it onto the flat plate.

To reduce friction and absorb high frequency vibrations, I would have then used cheap nylon bushings.

enter image description here

Choose a bolt with a smaller diameter than that of the holes of the swing-arm. Now the space that would be left hollow in between the bolt and the holes should be filled with the nylon bushings mentioned above.

enter image description here

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Rubber or plastic bushes are the conventional solution for suspension mountings. They cope well with shock loading and vibration, help to isolate vibration from the wheels and are reasonable tolerant of slight misalignment.

Usually mounted as a press fit in a simple tubular housing with a bolt providing the connection to the suspension arm.

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