Hawk Jayco J-trax 1 vs 2.0

[nicnic]

Hi All
I'm in the market for a Jayco Outback and wondering to buy 2nd hand or new. One of the sell's for new is that they have J-TRAX 2.0 which is apparently(according to salesman) lighter(Aluminum) and better than the previous J-TRAX 1.0 independant suspension. I'm waying up pro/cons of buying a prestine 2017 Jayco Hawk(26k) or going for a new Jayco Eagle (32k) is there sufficient value in the J-TRAX2 suspension to warrant anew purchase?

Cheers

 

[Crusty181]

Hi All
I'm in the market for a Jayco Outback and wondering to buy 2nd hand or new. One of the sell's for new is that they have J-TRAX 2.0 which is apparently(according to salesman) lighter(Aluminum) and better than the previous J-TRAX 1.0 independant suspension. I'm waying up pro/cons of buying a prestine 2017 Jayco Hawk(26k) or going for a new Jayco Eagle (32k) is there sufficient value in the J-TRAX2 suspension to warrant anew purchase?

Cheers

Hey @nicnic, welcome. I presume you mean Jtech, which is the standard independant Outback van suspension, and im guessing is also on the campers.

Not too sure theyll be many people here that could offer up comparisons on mk 1 and mk 2 Jtech on a camper.

$6k for the mk2 suspension, the short answer would be not on your life. Mk1 has been around since 2014, on 1000s or vans and been found to be very reliable. Mines 2014, with 3.2t bouncing on it for over 60,000km, many 1000s of that over goat tracks and corrugations ... still going strong

The mk1 is heavy, thats for sure and its camber adjustment is non exsistant. Be interesting to know if there is camber adj on the mk2.

The salesman at Jayco (on balance) wouldnt know where the suspension is, but one thing they do know very very well is that if you dont buy their brand new camper, it cant be good for them. So whatever they have in front them, is best thing for you ... anything they dont have, well thats just no good and you might just loose your job, get divorced, you die prematurely if you buy it, or someone in China might even eat a undercooked bat.

I would favour steel over alloy on suspension anyway. Youll note that the mounts, bolts, coils, shocks are all steel ... good reason for that

Good luck with it

 

[Johnanbev]

Hey @nicnic, welcome. I presume you mean Jtech, which is the standard independant Outback van suspension, and im guessing is also on the campers.

Not too sure theyll be many people here that could offer up comparisons on mk 1 and mk 2 Jtech on a camper.

$6k for the mk2 suspension, the short answer would be not on your life. Mk1 has been around since 2014, on 1000s or vans and been found to be very reliable. Mines 2014, with 3.2t bouncing on it for over 60,000km, many 1000s of that over goat tracks and corrugations ... still going strong

The mk1 is heavy, thats for sure and its camber adjustment is non exsistant. Be interesting to know if there is camber adj on the mk2.

The salesman at Jayco (on balance) wouldnt know where the suspension is, but one thing they do know very very well is that if you dont buy their brand new camper, it cant be good for them. So whatever they have in front them, is best thing for you ... anything they dont have, well thats just no good and you might just loose your job, get divorced, you die prematurely if you buy it, or someone in China might even eat a undercooked bat.

I would favour steel over alloy on suspension anyway. Youll note that the mounts, bolts, coils, shocks are all steel ... good reason for that

Good luck with it

@Crusty181 The MK2 has camber adjustment

 

[nicnic]

Hey @nicnic, welcome. I presume you mean Jtech, which is the standard independant Outback van suspension, and im guessing is also on the campers.

Not too sure theyll be many people here that could offer up comparisons on mk 1 and mk 2 Jtech on a camper.

$6k for the mk2 suspension, the short answer would be not on your life. Mk1 has been around since 2014, on 1000s or vans and been found to be very reliable. Mines 2014, with 3.2t bouncing on it for over 60,000km, many 1000s of that over goat tracks and corrugations ... still going strong

The mk1 is heavy, thats for sure and its camber adjustment is non exsistant. Be interesting to know if there is camber adj on the mk2.

The salesman at Jayco (on balance) wouldnt know where the suspension is, but one thing they do know very very well is that if you dont buy their brand new camper, it cant be good for them. So whatever they have in front them, is best thing for you ... anything they dont have, well thats just no good and you might just loose your job, get divorced, you die prematurely if you buy it, or someone in China might even eat a undercooked bat.

I would favour steel over alloy on suspension anyway. Youll note that the mounts, bolts, coils, shocks are all steel ... good reason for that

Good luck with it

Thanks Crusty and yes I meant JTech 1 vs 2. This is the information I wanted , better to go with some thing tried and tested rather than new and not. Plus its alot of extra $$. Off to buy a 2017 Jayco Hawk...

 

[jazzeddie1234]

my starcraft has the mk1 version with no camber adjustment. Seems pretty tough to me and it has coped fine over really rough roads - much better than the cabinetry anyway

 

[BJM]

Many early JTech suspensions were impossible to wheel align properly as only tow in out.A truck aligner I went to in Newcastle said nearly all he dealt with were a mile out in adjustment including mine.He reckonedthe jig Jayco were building suspension on was out.Mine has a A arm with at least an 1/8 inch twist which equates to quite a lot of negative at the stub axle.Jaycos answer was you have gone over a deep pot hole etc.!

 

[Crusty181]

Many early JTech suspensions were impossible to wheel align properly as only tow in out.A truck aligner I went to in Newcastle said nearly all he dealt with were a mile out in adjustment including mine.He reckonedthe jig Jayco were building suspension on was out.Mine has a A arm with at least an 1/8 inch twist which equates to quite a lot of negative at the stub axle.Jaycos answer was you have gone over a deep pot hole etc.!

Id say your aligner is spot on, in the jig being out ... but i go further a suggest they have multiple jigs of various degrees of out'ness. Jayco doesnt make the suspension themselves, its outsourced locally. When i bought my van, i had it reversed upto the factory roller door. From the back of the dark factory with sun light bleeding under the van it was like a spotlight on each of the 4 axles, and all 4 were at varying angle, none level. I took it straight back thinking i was about to loose the suspension all together. At the dealer i looked at 10 OBs in the display ... all but one was the same. 5 years down the track, with almost 60k km on the van and ive had no weird tyre wear. Im on my 2nd set of tyres but to be fair i lost one entire wheel alltogether (if someone comes across that on the GRR, let me know), shredded another completely and have dragged then over some horrid goat tracks. All in all, variable camber doesnt appear to have caused any long term issues or premature wearing.

 

[Drover]

Camber not a biggy on trailers unless really are out as they get screwed around so much but toe will eat a tyre away between smoko's if out too much ......... thats why a rotate is good after each trip, more so than a car in some respects.................. having said that a means of adjusting it is better than a hydraulic press.... its not that hard........................... The chassis and suspension unit should be locked in the jig when they are married up, some Ive seen I reckon they added them afterwards using a one eyed welder........ better than the Coromal set up, mine has a Knee Suspension system, no adjustments at all, each wheel is independant and you know a spring is one the way out as a tyre will scrub, remedy with a shim on the slipper or just get new springs all round, thing is they last longer than the van and rarely seem to cause any trouble so of course they are discontinued now for more flashier, heavier and expensive units......