Presently, my cougar lite sits lower at the rear than the front when hitched to my Ram 2500 and I'm concerned for the uneven wear of tires and brakes. Our kitchen is at the rear of the trailer, so I'm also concerned about uneven distribution of weight. I'm considering flipping the axles to raise the height of the rear of the trailer about 4 inches. Is there any safety concerns and am I sacrificing ride quality if I do this?

I have done a few and all worked fine no issues. hardest part is supporting the trailer safely. etrailer.com was very good for the brackets.

I've done it a couple of times (one a pop-up Starcraft, the other...a three axle 22 K lb,Teton. Seemed to work out fine, be certain to properly locate the spring pad mount. Not sure of your axle brand, mine were Dexter(on Teton), bought spring pad mounts from a Dexter supplier. Good Luck

Have a qualified welder weld on the new spring pads. The old pad on the bottom makes a great jacking point. The quick and dirty kit that is not welded on is not a good idea except to get to the welding shop. Brakes create a lot of twisting force of the axle and pads.Chris

Do a lot of research you may want to do more while you have it up and apart.Heavy duty shackles and wet bolts.Put some extra bracing in with Morryde x-factor.Up grade your equalizer.Maybe think about shocks.If you have 15" tires go with 16's when you need new tires.

A drop hitch for the truck might be an easier solution.When I upgraded from half to three quarters Ram, I purchased a 12" drop hitch for the 2.5" receiver. Trailer is nice and level now.

flipping my axles for more height | Good Sam Community

Ed9824v
Explorer
Jun 19, 2017
I have done a few and all worked fine no issues. hardest part is supporting the trailer safely. etrailer.com was very good for the brackets.
memtb
Explorer
Jun 19, 2017
I've done it a couple of times (one a pop-up Starcraft, the other...a three axle 22 K lb,Teton. Seemed to work out fine, be certain to properly locate the spring pad mount. Not sure of your axle brand, mine were Dexter(on Teton), bought spring pad mounts from a Dexter supplier. Good Luck
Me_Again
Explorer III
Jun 19, 2017
Have a qualified welder weld on the new spring pads. The old pad on the bottom makes a great jacking point. The quick and dirty kit that is not welded on is not a good idea except to get to the welding shop. Brakes create a lot of twisting force of the axle and pads.

Chris
2naEagle
Explorer
Jun 19, 2017
Do a lot of research you may want to do more while you have it up and apart.
Heavy duty shackles and wet bolts.
Put some extra bracing in with Morryde x-factor.
Up grade your equalizer.
Maybe think about shocks.
If you have 15" tires go with 16's when you need new tires.
GordonThree
Explorer
Jun 19, 2017
A drop hitch for the truck might be an easier solution.

When I upgraded from half to three quarters Ram, I purchased a 12" drop hitch for the 2.5" receiver. Trailer is nice and level now.
IdaD
Explorer
Jun 19, 2017
GordonThree wrote:
A drop hitch for the truck might be an easier solution.

When I upgraded from half to three quarters Ram, I purchased a 12" drop hitch for the 2.5" receiver. Trailer is nice and level now.

OP has a fifth wheel, so a drop hitch does no good.

I got between 5 and 6 inches when I flipped my axles and it was an easy job. As others have mentioned the only tricky part was getting the trailer jacked and blocked safely and high enough to do the job. Aside from that it was easy. Trailer pulls fine and doesn't have any stability issues.
laknox
Nomad
Jun 19, 2017
x2 on welding the new spring perches in.
x2 on the cross-bracing, whether a kit or home made.
x2 on upgrading the suspension with a wet bolt kit.
x2 on upgrading the equalizer.
x2 on adding shocks, if you don't already have them.

Unless you're real handy, pay a =good= pro to do the install.

Lyle
Espee
Explorer
Jun 19, 2017
They are putting the axles over the springs now on the Cougar?
My cougar had the axles under the springs from the factory, so I just put 2" blocks in and went to bigger tires for a total of 3 inch lift. Added the wet bolt /equlzrs and x member reinforcement later.. no shocks, as I dont ride inside it anyway. The new Ram is a couple inches taller than mine, so not sure how big a tire you can go depending on clearances...
N-Trouble
Explorer
Jun 20, 2017
X3 on the crossbracing. I got large cracks in my Lippert frame within months of doing a spring over axle flip. Lippert took care of it but wish I would have known prior.
garyp4951
Explorer III
Jun 20, 2017
If I remember right, doing a spring over axle will give you the total of your axle diameter, plus the leaf pack, plus two perches.

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