Tail dragger, tail roller project
Not liking to drag the tail ever time we turned around or pulled off the road, my first project not long after purchasing our used 2000 Four Winds 26Q Class C motorhome was to add rear airbags. This helped level it out and better carry the normal loads, but it didn't cure the problem of dragging the bottom of the hitch on the ground now and again.
The previous owner of the unit had put a set of casters such as these on the unit; one was bent and had lost most of the ball bearings in the caster:
It didn't take me long to remove those.
My first attempt to fix this issue was met with varied results:
The one I found had a plastic wheel; I replaced it with the weld-on type metal roller/u-bracket from CW and tossed the u-bracket in my collection:
This kept the tail from dragging, but it would contact the ground more frequently than the hitch alone would have due to the fact that it hangs down 2 1/2 inches. Worse, I found that it became a very effective anchor when backing too far into a bank or dropping the tail into a small ditch, as happened twice to us last summer.
(you might recall my stories regarding our 9 Catastrophes)
I had ideas on how to design a new roller that would solve both of these issues - it would not contact until the last possible moment, and more importantly, it would not act as an anchor, given the country in which we tend to roam around... back roads, usually gravel or dirt.
I had an old ball mount my son had found in an old pickup that he had obtained (and since discarded!). It was a 6" drop mount, and we have nothing that we'd have used it on. Additionally, it was pretty tattered, and an off brand that didn't seem that sturdy. This, and the original u-frame from the roller that I'd purchased from CW for the first roller project came together this weekend as this:
Another view:
Installed:
Note the line at the bottom of the image - it lines up the bottom of the duals with the new roller and the drag-V; this should do the trick:
Offset from bottom of hitch to roller:
And the board pointing at the base of the duals:
As you can see, the roller has yet to be tested.
The only disadvantage is this cannot be used when towing, which we've never done to date since purchasing the MH in early 2010.
Perhaps we could go back to the "anchor" when we do tow, or just let it drag on those rare occasions. Else, I believe this will do quite nice for our "Tail Dragging" events!
The previous owner of the unit had put a set of casters such as these on the unit; one was bent and had lost most of the ball bearings in the caster:
It didn't take me long to remove those.
My first attempt to fix this issue was met with varied results:
The one I found had a plastic wheel; I replaced it with the weld-on type metal roller/u-bracket from CW and tossed the u-bracket in my collection:
This kept the tail from dragging, but it would contact the ground more frequently than the hitch alone would have due to the fact that it hangs down 2 1/2 inches. Worse, I found that it became a very effective anchor when backing too far into a bank or dropping the tail into a small ditch, as happened twice to us last summer.
(you might recall my stories regarding our 9 Catastrophes)
I had ideas on how to design a new roller that would solve both of these issues - it would not contact until the last possible moment, and more importantly, it would not act as an anchor, given the country in which we tend to roam around... back roads, usually gravel or dirt.
I had an old ball mount my son had found in an old pickup that he had obtained (and since discarded!). It was a 6" drop mount, and we have nothing that we'd have used it on. Additionally, it was pretty tattered, and an off brand that didn't seem that sturdy. This, and the original u-frame from the roller that I'd purchased from CW for the first roller project came together this weekend as this:
Another view:
Installed:
Note the line at the bottom of the image - it lines up the bottom of the duals with the new roller and the drag-V; this should do the trick:
Offset from bottom of hitch to roller:
And the board pointing at the base of the duals:
As you can see, the roller has yet to be tested.
The only disadvantage is this cannot be used when towing, which we've never done to date since purchasing the MH in early 2010.
Perhaps we could go back to the "anchor" when we do tow, or just let it drag on those rare occasions. Else, I believe this will do quite nice for our "Tail Dragging" events!
