Axle flip on a small 16 feet Sportsmen
I just bought my first TT to replace our 10 feet pop-ups. It's a slightly used 2011 KZ Sportsmen Classic 16BH. I have only one concern till now; it's the trailer height. Just to reach my house from th...
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wmoses wrote:vlopddap wrote:
...it's the trailer height. Just to reach my house from the main road, the kind of large triangular steel bracket under the rear bumper rub on pavement a few places when I climb steep hills. Obviously my TT is perfectly levelled with my towing vehicle. But to be honest, when the TT is parked in a parking lot, the rear bumper brackets only clear the ground by 3-4 inch maximum.
If the only issue is the clearance in way of these triangular brackets when going up your driveway and if you are level at all other times AND if you don't otherwise need the height increase, I would simply remove the brackets.
With my previous RV they were simploy bolted on to the frame so if yours is the same removal should be a 5 minute job, if that. AFAIK, these brackets are only there to protect the aft end of the trailer from scraping in conditions such as this. If your usage is such that you won't likely scrape the rear end, then the more practical solution is to remove the brackets.
Flipping the axle, at the very least, raises the vertical centre of gravity and hence decreases the (transverse) rollover stability of the trailer.
In most if not all cases removing the brackets WILL result in damage to at least the slinky drain and possible the black water tank.
I would NEVER advise anyone to remove those brackets for any reason.
They ARE put there for a purpose by the factory.
Additionally many ARE welded on, mine is, so the OP would have to cut them off and would be a pain to cut and then have welded back on after getting tank repairs done..
I would however agree with the axle flip altering the center of gravity.. This mod does have some potential handling side effects..
My suggestion is the OP needs to LOWER the tongue, FIRST.
It DOES NOT "NEED" to be "level". In fact it most likely will improve handling by allowing the tongue to sit a bit lower.
Lowing the tongue will shift some of the center of gravity FORWARD of the trailer axles and will add a little bit of weight to the tongue. It may not take much to reduce the dragging and as long as the tongue jack does not drag you will be good..
