How level when towing

[dryfly]

I'm looking at a new 5th wheel to replace my current trailer. I did some frame work on my current trailer and got it perfectly level when hooked to my truck.

This is a 30 ft. trailer I'm looking at, and when measured from ground to frame, there is a 1 1/2 to 2" difference between the front and rear. The front being higher. Measurement made while trailer hooked up to truck. Bed rail clearance is great at about 8".

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Is this difference enough to justify modifying the springs, hangers, etc? ? What is the max differential that is acceptable.

[lenr]

IMHO--
I'm the opposite of a prior poster. I would rather lower truck clearance to 6"-7"and tow level. And, rising the pin box 1" will bring the front end down and the back end up so the OP might be real close to level. I never had a problem with 6 years of towing with 6" clearance. Now that depends a little--if you're getting way off the beaten track, 8" might be necessary.

[Slownsy]

That 1/2” at axles will lift rear 1”.
Frank.

[dryfly]

laknox wrote:


FWIW, changing to 16" wheels/tires only gains you about 1/2" in height. Just sayin'...

Lyle

You're right. As I said i did it on my current trailer mainly to get better tires and the 1/2" was a bonus.

Reading some of the above posts I'm already thinking either run it 2" high and keep my bed clearance, or a compromise would be to lower hitch 1" and go with 7 1/2" clearance and tow trailer 1" high. I honestly don't think either would present an issue. I'm over processing this.

Just wanted to get all my ducks in a row before buying a new trailer!

[laknox]

dryfly wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Thats a lot of top clearance for a std leaf spring trailer suspension. My current 5th wheel trailer/5200 ln leaf spring axles, has 2 3/4" to 3" top of tire clearance.
Also every 5th wheel rv trailer I've owned (3) had 5"-6" of clearance which was plenty unless your boon dockin in the back country.
2" out of level front to rear in 30' isn't much. I would make a couple of trips and then I would decide if any leveling or changes in the trailer front to rear attitude needs help.

I agree, I'm just used to not having to look back at the trailer when I go into weird places (I don't do any boondocking), but probably 6" and a little caution is all that is needed.

Your tire clearance sure seems short. I'm guessing you have checked for rubbing on the wheel well.

I had originally planned on converting any new trailer to 16" wheels, as I did on my current, so I could get LT tires. With some of the newer 15" tires available I really don't want to have to use that option to lift the trailer.

FWIW, changing to 16" wheels/tires only gains you about 1/2" in height. Just sayin'...

Lyle

[laknox]

dryfly wrote:
I'm looking at a new 5th wheel to replace my current trailer. I did some frame work on my current trailer and got it perfectly level when hooked to my truck.

This is a 30 ft. trailer I'm looking at, and when measured from ground to frame, there is a 1 1/2 to 2" difference between the front and rear. The front being higher. Measurement made while trailer hooked up to truck. Bed rail clearance is great at about 8".

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Is this difference enough to justify modifying the springs, hangers, etc? ? What is the max differential that is acceptable.

You could adjust your hitch or pin box to lower the nose, but you lose the bed clearance. Personally, I'd =much= rather have the 8" clearance and tow 2" nose high. I've never felt that my nose-high condition with both my FWs affected handling or chucking and, because we boondock, I =need= the clearance. If you have suspension spacers in your truck, they can be removed. If you feel you need to raise the FW, a Correct Track may be the easiest way to go. You gain 2" of lift =and= you get the ability to align your axles.

Lyle

[dryfly]

schlep1967 wrote:

I would also imagine your center to center axle measurement is probably less that 5 feet. So the difference would be even less.

You are correct. I also got to thinking, we are not talking about the overall trailer length, just the frame, which is what I measured to get the difference front to back.

The frame would be about 25' and the axle spacing is 35". So using that I did Schlep1967's math and plugging in the new numbers I get about .245" or 1/4" frame height difference front axle to back axle.

[ACZL]

Is it possible OP to post some pics so we can see what it currently looks like?

[schlep1967]

dryfly wrote:

schlep1967 wrote:

dryfly wrote:
I'm looking at a new 5th wheel to replace my current trailer. I did some frame work on my current trailer and got it perfectly level when hooked to my truck.

This is a 30 ft. trailer I'm looking at, and when measured from ground to frame, there is a 1 1/2 to 2" difference between the front and rear. The front being higher. Measurement made while trailer hooked up to truck. Bed rail clearance is great at about 8".

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Is this difference enough to justify modifying the springs, hangers, etc? ? What is the max differential that is acceptable.

The whole level from front to back thing is about having equal weight on you trailer axles.
Time to do some math.
30 foot trailer- break it into inches (30 x 12) it is 360 inches long.
Difference front to rear 2 inches. Change per inch on the trailer 2 / 360 = .00555 inches.
Distance between axles, I'll assume 60 inches, times change per inch. 60 x .00555 = .333 inch. or about 5/16 of an inch difference in frame height between the axles.
I'm sure your equaflex or similar axle leveling system can cover just over a quarter inch difference in weight transfer between the axles.

Thank you. I knew there had to be a math equation that would put this in perspective. I can't imagine how 5/16 of an inch with axle leveling system could present a problem.

One solution of course would be to weigh the trailer (each axle), or to simply check the temperature of the front/rear tires when traveling. I would think if overloaded temps would rise significantly.

I would also imagine your center to center axle measurement is probably less that 5 feet. So the difference would be even less.

[dryfly]

JIMNLIN wrote:

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Thats a lot of top clearance for a std leaf spring trailer suspension. My current 5th wheel trailer/5200 ln leaf spring axles, has 2 3/4" to 3" top of tire clearance.
Also every 5th wheel rv trailer I've owned (3) had 5"-6" of clearance which was plenty unless your boon dockin in the back country.
2" out of level front to rear in 30' isn't much. I would make a couple of trips and then I would decide if any leveling or changes in the trailer front to rear attitude needs help.

I agree, I'm just used to not having to look back at the trailer when I go into weird places (I don't do any boondocking), but probably 6" and a little caution is all that is needed.

Your tire clearance sure seems short. I'm guessing you have checked for rubbing on the wheel well.

I had originally planned on converting any new trailer to 16" wheels, as I did on my current, so I could get LT tires. With some of the newer 15" tires available I really don't want to have to use that option to lift the trailer.

[dryfly]

schlep1967 wrote:

dryfly wrote:
I'm looking at a new 5th wheel to replace my current trailer. I did some frame work on my current trailer and got it perfectly level when hooked to my truck.

This is a 30 ft. trailer I'm looking at, and when measured from ground to frame, there is a 1 1/2 to 2" difference between the front and rear. The front being higher. Measurement made while trailer hooked up to truck. Bed rail clearance is great at about 8".

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Is this difference enough to justify modifying the springs, hangers, etc? ? What is the max differential that is acceptable.

The whole level from front to back thing is about having equal weight on you trailer axles.
Time to do some math.
30 foot trailer- break it into inches (30 x 12) it is 360 inches long.
Difference front to rear 2 inches. Change per inch on the trailer 2 / 360 = .00555 inches.
Distance between axles, I'll assume 60 inches, times change per inch. 60 x .00555 = .333 inch. or about 5/16 of an inch difference in frame height between the axles.
I'm sure your equaflex or similar axle leveling system can cover just over a quarter inch difference in weight transfer between the axles.

Thank you. I knew there had to be a math equation that would put this in perspective. I can't imagine how 5/16 of an inch with axle leveling system could present a problem.

One solution of course would be to weigh the trailer (each axle), or to simply check the temperature of the front/rear tires when traveling. I would think if overloaded temps would rise significantly.

[alboy]

Ipulled our 36 ft fiver at approx 5 1/2 inches nose high ,back tires ran hotter,changed to 2 inch nose high ,pulled great and no issues with the rear tires.Thought it would be even better level,but found in heavy winds it moved around more.

[schlep1967]

dryfly wrote:
I'm looking at a new 5th wheel to replace my current trailer. I did some frame work on my current trailer and got it perfectly level when hooked to my truck.

This is a 30 ft. trailer I'm looking at, and when measured from ground to frame, there is a 1 1/2 to 2" difference between the front and rear. The front being higher. Measurement made while trailer hooked up to truck. Bed rail clearance is great at about 8".

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Is this difference enough to justify modifying the springs, hangers, etc? ? What is the max differential that is acceptable.

The whole level from front to back thing is about having equal weight on you trailer axles.
Time to do some math.
30 foot trailer- break it into inches (30 x 12) it is 360 inches long.
Difference front to rear 2 inches. Change per inch on the trailer 2 / 360 = .00555 inches.
Distance between axles, I'll assume 60 inches, times change per inch. 60 x .00555 = .333 inch. or about 5/16 of an inch difference in frame height between the axles.
I'm sure your equaflex or similar axle leveling system can cover just over a quarter inch difference in weight transfer between the axles.

[JIMNLIN]

There is only 4 1/2" of wheel well clearance from top of tire so changing to 16" wheels won't work.

Thats a lot of top clearance for a std leaf spring trailer suspension. My current 5th wheel trailer/5200 ln leaf spring axles, has 2 3/4" to 3" top of tire clearance.
Also every 5th wheel rv trailer I've owned (3) had 5"-6" of clearance which was plenty unless your boon dockin in the back country.
2" out of level front to rear in 30' isn't much. I would make a couple of trips and then I would decide if any leveling or changes in the trailer front to rear attitude needs help.

[MFL]

"Again, my real question is *how level* does the trailer need to be??"


Need to be...most consider 1-2 inches nose high acceptable. I tow about an inch or so nose-high, no issue. Many things can make one persons experience better than another's, at the same height. I would lower my hitch another inch if I could. I am about 6.5 inches of bed clearance. Not sure why you need so much, but 8"s is normally not needed.

Jerry