Axle flip on a small 16 feet Sportsmen

vlopddap wrote:
Thanks for theses informations Camper G !

I was aware than "flipping" is actually an expression and the real thing is to put axle over/under leaf springs. I have a great mechanical skill and it do most of my car maintenance/repair myself (brake, suspension, head gasket, etc) so as my trailer maintenance (bearing, etc).

Installation is not my concern, it's more like unwanted side effects... 6 inch higher sound pretty high however but I'll need to deal with it if I want to increase my trailer height!

I'll probably need to buy another Equal-i-zer ball shank because I had to cut the included one to fit my Dodge Caravan. The van hitch is so low than the shank rub on the pavement! LOL So I needed to cut it for about 2 inch to clear the ground! So now with the jacked-up trailer it will probably be too short! DAMN! :p

No problem at all, glad my post was helpful. Sounds like you have a good skill set to tackle this job. Just take your time and be careful and make sure the trailer is high enough and secure before you start taking things apart. You don't want that much weight coming down on you.

Do one side/one axle at a time, IE start with the RR then do the LR, then RF and LF, or something like that so you always have one side connected (you have to loosen the U bolts on the opposite side to give you the play to swing the axle under the leaf spring/move leaf spring over the axle).

I also reccomend hooking the trailer up to your van for stability purposes when you jack it, as again, you have to go pretty far up to do this job. I am fortunate to have a long frame floor jack (harbor freight special!) and that was nearly maxed out getting enough height to do this job. Thankfully I had enough height I could just disconnect the equalizer side of the spring, then drop the axle under the spring and swing the spring back up again.

There are You Tube videos out there that show others doing this job and mine went pretty much that way, just be sure you maintain the correct spring perch angle when you locate the new spring perch, but the instructions from Dexter give you those specs.

A travel trailer of any size seems to be asking a lot out of any minivan, so I hope you installed a transmission cooler on your van. Dodge's have notarisouly weak tranny's so I'd reccomend caution, especially if you get into the hills with it.

Regarding your hitch shank, I was fortunate to be able to retain mine as my Expedition sits pretty high and when I towed the trailer home it was a few inches "nose high" (horrible for towing stability as others mentioned), so after the relocation my rig sits pretty level now. As an aside, before my relocation I was pondering buying an extended drop shank so the trailer would sit more level, but realized even doing that, the Layton had such poor ground clearance, it still would have drug the tail getting into my driveway, let alone any campsites that were not dead level, so in essence I killed two birds with one stone when I did the relocation. I also have no handling issues at all after the relocation.

I'm very pleased overall with the results and have no regrets in doing the relocation from under slung to over-slung.

Take care,
G