Too Low To Tow

[Omrod]

Sorry for the long story:
We have a 2011 North Trail 28BRS by Heartland. When we got it new, the unit seemed rather low to the ground, especially with the spare mounted below the hitch. After having to remove the spare a few time to level the camper at sites, I moved it to the rear bumper as I've notice on the newer models. The power stabilizers and dump pipe are still fairly low.

Last week while returning to Wisconsin from a great trip to Tennessee, I had a wheel bearing go out on I-57 in south central Illinois at 7:00 am on a Saturday morning. After sitting on the interstate for a few hours and two tow trucks later, I was told that my camper was too low to put up on the flatbed tow truck without tearing up the under belly, stabilizers, sewer pipe, etc. I towed the TT at 10 to 15 mph to next exit and the tow truck driver left. Thank goodness for smart phones & GPS; started searching for someone who could fix it. Finally found somebody that would look at it, close to noon. Again I was told the camper was too low to haul on a flatbed without causing damage. I towed the TT at a very slow pace 12 miles north to the tow company’s lot. Ended up spending 3 nights in their lot waiting for a new axle from Indiana; we did have electricity and use of their mechanics restroom.

My question (finally): How do you get a camper towed if you have trouble on the road? I have noticed the newer North Trail models are not as nearly close to the ground. Thought about getting a new camper, but we really like what we have, except for the ground clearance thing.

[colliehauler]

william davey wrote:
You should NOT just roll the axles over to get the spring mounts on top. The axles almost always have an arch in the center so the axle will flatten under load and maintain proper wheel alignment (camber). If you just roll the axles, the arch will be downward, the wheels will be tilted inward at the top and it will get worse when you load the trailer.

If you look at Old Biscuit's example you will see a new perch welded to the top of the axle for the springs to mount to. William Davey is correct do not roll the axle over to mount.

[william_davey]

You should NOT just roll the axles over to get the spring mounts on top. The axles almost always have an arch in the center so the axle will flatten under load and maintain proper wheel alignment (camber). If you just roll the axles, the arch will be downward, the wheels will be tilted inward at the top and it will get worse when you load the trailer.

[Old-Biscuit]

If your leaf springs are attached under the axle tubes like this


Flip the axles........install leaf springs on top of axle like this


Gain height/ground clearance and wheel well tire clearance
Will have to adjust tow hitch but worth the effort

[Camper_G]

Within the past month, I completed an over-slung axle conversion (re-located axle under the leaf spring as opposed to over as it was OEM, on my 89' Layton.

Check under your rig and look at where the axles are located, are they under the leaf spring (over slung) or does the leaf spring go under the axles? (under slung).

If your currently under-slung as my Layton was, then you can do the re-location. I gained at least 4" of ground clearance doing this and I would never go back to under-slung again. My sewage pipe connection and valves are behing the LR wheel so when my rig was under-slung I had literally 6" MAYBE of groung clearance and the prior owner's installed "steel wheels" on the back hit when I backed into the driveway for the first time at my house (bad can twist the frame)

Now, the hitch the prior owner gave me did not have enough drop on the shank, so I was towing nose-high, however I don't think an extended drop shank, and getting the trailer dead-level hitched up would have allowed me to back into the driveway and still not hit those wheels.

So I figured I'd wack two birds with one stone, do the axle re-location, gain ground clearance (the 89 Layton from the factory was a REAL low-rider which I didn't like) and then I Could retain my existing hitch shank.

I spent about $120.00 for the two dexter axle relocation kits (one kit does one axle) and probably 4-5 hours of time. This was the first one I ever attempted, so if I was to do it again I could do it in probably half the time)

Towing wise, I didn't notice any difference at all, under slung compared to the re-located over slung set-up. I will say this, I have been spinning wrenches for 23+ years on a variety of equipment from heavy truck all the way to ATV's, go-karts, ETC. If you don't have a good mechanical background I would take it somewhere to have the re-location done. Getting the rig jacked and properly blocked is VERY important. I reccomend hitching it up to your tow vehcile before jacking so the front is anchored. I also used a long-frame floor jack from Harbor Freight when I lifted the camper, as my standard floor jack did not have enough lift (ram) to get it high enough.

Make sure you have the tools, equipment, safe place to work an experience if you attempt this. It's not worth your life, or loss of limbs to save a few hundred dollars if you don't have what you need to do this type of work. It's not super-difficult, but when your dealing with weights such as your trailer, it's nothing to fool around with. This is my .02 for what it's worth.

I was suprised to see my brother in law's 2006 Keystone Outback 21 came from Keystone under-slung. Yet, his rig seems to have a lot more ground clearance even under-slung than my Layton did. His has 2 entry steps as well which confirms this (the layton only has one so I just put a small stool on the ground for the first step).

Another good idea on his Keystone I like is that the sewage connection is FORWARD of the LF tire and not behind the rear one. There is MUCH less chance of it getting hung on something where his is.

The only odd thing I've found about his rig is that the water heater only has one valve to put it in bypass, which does not make sense to me (mine has two one on the inlet and the other on the outlet), but I suppose a lot of other rigs are like that and it must bypass it somehow?

Good luck in your decision.

-Greg

[beemerphile1]

Tandem axle? Sometimes one axle can be chained or blocked up off the ground to tow on the remaining axle.

A dolly under the bad axle would also be possible if the operator had one available.

You may want to consider an axle flip or other modification to raise the trailer. It would be less expensive than a new trailer.

[jmtandem]

You might want to reposition the axles to get some more height.

[skipnchar]

My solution would be to raise the trailer to a more usable height. I'm guessing you also have a lot of dragging problems at gas stations etc.

[mhardin]

Bucky Badger wrote:
He had a bad wheel bearing tho....

A lot of tow trucks have dollies they use when a vehicle is missing a tire or when the wheel can't roll due to damage. That's what they should have used.

[BurbMan]

Ohhhh....good point! Well, nevermind then.....

[Bucky_Badger]

BurbMan wrote:




Look at the pic below, it's just a random one from the web. If you look below the flat bed at the rear you will see the hitch ball. that whole assemble telescopes out about 3' using hydraulics and can carry quite a bit of weight. That's what the tow guy should have used to tow the TT, instead of trying to winch it up on a flatbed.

He had a bad wheel bearing tho....

[Bucky_Badger]

If you are able to do the axle flip that will give you a good 3 or 4 inches. we had ours done professionally for around 325.00

[BurbMan]

I have Good Sam road service and had to call them when the transmission went out on the Burb this summer. I was already at the CG and the TT was halfway in the site so I needed the tow driver to finish parking it for me. The flatbed that Good Sam sent had a telescoping bar that came out from under the bed that they use to get under the front wheels of cars. So the flat bed could carry one and tow one behind. Well, that bar also has a 2" receiver in it, so we just installed my Hensley draw bar and he parked the TT using that.

Had I been broken down on the road, he would have put the burb on the flat bed and towed the TT behind. Even though ours has the ground clearance, there is no way a 32' TT is going to fit on a flatbed.

Look at the pic below, it's just a random one from the web. If you look below the flat bed at the rear you will see the hitch ball. that whole assemble telescopes out about 3' using hydraulics and can carry quite a bit of weight. That's what the tow guy should have used to tow the TT, instead of trying to winch it up on a flatbed.