Worries about clearances

[Lennoxsmith]

Hey guys... Looked around the forum but couldn't find the exact answer. I'm pulling a 28ft jayco trailer with a 2015 F150 supercab with 5.0L and 3.55 gears with weight distribution hitch. Done all the math and not overloaded... Even mindfull enough to weigh all my cargo as it goes in and took the trailer and truck to the scales.

My concern is that we are going camping this weekend at a new spot with friends and there's one spot on the road that is downhill at a decent grade and has a hump in the middle that has a drop off the other side. I have concerns regarding clearance going down and up the hill due to the long wheel base and getting hung up.

I understand there is no rule of thumb here... But any advice or words of caution etc. Would be greatly appreciated.

[Lwiddis]

"I have decided to borrow a friends popup trailer"

That's what I do. If I'm concerned at all about the road I borrow a friend's trailer.

[myredracer]

What is a "decent grade"? 10 percent, 7, 5 or? You have "decent" hills in Eastern Canada? :B Come out west thru the Rockies and then down the mountains in the western states and see what decent is, lol...

When was the last time you inspected the TT's brakes and wiring? TT brakes aren't exactly known for their high reliability.

Have you got the WDH tightened up properly to get adequate wt. transferred back onto the steer axle and is the TT sitting fairly level when all loaded up (incl. truck) and WDH hooked up? Are the spring bars properly sized and not under-sized and causing more flex? I *might* be inclined to consider tightening up the spring bars a bit more or getting a heavier set of bars (depending on your weights & ratings) just for this trip to reduce vertical motion. Also if you haven't, air the TT tires to sidewall max. and truck tires to or near max. sidewall (hopefully LRE & not P type)

[Lennoxsmith]

Edd505 wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:
Seriously, there is a campground down the road and you think you are the first guy to ever pull a trailer down that road?

Walk down and see if the humps all scared from other campers making the trip down.

It didn't look to be scraped up, but I'm assuming the other steep switchbacks probably deterred a lot of people with larger trailers away. This is a back-county type site that is way off the beaten path. Most people coming here are canoeing in and tenting on islands or tenting by a small beach.

[Edd505]

troubledwaters wrote:
Seriously, there is a campground down the road and you think you are the first guy to ever pull a trailer down that road?

Walk down and see if the humps all scared from other campers making the trip down.

[BizmarksMom]

There have been a few times I was glad I dropped the trailer and scouted in first. Which I started doing after getting into a bad spot I had to back out of.

The fact that a trailer has made it to a campsite doesn't mean that my trailer will make it in.

[OBSPowerstroke]

Lennoxsmith wrote:
Did my due diligence and went tonight after I got directions. I would have posted this much sooner if I had known the spot and scenario earlier. I will have a spotted and I always have tow straps.

The hill down is steep and once I get on this road... Im Committed... There's no turning back. I am thinking it's best to find a different spot... Not thibking it is worth the risk.

I've had my trailer in some hairy situations and as long as you take your time with a reliable spotter or two, you'll be surprised what you can make it through. I've never been in a situation I couldn't ease my way back out of before I got in too deep, and low range 4WD has saved me several times; one of which was leaving camp last week after waking up to an unexpected 2" of snow on the ground.

[Lennoxsmith]

I have decided to borrow a friends popup trailer with its short wheelbase will easily get over this road hazard. Thanks for the help!

[Lennoxsmith]

Jframpey - I think that angle would be greater, your system actually makes me more confident that I shouldn't drag this in there! I have no way of changing my attack angle either...unfortunately due to the degradation of the road on each side.

BizmarksMom - I am not too big a guy to back out if I cannot make it... but with an extremely steep gravel hill with some washout taking place on one side on the and a 50deg corner behind me.... I'm pretty much committed when I go down this hill.. its all in or not in at all.

troubledwaters - I am most definitely not the first one to tow a trailer down there.. but this is Ontario crown land road access camping... the roads are there but not maintained in the slightest. I would be willing to wager that no one with a halfton with regular clearance and a 30 ft trailer is going down that hill with confidence. Most trailers in these sites are 18-24 footers or pop up trailers with nice tight wheel base separation from the tow vehicle.

[troubledwaters]

Seriously, there is a campground down the road and you think you are the first guy to ever pull a trailer down that road?

[WNYBob]

I like N-Scale.

But seriously JFRAMPEY & BizmarksMom have better ideas.

[BizmarksMom]

If it doesn't look good when driving in with just a truck, don't take the trailer. Find a different campsite.
If you do try it with the trailer and it isn't a go. There is no shame in backing out.

Been there, done that. Backed out after a lot of head scratching. A whole lot of Get Out And Look was involved, too. Good on you for scouting it out ahead of time!

[Jframpey]

Measure the distance from truck rear axle to trailer front axle. Measure the clearance from the lowest projection to the ground... probably around the hitch. Cut a board to the length between axles, lay it over the hump, push one end to the ground, measure the distance between the board and ground on the other end. If it's greater than 2X the clearance - don't try it! That's also called the breakover angle. I've done it with string - drove a fire truck for a bunch of years - it's called preplanning, know your roads!

You can gain an inch or two by approaching at an angle normally.

[2oldman]

HO, N, O.. whatever

[Lwiddis]

HO scale, 2oldman?