crah
Las Vegas
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My 5th wheel rides a little nose high and I think I can get by with just raising the jake plate and not flipping the axels depending on how many inches I will actually gain. The first picture below shows the mounting bolt in the highest setting at the end of the leaf spring, but the second picture is at the other end of the leaf spring in the middle of the two wheels. How much will this actually raise the trailer? Will it be the distance at the front of the leaf spring in the first picture, or the distance in the second picture? Does anyone have a link to actually do this mod? I did a search, and actually found too much info that confused me more.
2009 Jayco 25.5RKS
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JR45
Warren/OR/USA
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Mine is in the bottom wholes but it was that way when we got it. I would think it should raise it 3". I would install the wet bolts if you are going to move them.
JR
06 F350 4x4 PSD Lariat FX4 CC LB
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2003 Alpenlite Limited
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Working4ALivin
Santa Rosa,CA
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Joined: 01/09/2005
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I'm no expert, and I'm sure someone may have better info. But from what I understand is that the spring eye's distance from a fixed point should be equal when the trailer is level on level ground. If your trailer is on level ground and the trailer is level (which I don't think it is)then looking at photo 1 the axle is rotated foward. Looking at photo 2 you can see that the spring eye at the equalizer is close to the bottom hole, which would indicate the fixed end spring eye should be in the bottom hole. I'm not positive on this but I think if you only lower the fixed end spring eyes it will raise the trailer 1/2 the distance the eyes are moved.
Now I do now this. Moving only either the equalizer or the fixed end will affect camber, which could lead to tire wear on the inner or outer edges of your tires.
If you look across your axles you will notice they are bowed up in the center. On an underloaded trailer the tires look like this \ /. As you load the trailer the tires get closer to this | |. Overloaded they look like this / \.
Rotating the axle forward or back removes some of the built in camber which means that when your trailer is properly loaded the tire may sit / \ instead of || which will cause the inner edge of the tires on that axle to wear.
How much do you think you need to raise the trailer?
* This post was
edited 09/29/09 10:46pm by Working4ALivin *
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Working4ALivin
Santa Rosa,CA
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X2 on what JR45 said about wet bolts. Plus replace the plastic bushing with brass. I installed the Trailair equalizers and wet bolts on my 05 Keystone Laredo. The trailer has less than 3K mile on it, but the plastic sleeves were gone and I had to replace 2 shackles on the fixed ends.
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tvfrfireman
Portland, Or
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I raised my fifth wheel by going to the bottom hole but it still was not enough. Make a control line (marking floor level on outside of trailer front and back) then pull a string full lenghth crossing over the two marks to determine how unlevel you are. I ended up having my axles moved under the springs and moving shackles into the middle holes in the jack plates. I have read on this forum of those jack plates needing to be reinforced if you use the bottom hole as they will flex. I also went to the wet bolts and ez flex by dexter when I did all this work. If you have any other questions about my ramblings, send me a private message.
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crah
Las Vegas
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Thanks for all the info guys. I think I can get by with 3-4 inches. I'm not familiar with wet bolts or bushings. Maybe I'll leave it to the dealer to do the work. Anyone know how much it would cost?
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Puddles
Lafayette, Indiana
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crah wrote:Thanks for all the info guys. I think I can get by with 3-4 inches. I'm not familiar with wet bolts or bushings. Maybe I'll leave it to the dealer to do the work. Anyone know how much it would cost?
Look on the Travel Trailer Forum... there's a sticky on installing a shock abbsorbing equalizer along with a wet bolt kit... has pictures with good info...
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larry barnhart
wenatchee. wa usa
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We lower to the middle hole and it raised the alpenlite up 1&3/4"
We didn't change the hole between the wheels. I figured this was for lowing to the bottom hole. Our alpenlite was the first alpenlite with the addjustable spring hangers and not much information in 2001.
chevman
chevman
2001 35 ft avalon alpenlite RK
2005 3500 2wd duramax CC dually
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Texas Jim S
Belton, TX
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Carah, you now have the axles adjusted to where the trailer is as low as it will go. I would lower the equalizer ( the part between the axles ) to the lowest hole and then lower the opposite end of the spring to where the eyes ( ends of the springs ) are close to being level with the equalizer. Having one end of the spring higher than the other changes the CASTER and not the CAMBER. The caster is not a tire wearing angle and really doesn't have any effect on the trailer but it does on the front end of a vehicle. Wet bolts replace the bolts that hold the equalizer, spring hangers, and the eyes of the springs. The bolts have grease zerks on the head, are hollow down the center of the bolt, and are cross drilled in the center. The bushings simply slip into the holes in the springs and equlizers. You should be able to push them in with your fingers. This enables the pivot points to be greased. Most of these originally have plastic bushings that wear into in a year or so.
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crah
Las Vegas
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Texas Jim S wrote:Carah, you now have the axles adjusted to where the trailer is as low as it will go. I would lower the equalizer ( the part between the axles ) to the lowest hole and then lower the opposite end of the spring to where the eyes ( ends of the springs ) are close to being level with the equalizer. Having one end of the spring higher than the other changes the CASTER and not the CAMBER. The caster is not a tire wearing angle and really doesn't have any effect on the trailer but it does on the front end of a vehicle. Wet bolts replace the bolts that hold the equalizer, spring hangers, and the eyes of the springs. The bolts have grease zerks on the head, are hollow down the center of the bolt, and are cross drilled in the center. The bushings simply slip into the holes in the springs and equlizers. You should be able to push them in with your fingers. This enables the pivot points to be greased. Most of these originally have plastic bushings that wear into in a year or so.
Thanks. I will have to PM you for some additional info if I decide to do this mod myself. I'll have to wait a couple of months before I'm ready for it though. Thanks again.
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