tent trailer spring over?

[ashman]

I just picked up a small tent trailer, but it sits so low that my hitch is too high causing a lot of wander. Rather than lower my hitch, I'd rather raise the trailer. \

As you can see, it's a spring under design, but I'm not seeing any reason why I couldn't just flip the axle over and make it a spring over and gain a few inches.

Anything obvious I'm missing?

 

[blazinzuk]

Doubt it. I have done it 5 or 6 times for friends. One we had to drop the hangers and do a spring over. Bigger ones can get squirrelly sometimes. I did one that was big that got towed behind a TJ on 38s we put longer springs and a spring over. He says it felt different towing but was fine

 

[ashman]

doubt I'm missing something, or doubt it'll be that easy?

The axle doesn't have brakes on it or anything else, I'm not really seeing a reason why it couldn't just be flipped over so that the perches were on top.

 

[blazinzuk]

Doubt your missing anything

 

[rampage]

Only minor thing I can see is the shape and size of the bolt head for the spring pack where it goes into the perch.

 

[cyclic]

If the axle is perfectly straight (no slight arch which some do) you can do it by flipping it over. If it has any angle at all you need to put some spring perches or adaptors on first. Either way it's pretty cheap and easy job.
Read a good explanation here....................https://www.etrailer.com/question-30768.html

And the proper way is with this kit......................https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Dexter/K71-385-00.html a whopping $45 and it includes the new u-bolts, which you should always use anyways.

 

[ktmoutfront]

Check toe in. Some axles have it built in. If you flip it, it will be toed out. Tends to wander. I have done a few. Flip it over and end to end sence it does not have breaks. If it had breaks, new perches would need to be welded because you can not flip or rotate the axle.

 

[ashman]

I'll check for an arc, but from just eyeballing it, it looks straight.
This is a VERY light trailer. I'll give it a shot. If it's worse I'll just put it back and order the kit.

 

[yellowK20]

Check toe in. Some axles have it built in. If you flip it, it will be toed out. Tends to wander. I have done a few. Flip it over and end to end sence it does not have breaks. If it had breaks, new perches would need to be welded because you can not flip or rotate the axle.

You just have to swap sides with the brakes, since they are left and right . Unbolt the backing plates and swap them side to side after flipping the axle upside down. But if it has built in toe, then yeah you need to redo the perches.

 

[cyclic]

Uh, he has no brakes?

 

[ktmoutfront]

Small tent trailer. No brakes.

 

[yellowK20]

Yeah I get that, just saying

 

[cyclic]

But the backing plates are there, you could add brakes in the future. Or if you just wanna be the cool guy, you could add the brakes WITH parking brakes. Which would make it more stable when parked without the tow vehicle connected. Hell, you could even change the lug pattern to match your tow vehicle at the same time.

 

[ashman]

I got to work taking it apart today. The axle does have a slight arc to it, but I was going to give it a shot anyway. But, the U-bolt threads were hammered and basically got ruined taking the nuts off so I ordered the flip kit instead. Should be here Wednesday.

 

[WJACKSON11X]

We just got done doing a flip on my buddies pop up camper. We rotated the axle around since he had no trailer brakes. We left the old perches and welded on new ones. He bought the kit from Tractor Supply for under $30 If I remember right. His had the short fat tires, so he upgraded those as well. It was completely worth the effort to do the lift. Pulls much better now.

 

[Truckman4life]

I just did a single axle atv trailer. It had the bend for camber so it needed new perches welded to the top of the axle. I would not recommend just flipping the axle over most all trailer axles except some really light ones will have a bend in the middle so that camber will be in spec when weight is put on them. It will wear out tires if not done correctly and have some sketchy handling when loaded.