Need help on ideas on my smoker trailer

[bigsal51]

I had a problem this weekend with my trailer. It would scrape the firebox when i came down a steep incline like at a carwash entrance It was a steep angle and dragged my firebox a little. how can i lift the trailer a couple of inches.

 

[bustintires]

put the axle on the bottom of the leaf springs. if thats not enuff. you can put the axle on the bottom of the springs flipped over that will give you about 6". in the rv business we call it flipping the axle, do it all the time on trailers with lifted tow rigs.

 

[dyce51]

If you do the axle flip you may have to drill a hole in the top of the axle for the centering pin in the leaf springs to.

 

[dirt guy]

If you only need a little, it might be as simple as using a drop ball on your receiver hitch. If your working height is about where you like it, flipping the axle will screw that up to some degree. The only caveat is the front of the smoker will be lowered by dropping the ball. If that doesn't screw you up, a different hitch is the easiest and quickest.

Good Luck with it. Keep us posted.

 

[mr mac]

I agree that the hitch would be the first place I started. Second would be a shackle on the rear spring mount, just a short one, before I lifted the whole thing on top of the axle.

 

[badfrog]

ditto on the previous...

I have built several off-road trucks/jeeps etc and just about always do a spring over axle conversion for the additional clearance...it would not be that difficult on your trailer (and the geometry with your off-set axle it would work great!), but the "drop the hitch" suggestion would be the easiest; if you take a 2x4 or similar and put one end behind the tire and then hold up the other end until it hits the bottom of your smoker (where it scrapes) you can determine the max angle you currently have. place the trailer tongue on a jack and by lowering/raising the jack, you can determine how much you will need to lower your ball to have the required angle/clearance. If your wheels are centered (i.e. the distance from the tongue to the center of the wheel is the same as the center of the wheel to the back edge of the trailer) a 2" drop at the ball will give you a 2" lift at the back. typically trailer axles are closer to the rear for stability while towing which means that "X" drop at the ball will give you less than X lift at the back.

 

[bustintires]

not having your trailer and tow rig as close to level as possible will cause the trailer to sway baddly.