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trailer level


board brained

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Hey question for crew, I just bought a new tow rig (had to get one that matched the ride......) and have a question about the hitch height.......I had the trailer pretty level with the last rig now with this one the trailer is sitting about 1" lower at the hitch as it is at the front wheel. I measured the bottom of the rail in front of the wheel and just under the rail in front of the hitch and put a level on it........should I get a new receiver 1" shorter.......?

thanks

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I am assuming you have a tandem axle trailer. Going on that assumption, if you have a leaf spring set up, level is good, but not as important as having a torsion axle trailer. With a leaf spring set up by having the tongue lower than the stern, you are increasing the tongue weight..So you should keep that in mind, and subsequently having the tongue higher will decrease your tongue weight. Leaf springs will self adjust and distribute the load equally on both axles, while a torsion axle set up will not. So having the trailer level with a torsion set up is much more critical when pulling your boat.

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thanks guys, it is a torsion bar set up so i will drop 1" to 1 1/2..........might get a universal hitch as suggested.

and its a 2014 GMC sierra all terrain......

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A while ago I did the math, and the difference in tongue weight for +/- 6" of hitch height is minimal.

A bigger concern is if the hitch is too low, gravity will want to force the surge brake system forward almost all of the time.

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was thinking about airbags but my current boat is pretty light, I did put in the bigger rearend, cooling package etc etc for towing and up graded the suspension.....seems pretty good...however the previous rig a 2008 tahoe did ok. Only b**** about it was the older 4 speed tranny.....really had to work to pull up the hills.....could not seem to find a happy place........

this 2014 is crazy good re gas mileage so far...way better than the 2008 tahoe. It actually stays in V4 mode a fair bit

thanks for the feed back....appreciate it

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A while ago I did the math, and the difference in tongue weight for +/- 6" of hitch height is minimal.

A bigger concern is if the hitch is too low, gravity will want to force the surge brake system forward almost all of the time.

The difference in tongue weight when static or moving (dynamic)?

No need to worry about static, unless you are close to maxing out the vehicle tongue weight. Dynamic is a different story altogether.

Edited by happypappy
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Potential downside to being tongue low is during a hard stop, the boat will force the rear of the tow vehicle down and therefore the front of the vehicle up which may negatively impact steering response. Level is good.

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