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Lifting trailer for more ground clearance?


Brisk

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My boat trailer is really low to the ground. I have to run an 8" drop hitch on my stock Ram 3500 and a 12" drop on the back of my fifth wheel to get the trailer level. The prop guard drags everywhere. It runs P195/65R15 tires and they fit tightly in the fenders. The axles are already mounted under the leaf springs. Has anyone ever lifted their trailer for more ground clearance?

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Had a buddy with a '01 LSV and we had to put either 2 or 3" blocks between the axles and springs so he could get it in his driveway. His driveway was an good incline up for about 20' and then leveled off.  When he backed in or pulled out, the prop guard would drag pretty bad.

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We put a 2" block lift on our old DHM T/A trailer. Had the boat for several years before selling and never an issue. It took care of the prop guard dragging on everything. I believe we bought the blocks from the trailer manufacture but had custom U-bolts made at a local shop.

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On a previous trailer I had, the prop guard was bolted on and had a couple inches of clearance to the prop.  I drilled a coupled of new mounting holes and raised it for ground clearance. 

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I've got a few friends around here with steep driveways that just added heavy duty casters that sit just a hair below the prop guard.  It'll depend on your trailer construction to determine where you can mount them (where is strong enough).  

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Here is a picture of the setup on my trailer, the one jwl019 was talking about.  it has 3" lift blocks installed with longer u bolts.  I've also done the over/under conversion on my previous trailer, but it sound like yours already has the axle on top of the spring so lifting block is what is needed.  I think it is pretty easy to find the blocks and springs on either an offroad or trailer site.

 

1240362829_Malibu23LSVpic10homeMay2019liftblock.thumb.jpg.378cdcfc24b322e6cb2d99aadf815050.jpg

Malibu 23 LSV pic 12 home May 2019 lift block.jpg

Malibu 23 LSV pic 11 home May 2019 lift block.jpg

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1 hour ago, cla10beck said:

Here is a picture of the setup on my trailer, the one jwl019 was talking about.  it has 3" lift blocks installed with longer u bolts.  I've also done the over/under conversion on my previous trailer, but it sound like yours already has the axle on top of the spring so lifting block is what is needed.  I think it is pretty easy to find the blocks and springs on either an offroad or trailer site.

 

1240362829_Malibu23LSVpic10homeMay2019liftblock.thumb.jpg.378cdcfc24b322e6cb2d99aadf815050.jpg

Malibu 23 LSV pic 12 home May 2019 lift block.jpg

Malibu 23 LSV pic 11 home May 2019 lift block.jpg

Thank ya sir!  That's the one thing we always forgot to take pics of.

The way we came up with the height of the blocks required was we tried backing in my 2010 VLX in his driveway and it made it without touching since the trailers over the years got taller.  Once we figured that out, we measured the distance to my prop cage from the ground, and raised his trailer to that height (roughly 10-10.5" above flat ground).  Worked great, and he never touched his driveway after that. The height also required him to flip his hitch over from the 1" drop to 1" rise.  It really didn't make that big of an impact on how much further you have to back down the ramp to launch or retrieve the boat either.

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