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2019 22 LSV 3 inches too tall to fit in garage/ ideas?


Supaflytnt

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Hey all, I just took delivery of my 2019 22 LSV

I had a 2011 21' LSV before and I was able to store the boat in my heated garage, with it barely making it under the garage header by an inch or 2. 

Of course the new 2019 is too tall by literally 2-3 inches. Brainstorming on how I can get a 3 inch reduction in height... Are there lower profile tires/wheels out there that I could use for just storage? I would literally only use them to back the boat in the garage for the winter, leave it there and pulling it out in the spring. Meaning I would use the stock trailer tires/wheels all year except for the 25' to put it away for the winter, and the 25' to pull it out. Then I would just jack up the trailer to change the tires back to the stock.

Anyone with experience with this, and recommendations on where to get said tires, and how much height reduction I can hope for? 

Other ideas would be appreciated as well. 

 

Im extremely motivated to find a solution to get me those 3" because it will literally save me over a grand every year if I don't have to store or winterize the boat.

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A drop hitch that will allow the trailer cross members to almost touch the driveway may give you what you need to get her in and out. As soon as the tower clears the header you can block the trailer wheels, drop the trailer jack and raise the tongue along with the hitch to the correct height. 

Edited by wdr
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If you have torsion axles on it, you may be able to order new axles with a different angle for the torsion bars.  It would give you a "low rider" effect, and would certainly compromise some of your clearance and suspension, but you might get your three inches that way. 

Another option is to go to stupid small tires, like 30 series or something.

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Thanks for the input guys. The trailer is a duel axel trailer with 4 tires (obviously). A couple questions:

 

-how much can you gain from temporarily deflating the tires?

-Using as low of a drop down hitch as possible, if I removed the front axel tires, im assuming that would gain me some loss of height?

-If i used the smaller tires from northern tool, I would literally just use them to back the trailer in the garage, and then once past the overhang put the stock tires back on while it is stored. Does that seem reasonable?

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I ran into this challenge this weekend.  I wanted to get my boat to my house to allow me to do some deep cleaning in the evenings after work.  Normally it is stored offsite 30 minutes away (free storage).  I was able to put my drop hitch on a Polaris Ranger and set it at its lowest setting it would go.  I had to use a floor jack to lower it onto the hitch but, it worked.  It gave me at least 4 inches of drop and allowed me to back it in.  If you have a large enough drop hitch, I would attempt this process first on your vehicle.  If you have UTV, try that next.

You'll gain about 2-3" from temporarily deflating your tires.  And, if you are only using those smaller tires for the few feet, you should be fine on the load capacity as you are not towing at speeds.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/3/2020 at 1:32 PM, NWBU said:

You can also buy a “garage” hoop from your dealer that will shave a few inches off when your tower is down. 

If it is the two hoop that is hitting, you can also just unbolt it. probably 2-3 minutes to get it on, and maybe 5 minutes to get it back on.

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2 hours ago, rakr said:

If it is the two hoop that is hitting, you can also just unbolt it. probably 2-3 minutes to get it on, and maybe 5 minutes to get it back on.

Id do this .. take the hoop off.

its a 2 man job tho, getting the holes to line up and not scratching the tower

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1 hour ago, Stevo said:

its a 2 man job tho, getting the holes to line up and not scratching the tower

I am now able to get it in there on my own, but it takes some "doing" to line up properly. the first time i tried to get it back on, it was almost like it didn't come off my boat. if you get it in there just right, a couple of taps with a rubber mallet will line it up. I have not scratched the finish on the tower yet... I have to remove it every time, which kind of stinks.

I am looking at making some changes to the tower hoop, so I can possibly just remove a bolt quickly and rotate it down (I think I have seen other members say they can move their hoop down pretty easily). If that doesn't work, ill be buying the straight/garage hoop, but $1200 can go a long way to some fun gear!

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Have you ever seen in the cartoons where the faster something goes, the lower the profile...

drive REALLY fast into the garage and stop suddenly. 😁

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Just now, braindamage said:

Have you ever seen in the cartoons where the faster something goes, the lower the profile...

drive REALLY fast into the garage and stop suddenly. 😁

Aerodynamics at work!  That's a good science based solution.  Nice job @braindamage

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On 5/3/2020 at 1:41 PM, wdr said:

A drop hitch that will allow the trailer cross members to almost touch the driveway may give you what you need to get her in and out. As soon as the tower clears the header you can block the trailer wheels, drop the trailer jack and raise the tongue along with the hitch to the correct height. 

We used to do this with our truck.The hitch is only about 1-2" from the floor but drops the tower enough to get it in the door.  Now we use our project Jeep TJ to back it in the garage. 

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lots of talk about tires and hitch but did you already remove the board racks and rope pylon swivel? I have a similar situation and must remove these every time I pull it in my garage. It buys me about 2-3 inches of clearance. both use allen bolts and are quick to take off

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  • 3 months later...

Problem solved!!!!!

 

A bud and I tackled this problem this past weekend, and basically took the tower off the boat. It has wires for 2 speakers and the navi lights going through the tower, but we ended up cutting them with the plan of putting plug and play connectors to both ends for ease of reconnect/connect in the future. Had to disconnect the piston that makes it easy to lower and raise the tower, but since I never do that except twice a year, I don't care. Probably gained over a foot of clearance by doing this. Putting it back on next spring will prolly be a 3 man job for about15 minutes and that's it.

 

Saved myself over 1k in winterizing and storage fees by doing this.... every year!!! Bonus!

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Not sure where you are located but I would still suggest draining to cooling system for the winter. What if you loose power and you have no heat? May not matter in some climates but it isn’t worth the risk in my opinion. Since you said you have a 2019 I’m guessing you have the pcm crusader engine, which is very easy to drain. There are two blue twist plugs per manifold, one one each side of the block and one one the vdrive if I remember correctly. Make sure to disconnect the heater hoses and blow those out too if you have one. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Does anyone know if the G4 tower is lower when it's down? It looks like it could be with it's shape/design. 

If you're considering a switch, that might be an option. 

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On 10/6/2020 at 9:19 AM, Logi said:

Does anyone know if the G4 tower is lower when it's down? It looks like it could be with it's shape/design. 

If you're considering a switch, that might be an option. 

Yes, both the G4 and the Gx are pretty much flush with the windshield.  The G5 is also lower but I haven't seen if it is Gx "low" or just "lower than a G3."

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