Ball height for 26M aluminum trailer?

[Active]

The manual says the ball height shd be 16-18", but is that with the tongue sitting on it or unloaded?

TiA - Nick

[dennisneal]

I would suggest that with the boat on the trailer, and a tongue weight of about 300 pounds, the trailer chassis should be level when loaded onto the tow vehicle. If it cannot be absolutely level, I think that it would be better for the trailer to be slightly lower in the front.

[u12fly]

I recall the ball height on my alluminum trailer being more like 19", but the best thing to do is just crank the boat up with the front trailer wheel until level and measure. The ideal thing is to put adjustable airbags in your tow vehical. This way you can adjust the tounge height for varying loading of the trailer. You don't want the tounge too low this would increase the tounge weight and off course lower your ball height as the vehical springs are loaded even more.

[Active]

Thanks, guys - looks like I shd be within specs unless my tow vehicle to be, (2003 Dakota, ball unloaded at 19") is unusual; the idea the trailer shd be level seems right on. Will check as soon as I can hookup; hopefully it sinks an inch and/or levels. I towed the rig to the boatyard with another tug and neglected to check how it sat

[Catigale]

The weight on the hitch is much more important than the height, unless it's so low it hits the ground, IMHO

I've used a couple of different height receivers and never noticed a difference in trailering behavior.

[Highlander]

I had to buy a new ajustable receiver as with my old one on my new tow trk it would be at approx 26" or more

J

[bscott]

I had to use an 8" drop and the only place I could find one with a 5,000# rating was at U-haul.

Bob

[dennisneal]

I think the employees at U-Haul are pretty knowledgeable.

[moondancer]

Hello everyone
My new tow beast is a 4x4 and I too needed to go to a 8" drop ball. I was able to pick up a Reese at Tractor Supply Co. The price was resonable and they had it in stock. If it needed to be ordered they can have it quicker than a week. Trailer supplies seemed mostly resonable but other prices seemed a bit out there.
Take Care Mike going to be on Moondancer in two weekends for first time this season.

[Russ]

Amazon has a bunch of them. With Prime shipping you can have it overnight for $4 more.

Getting the ball on tight is extremely important. An idea I heard on this forum is to drill a hole and put a pin through it after screwing the nut on.

[Catigale]

You probably cant attain the proper torque on a ball if you dont have a pretty good set of tools ..you need a big wrench to get that spec.

[Highlander]

You probably cant attain the proper torque on a ball if you dont have a pretty good set of tools ..you need a big wrench to get that spec.

So are you bragging or what !!!

J

[Catigale]

....big wrench to compensate for little ......tools.....

[c130king]

....big wrench to compensate for little ......tools.....

I thought you would have said..."Big Wrench" for....wait for it....

...

...

"Big Nuts"...

[Crikey]

No.... that's big wench!