Hitch Height for Solaris T2975

[mellie-SUN]

We have a T2975 Sunline Solaris. When level, the hitch height is 13.5 inches. This seems very low to us. We are also concerned about adding a weight distribution hitch because we think it will lower the over all hitch height itself. We don't want to plow away asphault at campgrounds. Is this hitch height normal for a Solaris?

Happy Camping,
Mellie

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Mellie

What year camper do you have? And where are you measuring from?

13.5" sounds more like from the ground to the bottom of the A frame, not necessarily from the ground to up inside the tow ball coupler

See this one pic of my prior 2004 T2499. It had a 18 1/2" ball height when level. But the frame to the ground was at 13 1/2"

Let me know what and where you are measuring from and then we can talk hitches.

Thanks

John

 

[SteveC7010]

Melie,

It might also be helpful to know the year of your unit, and also the height of the main frame rails and the A-frame rails.

My '99 T2453 has 4" rails all around, and it sits about 13.5" from the ground to the bottom of the rails. The difference is that John's T2499 has 5" or 6" rails so the ball height is an inch or so taller than mine.

The bottom of my weight distributing ball platform runs between 6" and 8" off the pavement. That varies based on the load in the bed of the truck. I have very rarely scraped on the pavement in all sorts of driving and parking situations.

For a trailer the size of yours, I would be more concerned if you did not use weight distribution. It is a long trailer and the WD system helps control many aspects of your TV's behavior. The primary one is that the tongue weight of a large trailer is enough to unload the front end of the TV to the point that it is possible to loose steering control in certain situations. WD forces the weight back to the trailer wheels and forward to the TV's front axle maintaining pretty much the same weight ratio (within a few pounds) on the front and back axles of the TV.

I've been towing the '99 since it was brand new, and the only scrape marks I have ever left on pavement are at a Mobil station in Watertown, NY that has a very deep gulley between the roadway and their lot. I noticed that there were lots of identical marks in the pavement there, most likely from other folks pulling TT's so I am absolutely certain that most other rigs have their WD's set at pretty much the same height.

 

[mellie-SUN]

John/Steve,

We measured from the ground to up inside the tow ball coupler. It is barely 13.5 inches when level. Reading other posts, it seems the standard height for most TT's is between 17 to 21 inches.

Based on Steve's reply, that would put a WD system on this TT at 2 to 4 inches off the pavement. Do you think that would be enough?

BTW, the TT was manufactured in 2006.

Thanks.
Mellie

 

[MACK C-85]

Mellie:

Welcome to the club. Make sure to check out the Equalizer hitch, the one advantage it has over most systems is it doesn't hang as far below the a-frame.

Equal-i-zer® Hitch - The “American Original” with 4-Point Sway Control™ and Weight Distribution

I've had one for five years on my T-276SR and have been very pleased with it. I don't have any clearance issues, but I'm sure it would work well in your situation.

Mack

 

[henryj-SUN]

Mellie, I'm scratching my head looking for a 2975 and all I'm seeing is a 2675. Please confirm the model. Also if you could post a photo showing us the tape on the ground running up into the ball coupler so we can see the numbers. Did you remember to add 3" for the tape's case? The reason I'm asking is that this is very unusual not to have about 18.5" as I believe Sunline even published that number. Hope your tires aren't flat or sitting in a hole Barring some kind of mechanical failure in the suspension it just shouldn't be that low.

Henry

 

[mellie-SUN]

Thanks for the tip Mack. The "Equil-i-zer" looks more promising than other WD's we have looked at.

Henry, the reaon for confusion is that in 2006 Sunline made a few TT's based on the 2001 T2975 for the Gov't FEMA contract. Instead of designing a specific FEMA TT, they used the plans of a 2001 Solaris T2975. It is identical to a 2001 T2975 except for a set of cabinets over the dinette.

Yes, we double checked the height. From the ground to center ball, 13.5 inches. The main reason this concerned my husband is the hitch drop from the truck. And if we add a WD, this will only compound the situation.

My husband checked the suspension, and everything seems in place.

Mellie.

 

[SteveC7010]

I am wondering if they built the TT's for FEMA intentionally low so that they would be easy to enter and exit over long periods of time. And, typically FEMA trailers are towed with larger trucks, ie. duallies or larger without WD. That would negate the need for what we might think of as a normal height for towing. And it lowers the cost of building the trailer.

The solution that comes to mind is to do an axle flip, gaining roughly 4" to 6" of ground clearance.

If the trailer sits this low, raising it via the axle flip will also give better clearance for lots of towing situations. I suspect that towing it level at its current height will give lots of rear end scraping in circumstances that normal height trailers would not.

Occasional rear end scrapes on my trailer killed the "V" shaped skids in the back.

Normal standard Sunline rear skid:

Trashed skid by repeated rear end dragging:

Replaced rear skids with heavy duty casters:

 

[MACK C-85]

Mellie:

Does your trailer have any tanks (Fresh H2O, Black or Gray Water)? I had heard that the FEMA trailers were built without them, basically like Park Models? That might also reduce the height of the trailer.

Mack

 

[mellie-SUN]

Yes, our skid pads and stabilizer jacks were damaged. My husband removed the rear jacks because they were severely bent. The skid pads are 8 inches off the ground. We plan to replace them both. We had not considered using casters. That sounds much better than skids.

Our TT has all three tanks. The sewage output port is only 4 inches from ground level. The fact that it is not located at the very rear might help.

Even though it was built for FEMA, Sunline chose to make it a 2001 T2975 in every aspect. It does not resemble a FEMA trailer. They only made 90 of these TT's.

However, it does make since that the TT needs only one entry step to enter the trailer. If the TT was 4 inches higher, there would have to be an additional entry step.

Axle flip? Could this have been previously done to purposely lower the trailer? How could my husband tell if the axle's have been flipped or modified?

Mellie.

 

[SteveC7010]

Axle flip? Could this have been previously done to purposely lower the trailer?

That is a possibility I suppose. But all the talk among TT owners is of raising rather than lowering the trailer.

How could my husband tell if the axle's have been flipped or modified?

If the axle is on top of the spring pack, it is factory stock.

If the axle is under the spring pack, it has been "flipped." ("Flip" by the way is a misnomer because it implies that the axle has been rotated 180 degrees. It has not, just been relocated from above to below the spring pack. But it has become the commonly accepted term for this modification.)

Dexter markets a kit for their axles, and I believe Al-Ko does also.
Dexter Axle - Trailer Axles and Running Gear Components - Over/Under Conversion Kits

 

[henryj-SUN]

Thanks for that explanation, Mellie. I knew Sunline made some FEMA trailers, and always wondered if they were clunkers like the other brands. Good to hear you have a real RV. FEMA trailers typically were meant to be placed on a homeowner's yard while their house was being rebuilt. They were hooked up to all existing home services including the sewer and I expect did not have an RV toilet. The fridge was AC not RV and was installed after the trailer was installed on the lot.

It's possible Sunline built your trailer extra low; a photo of the suspension without the wheels would be helpful. But I think, too, you may just need an axle flip. Our 2499 has the factory setup with one step and we often use an extra Rubbermaid step stool anyway, especially if the nose of the trailer has to go down for levelling--not a big deal really, but not as stable as a built in.

Another hitch you should look at--and I do have the Equal-i-zer brand--is the Reese SC. I think Reese has a better hitch head and maybe just a little more ground clearance from the brackets that hold the wd bars. Unless you can find a lot more height to the hitch coupler I'd stay away from the Reese DC. Those cams hang down further than Equal-i-zer's brackets and we've dragged our brackets too on a couple of gas station gutters. JohnB knows Reese inside out and should be along tonight to fill all the holes we've left.

Henry

 

[mellie-SUN]

Steve,

Thanks for the link. I have a feeling my husband will want to "flip" the axle. The weather is supposed to be beautiful this weekend. He may have time to crawl under the trailer to look at the axles. After crawling under the trailer, I suspect he will have more questions.

Is this something we should get professional help? My husband is somewhat mechanically inclined, however, I am certain he has never "flipped" an axle.

Mellie.

 

[mellie-SUN]

Henry,

We looked at the FEMA trailers. You are right. Standard refrigerators, no tanks, not what we were looking for. Then this Sunline came to our attention. You could tell it was better built with higher quality.

We really like our Sunline Solaris. It has the gas/electric refrigerator, tanks, and everything still looked new.

I will try to get some photos of the axles and hitch this weekend when my husband can get out there to look at it.

Thanks,

Mellie.

 

[Sunline Fan]

Mellie,

The T-30F was based exactly on the 2975 and like you said, had some minor modifications to lessen the cost. Yours was built right along with the rest of the 30F's, but they were a very different trailer from the typical FEMA unit. They were basically just a simplified version of a 2975 and had little resemblance to a typical FEMA trailer like the Cavalier. In the long run for Sunline, it was cheaper to just build them like they were used to for such a small volume than it would be to re-engineer the entire floorplan to look for places to cut costs.

Due to the slow production times, many (probably the majority) never even made it into service for housing people and just sat brand new in staging fields until they were sold off.

And yes, it is indeed officially a T-30F Solaris.

 

[SteveC7010]

Is this something we should get professional help? My husband is somewhat mechanically inclined, however, I am certain he has never "flipped" an axle.

The instructions for the Over/Under kit are in our files are here on SOC. It may help to look them over to decide whether to do it yourself or have it done.

There is some welding required just to doubly secure one part to the axle tube. I don't have a welding rig but I would not hesitate to do the rest by myself. If memory serves, the welding is an addition that was not part of the original procedure. I would have no problem doing the work and then towing the trailer to a welding shop for the finishing touch.

If you search through the Modifications section (and maybe Repairs and Maintenance) I think you will find several threads on this upgrade.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Mellie

Wow, 13 1/2" ground to ball coupler. That is low. If it was a 2006 then odds are it may have a 4" wide channel iron A frame. That would be 9.5" ground to bottom of frame.

The axle lift.

See this one pic of Tweety's camper with the axle flip kit on it.

Also see this post in the FAQ section with many posts on this topic. Go down to number 13. http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...-asked-questions-and-common-topics-11922.html

This one really has me baffled on how on leaf springs they made the camper so low. Must be really short spring hangers. Maybe you have torsion axles in which case the lift kit will not work. If hubby can go under and take pictures of the axles and post them that really helps us know what you have. And take pics of the A frame up by the hitch of the camper so we can see what you have up there

As far as a WD hitch before we go to that we need to know if you are going to do the axle change. The axle change job is not that hard to do and like Steve said you do not flip the axle. you move the spring pack from the bottom to the top and put on new axle seats. Dexter actually calls the kit an over/under conversion kit

Here will need 4 jack stands, solid concrete or black top (hard surface) something to jack up the camper. The jack stands must be able to hold the entire weight of the camper and be very stable. If he has 6 x 6 or 8 x 8 timbers or railroad ties they work too. Key is, you must have the camper on a solid surface and for sure block it up correct. If there is any concerns this cannot be done, then hiring it out is the right thing to do. If he jacks up a car and rotates all 4 tires then he has been thru a lot of this already. We can give pointers on where to jack up the camper and where not to if he gets to that point.

He will need a torque wrench when he put the U bolts back on. They must be torqued in a pattern and correct tightness. The Dexter instructions tell you the info

Here are the Dexter instructions for there over/under kit
http://i.b5z.net/i/u/1080235/f/Instruction_Sheets/059-551-00A.pdf

The over/under kits are on page 7 of this pdf
http://i.b5z.net/i/u/1080235/f/parts_kit_cat_8-08/Suspension_Components.pdf

You can buy them from Dexter direct or
Dexter Axle - Trailer Axles and Running Gear Components - Over/Under Conversion Kits

or here if yours is a 3" axle tube
Trailer Parts Superstore - DEXTER 3" Round Axle Over/Under Conversion Kit #K71-385-00

or here for 2 3/8"
Trailer Parts Superstore - DEXTER 2-3/8" Axle Over/Under Conversion Kit #K71-384-00

On your WD hitch, need to sort out what you are doing with the axles as that will open up a number of options if you lift the camper. Once you tell us that we can suggest many options that fit your camper and TV better.

If your black/gray tank dump pipe is only 4" off the ground, that can be a problem.

Hope this helps

John

 

[mellie-SUN]

Tremendous help! Thanks to all of you.

My husband is going to take some pictures on Friday of the axles and frame. I will try to get them posted that afternoon or evening.

Mellie.

 

[SteveC7010]

This one really has me baffled on how on leaf springs they made the camper so low.

John,

Wasn't there a gent with a T-1950 or T-195SR that had a similar problem a while back? (I can not recall his name and am not finding the thread with the search function.)

 

[mellie-SUN]

I took some pics for my husband today. This is one that he thought would be good to show ya'll. What do you think?
~Mellie