Did a SoA mod on the popup trailer... (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

e9999

Gotta get out there...
Moderator
Joined
Sep 20, 2003
Threads
1,085
Messages
19,102
Location
US
yup, been meaning to do this for a while.
As sold, the ground clearance on the body was only about 7 or 8" under the folded leveling feet. Not enough. We'd scrape them every so often, like when leaving a gas station ramp. Also when parked over a slope, I had to dig under the leveling feet to keep the trailer horizontal.
So I did a SoA. Took about 4 hours or so, in no hurry, with a couple of afterthoughts during the job, to add locking washers, clean up threads etc.
No major problem. But a couple of issues. The axle which was slightly convex is now concave, so the clearance under the axle is actually a tad less, maybe 3/4" or so. And that may perhaps make the tires wear less evenly. Also, the brakes wiring which was behind the axle is now in front so a bit more likely to snag in brush, so I had to tie it down carefully out of the way in various places, better, but still a tad more likely to snag than before. Not too worried about that.
And I may need blocks under the leveling feet at times. No biggie.

Picked up 4" higher on the body. Makes a big difference in height. I think it should help a lot with less hitting stuff. Looks much better too. Don't think it should affect mileage. Useful little mod I think.
 
so are you going from 31's to 33's then?
lets see some pics.
 
I did this to mine too and as soon as I did the tires started wearing funny. I haven't fixed it yet. I intend on swtiching to a torsion axle in the future.
 
ginericfj80 said:
I did this to mine too and as soon as I did the tires started wearing funny. I haven't fixed it yet. I intend on swtiching to a torsion axle in the future.

I don't think that short of bending the axle you will be able to do much about it. These axles are prebent so that they "flatten out" under the load. With the SOA it's the other way around, so you're likely driving on the inner side of your tires. Not that it matters a lot to me since the originals are already worn (evenly) after about 7000 miles or so. These are not very sturdy tires and probably not very expensive hopefully...
 
Picked up 4" higher on the body. Makes a big difference in height. I think it should help a lot with less hitting stuff. Looks much better too. Don't think it should affect mileage. Useful little mod I think
.

4"...sweet. Hopefully mine will get that much. As it is I'm nervous about tearing stuff off the bottom. These things are built pretty cheap, I know that if the rear jacks were to scrape they would get bent or torn off.

What size are the tires? Mine came with 13", maybe when the SOA is done there will be room for 15". Going to do it Sunday, I'll post pics next week.
 
Ryan S. said:
.

4"...sweet. Hopefully mine will get that much. As it is I'm nervous about tearing stuff off the bottom. These things are built pretty cheap, I know that if the rear jacks were to scrape they would get bent or torn off.

What size are the tires? Mine came with 13", maybe when the SOA is done there will be room for 15". Going to do it Sunday, I'll post pics next week.


don't remember the tire size but they are tiny. Could be around 13".
Yup, that thing was so low that a big rock or stump or post could have easily gashed the body into oblivion...
Is there a good place to buy tires and wheels for trailers?
 
ginericfj80 said:
I did this to mine too and as soon as I did the tires started wearing funny. I haven't fixed it yet. I intend on swtiching to a torsion axle in the future.


If this is just a straight axle, with leaf-springs, the thing to do is buy new spring perches (Henderson Wheel has them for like $5.00) and leave your axle in it's original 'convex' oreintation. Weld the new perches directly above the old ones. This way, your axle still flattens out as designed and you don't wear out your tires.

Dan
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom