Can I "lift" a horse trailer

[gsganzer]

My 3 horse slant is being raised as I write this. They're raising it 4 inches using a 4" square tube spacer under the torsion axles.

My trailer's a 1990 Sooner all-aluminum that started it's life as a stock trailer. It looks like a previous owner then replaced the spring axles with torsion axles with brakes on both axles. It's actually been a great pulling trailer and is pretty stout for an aluminum trailer. But it always had some weird dimensions. The rear always rode low and the front barely had enough clearance over a 3/4 ton bed. Raising it 4 inches should put it back to "normal" dimensions so it provides better clearance.

 

[RickB]

Old thread, too late to affect the O/P's decision, but it may help others.

I don't believe it is "necessary" to lift the trailer and in any case doing so would make it less stable.
REMEMBER horse and livestock trailers haul live weight, i.e. the mass moves around.

I would;
a) set it up to clear the truck, accept that it has an "up hill" attitude.
b) get it weighed axle by axle, if the tires are within their load range WHEN THE TRAILER IS LOADED leave it at that.
You may be surprised at just how close the axle loads are to each other.

This is based largely on the assumption that tandem axle equalizers (noun) DO in fact equalize (verb) the load bearing to the axles.
Torsion spring axles also equalize quite well.

As to how it looks; don't worry about THAT
As to how it affects the horses; Assuming you accelerate gently braking forces are likely to be worse than accelerating forces, so a slight up hill is in their favor.
Also, getting pitched forward from braking is harder on them than getting the push from behind - again a slight uphill relieves this.

And if you have TorFlex axles all of this does NOT apply, and axle loads are only equal when the trailer is level.

 

[Reg]

And if you have TorFlex axles all of this does NOT apply, and axle loads are only equal when the trailer is level.

You can only KNOW this to be true if you weigh the trailer axle by axle as I suggested in b) above.
It doesn't MATTER if the rear axle carries a few percent more than the front axle as long as you are within the tires' capacity, in fact the more it carries the more stable the whole rig will be.
If you know the spring rates for the torsion axles you can figure the THEORETICAL difference with a little geometry.
It is small, it is VERY SMALL.
e.g. for a particular trailer of mine the axle mid point is 35 ft behind the coupler.
Every inch of height change at the axles or at the coupler is a pitch change of 1:35ftx12in
If I blocked that trailer 4 inches the pitch change would be 1:105 - - hardly a game changer.

BTW many/most cars and trucks are rolling around with the same tire pressures front and rear, but very different loads.
(and a LOT of owners inflate to cold max - even more owners ignore them until they "look a bit soft")

If the load difference worries you THAT much consider putting slightly bigger tires on the front - another simple geometry exercise.
OTOH, since we're down in the details, worry more about having a taller more tippy trailer on the road that is more exposed to side winds

 

[gsganzer]

My 3 horse slant is being raised as I write this. They're raising it 4 inches using a 4" square tube spacer under the torsion axles.

My trailer's a 1990 Sooner all-aluminum that started it's life as a stock trailer. It looks like a previous owner then replaced the spring axles with torsion axles with brakes on both axles. It's actually been a great pulling trailer and is pretty stout for an aluminum trailer. But it always had some weird dimensions. The rear always rode low and the front barely had enough clearance over a 3/4 ton bed. Raising it 4 inches should put it back to "normal" dimensions so it provides better clearance.

I picked the trailer up today and raising it 4" was just the ticket. The ground clearance and over-the-bed clearance are perfect now.

 

[handirifle]

Do yourself a BIG favor. Check the alignment of the axles now that they have been raised. I had the exact same thing done to a 30ft 5th wheel we owned, also torsion axles. Long story short, any trip over 100 miles resulted in blown tires. Went through 5 tires before we sold it to a guy that was using it as a beach home. No towing.

Misalignment will heat those ST tires so fast they come apart real easily. If you can't check it, take it somewhere that can. On my 5th wheel it was body damage to concern myself with, but with livestock, they hear a boom and that tire slapping around could cause a panic, and that can cause some serious load shifting. Never a good thing, especially on 3 tires.

 

[gsganzer]

Do yourself a BIG favor. Check the alignment of the axles now that they have been raised. QUOTE]

Thanks for the heads up. Checking the alignment was a big thing to the trailer shop, so I assume they did it. But getting it checked independently wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[zing]

Old thread, too late to affect the O/P's decision, but it may help others.

I don't believe it is "necessary" to lift the trailer and in any case doing so would make it less stable.
REMEMBER horse and livestock trailers haul live weight, i.e. the mass moves around.

I would;
a) set it up to clear the truck, accept that it has an "up hill" attitude.
b) get it weighed axle by axle, if the tires are within their load range WHEN THE TRAILER IS LOADED leave it at that.
You may be surprised at just how close the axle loads are to each other.

This is based largely on the assumption that tandem axle equalizers (noun) DO in fact equalize (verb) the load bearing to the axles.
Torsion spring axles also equalize quite well.

As to how it looks; don't worry about THAT
As to how it affects the horses; Assuming you accelerate gently braking forces are likely to be worse than accelerating forces, so a slight up hill is in their favor.
Also, getting pitched forward from braking is harder on them than getting the push from behind - again a slight uphill relieves this.

My older horse trailer had just this uphill slant when I bought my new truck, even after the gooseneck adjustment was compressed as much as possible. It is more of an issue than you are indicating here. When the trailer is slanted uphill the front axle tends to lock the tires a lot more easily. I found that when the trailer was empty I had to really lighten the power on the brake controller or it would lock the front axle tires under normal braking circumstances. That meant much more of the braking was left to the truck. It also meant that if something happened in front of me I had to hit the brakes hard and let the front trailer tires lock, just in order to get the back tires to give sufficient stopping help. It is not much better than having brakes on only one axle. When the trailer was loaded and the truck had squatted a bit it was better, but still not ideal. The front tires would still lock more easily and so I was stuck with a compromise between turning down the brake controller which gave less stopping power from the trailer brakes and was hard on the truck brakes, or turning it up and accepting that the front tires were going to lock in any sudden braking situations. Both settings meant that I could not stop as fast as I should in an emergency.

I did not make any changes to the trailer axles so I cannot comment on that, because I ended up selling that three horse and getting a 4 horse that sit level with the truck when adjusted properly at the gooseneck.

 

[RickB]

My older horse trailer had just this uphill slant when I bought my new truck, even after the gooseneck adjustment was compressed as much as possible. It is more of an issue than you are indicating here. When the trailer is slanted uphill the front axle tends to lock the tires a lot more easily. I found that when the trailer was empty I had to really lighten the power on the brake controller or it would lock the front axle tires under normal braking circumstances. That meant much more of the braking was left to the truck. It also meant that if something happened in front of me I had to hit the brakes hard and let the front trailer tires lock, just in order to get the back tires to give sufficient stopping help. It is not much better than having brakes on only one axle. When the trailer was loaded and the truck had squatted a bit it was better, but still not ideal. The front tires would still lock more easily and so I was stuck with a compromise between turning down the brake controller which gave less stopping power from the trailer brakes and was hard on the truck brakes, or turning it up and accepting that the front tires were going to lock in any sudden braking situations. Both settings meant that I could not stop as fast as I should in an emergency.

I did not make any changes to the trailer axles so I cannot comment on that, because I ended up selling that three horse and getting a 4 horse that sit level with the truck when adjusted properly at the gooseneck.

All of which is practical proof that your axles were not equalizing the load as God and Dexter intended. If I may ask, did you have TorFlex or conventional spring suspension?

 

[zing]

All of which is practical proof that your axles were not equalizing the load as God and Dexter intended. If I may ask, did you have TorFlex or conventional spring suspension?

Neither God nor Dexter have communicated their intentions to me, and I don't know anything about the axles. I do know it passed safety inspections every year and had at least one brake job done by a local trailer dealer during the time I owned it. It was in good shape and regularly maintained. Best I can do is show you what it looked like



and what it looked like after a tire shredded itself on the highway and ripped the fender off. Determine what you can from that.



also found a pic of the other side with the tire off, it shows the axle better.

 

[GLyford]

As near as I can tell by going to photobucket and looking at the pic directly on the site before the "hosting" page pops over it, yes that used torsion axles.