Trailer guide posts question
 

On every wakeboat trailer with guide posts I've seen the guide posts are loose. Is there a purpose to them being loose?

On my VM trailer (came with sanger v210) the guide posts are painted steel and adjustable via a bolt on the bottom (so they can be moved wider or narrower). They are rigid and not loose. The cover over them is a plastic/pvc pipe wrapped in foam and a nylon cover. That part is loose. Probably to let it roll if you rub against it, rather that rubbing or ripping the nylon cover.

They also are loose so they can float - at least mine do. This way they still show no matter how deep the rear of the trailer is.

Sorry about the confusion. I meant just the steel posts themselves...not the guide pads. The plastic tube and cap with the foam pad and nylon cover is totally understandable. I know at the bottom of the posts there are a few bolts that can adjust them but I guess they came loose from the factory for a purpose. Every trailer I've had they came loose and every trailer I see coming up the bumpy hill at my usual boat ramp they just rattle and bounce whether it be a MC, Bu, Supra, Moomba, Nautique, etc...

I have a VM and the steel posts that slide wider or narrower are tight, they do not rattle at all. They have a single bolt that tightens it down. I put a lot of anti- sieze on this bolt. because it always gets stuck, and a bit rusty. I usuallt tap the threads every year also to clean it up

my poles arent loose on my DHM trailer.

Mine are loose on my Boatmate that my Supra is on. I would also like to know if this is by design.

Same here

same

My Axis is also on a Boatmate trailer and is loose as was my previous Moomba also on a Boatmate trailer. I think we have a pattern here.

mine are like saberworks. I have adjusted the narrower adjustment, and they are tight. I need them narrow so I can back them in, at 9.5 feet wide, in a 10 foot wide door.

My guess would be that it is loose so that it has some give if you hit it trying to put the boat on the trailer...? Maybe not lol

mine are welded on, DHM trailer

I've been told there is a different reason in many cases. Most guidepost stick out slightly wider than the trailer. Technically, you are supposed to remove the guide posts when towing and only put them in while retrieving your boat. If you tow with the guide posts in, the trailer maybe wider than allowable on the road in many or most states (102"?). Anyone else heard this?

Even if this were correct, I've never met anyone who removes their guide posts for towing. I've met a couple people who remove them in order to squeeze their trailer into tight garages. Mine originally were loose/removable but I bolted them in.

Tighten the bolts underneath and voila, they are not loose any more. :)

Mine are tight (boatmate trailer)

After you run the boat into them a few times they loosen up so you gotta tighten em like pprior said.

Re 102 inches.

WIDTH REQUIREMENTS
The maximum width limit for CMVs [Commercial Motor Vehicles, namely buses and freighters] on the NN [National Network] and reasonable access routes was originally established at 102 inches, except for Hawaii where it is 2.74 m (108 inches). (See discussion of Reasonable Access on page 12.) To standardize vehicle width on an international basis, the 102-inch width limit was interpreted to mean the same as its approximate metric equivalent, 2.6 meters (102.36 inches) (Figure 1).

Federal width limits do not apply to special mobile equipment, which consists of self-propelled vehicles not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and only incidentally moved over the highways. Special mobile equipment includes the following, when moving under their own power: military or farm equipment; instruments of husbandry; road construction or maintenance machinery; and emergency apparatus, including police and fire emergency equipment. Federal rules do not require States to issue overwidth permits before allowing operation of special mobile equipment. However, if States wish to allow other vehicles more than 102 inches wide (i.e. non-special mobile equipment) to operate on the NN [National Network], then States must issue special overwidth permits.

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/publ...egs_final_rpt/