Can I Adjust My Torsion Axle Lower and Ride Down the Road?
 

I have to lower the tire pressure to about 10psi to move my boat into my garage - move it back 12 inches - then increase the pressure back to 50psi. I have to do this every time I move the boat in or out. I have only moved it in and out about 5 times and I am getting tired of it already. My original plan (when I was looking at other boats) was to modify my garage entry. It is not bad enough to go down that road now that I have the boat. I was literally waiting for some paint to dry on a project around the house today and was staring at my suspension on the trailer when a thought came to me. Could I lower my suspension on the trailer just far enough to get the boat into the garage without having to adjust it for going down the road. I think I have to lower the tire pressure so the boat sinks 1.5-2 inches to get through the garage door. I am wondering if anyone has tried this. I have thought about getting smaller rims, but I am already on 14 inch wheels and I think if I go with anything smaller it would look really bad (smaller tires would go with smaller wheels to get the lower height). If anyone has any other ideas, I am all ears.

Usually torsion bars can be height adjusted. It does not affect their spring rate. If you do lower the ride height the prop guard will hit more easily and the tires might hit the fenders. You can tell if the tires are hitting the fenders because they would get polish marks above the tire.
It might be difficult getting the correct amount of adjustment depending on the spline that should be on the bar. Good luck.

Your suspension may have a torsion bar adjustment bolt. If it does, take the load off the suspension and back off the bolt some for each bar. Load it up again and see if the ride height has dropped.

Have you tried just dropping your jack all the way down when you get to that point? I used to be able to get mine in by just doing that.

I have tried everything. The tower is in an arc and just won't go under without dropping the tire pressure. Here is a pic...

I really need to replace my garage trim - had it sitting in the garage for about 6 months.

One thing I have learned is to not put up with anything annoying on a boat or trailer if it can be fixed. With those wheels/tires, I don't think you will have to worry about them rubbing the fenders but the prop guard will probably be pretty low. I think I would lower it and add some rollers.

Why not try to go to a lower profile tire?

I've always thought an airbag suspension would be slick in these sorts of situations. Not sure how you'd make it work with a torsion axle setup though since the axle housings themselves don't move. On a leaf sprung trailer I'd imagine you could either remove a leaf or two from the pack or replace the pack with a lighter set of springs. Make it so that the springs sag pretty bad on their own. Then install airbag helper springs between the trailer frame and axles that could be inflated for over the road then deflated for backing into the garage. Either wire/plumb in a small compressor with a remote in the truck or just tee them all together so you have one fitting to inflate with a stand alone compressor. You'd also have the option of really inflating the bags to lift it higher than stock if you regularly went over a particular spot where the prop guard drags.

Lower profile tire FTW, agree with diggs

It doesn't sound like a lower profile tire will be enough. He needs a 1.5-2" lower overall height. That means the tire would have to be 3-4" smaller in diameter than the existing ones. That seems like a pretty small tire.

Many torsion axles have a removable spindle arm and spline set up. Really depends on the quality of the axle. If you have an adjustable one, you would be able to "reposition" the spindle arm on the axle and adjust the overall ride height. It will change some of the dynamics of the trailer but nothing too significant I would imagine.

[QUOTE]It doesn't sound like a lower profile tire will be enough. He needs a 1.5-2" lower overall height. That means the tire would have to be 3-4" smaller in diameter than the existing ones. That seems like a pretty small tire./QUOTE]

Why is that? Wouldn't a tire that is 2" diameter smaller be 2" shorter? I would think a lower profile tire would easily do it. I am not well versed in tires though so maybe my simple logic does not work....

Yes, the top of the tire would have a 2" difference but it will only drop the axel by 1"

ahh. makes sense...

Kinda feel your pain here Cole, when I got my Malibu it took allot of tetris thinking to find a way for her to fit in my carport. Had to do a slight modification to the trim of the carport to make it work.
btw, sorry for spinning double UPS nonstop around you yesterday. Kinda felt bad as it looked like you and your family were chilling in one of the double up turn around points. . . .

X2 I have done a few Extreme Trailers it's really easy to do. Haven't had any problems doing so. Only thing is your Prop Guard is lower but never been an issue with any of the trailers I have done.

Not a problem. We were just watching. My kids loved the water splashing on them from the rollers. They laughed every time. I am a wimp, that water was way too cold for me to get into. We were just taking it in.

Did they at least jump in the water?

No. They said they wanted to but they never did. Just got as wet as they could on the swim platform.

I don't know if this helps you out, but my trailer(extreme) came as a low profile edition. It has 14" rims and is pretty much lowered all the way down. The top of my tire is about 1" from the fender, it's looks like it's almost tucking. You can just remove the torsion axles and rotate a little to lower the trailer.

I have to say, i hate the tires because i don't think they are made to carry the capacity of a 23lsv, so I've had a few blowouts. I'm actually thinking about lifting the trailer up and getting a set of 15" rims and bigger tires, since there is really only 1 or 2 trailer tires available for a 14" rim.

Adjusting torsion axles can be done, but you loose suspension travel. You can compress the torsion axle by use of a clamp between the frame and the axle. It is slow, and a pain, but it can be done fairly easily and safely - it is just tedious to operate every time. I have done this as a rigger for several trailers at various events. In some cases, we have been able to use just a basic ratchet strap (the kind used to bind loads on a commercial trailer) to have enough force to compress the suspension a couple of inches. We went all the way over the load so we had enough room for the ratchet to work.

I might be way off but on the torsion axle setups I've seen this wouldn't work. The axle is fixed directly to the frame and the torsion arms are the only thing that moves externally.

From the picture it looks like if you just got rid of that trim header you would be almost there..

Agree that pic looks like you need maybe 1/2 to an inch, not 2 inches. Pop the trim board off the top and if it fits in, then just get a real thin piece of aztek or another PVC trim and use that in it's place. Drop a new set of low profile tires if you need the extra space beyond that, I just can't see futzing with the axle or rebuilding the entire trailer myself, but maybe the space is worse than it looks on that picture.

The picture was taken by my wife. It was after I lowered the tire pressure the first day we brought the boat home.

I have modified a few trailers over the years. Instead of messing with the axles I would take a look at lower the bunks. Looks like you could easily drop the boat down between the fenders by about 3" judging by the picture. Will your boat fit between the fenders?

I don't think the boat will fit between the fenders and I think my tracking fins would hit the cross member if I dropped the boat down. I don't know if this picture is any better at showing the height. I think this was taken before I dropped the tire pressure. I will try and get a better picture next time I take the boat out...

Holy cow! That looks far more painful seeing how close you are to fitting in to the garage !

Is there no way to somehow dismantle parts of the tower to make it in?

Probably, but it is easier to lower the tire pressure like I have been doing. It is not extremely painful, just annoying at this point. I have a power mover now so that should help with the moving it around part. I think it takes about an extra 20 minutes dealing with the tires now that I have a system down.

Lowering the tire pressure is by far the most simplest thing to do in your situation. I know becuase I have delt with this issue before. Your torsion Axle ajustment might be your best bet. I would contact the trailer manufacturer and discuss it with them. If they were not responsive I would go to a trailer dealership. Car trailers and toy haulers that have tandem trailers basically have the same set up.

I have modified a few trailers in the past and there are always plusses and minuses pending on the modification. Wish there was a quick and easy answer for this one. Wish you the best. FYI for my issue I increased the gruage height. At the end of the day I just got tired of monkeying around with it and raised the gaurage door (2500).