Can You Handle Your Trailer Purchase? - Part 2

So, after making exact measurements of a Carson Rebel trailer on the showroom floor, a trailer was selected from the 'ready to ship Carson lot' and purchased from a dealer.

In this series:

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART 7

The trailer was towed home with a Ford F150 pickup truck- no problem. However, the intended tow vehicle is a 1997 Ford E150 Club Wagon with the small V8 modular 4.6L engine. Fortunately, the van had already been fit with a 3.73 rear axle ratio replacing the original as-delivered 3.34 ratio for the purpose of trailer towing. The 5,000 lb/500 lb tongue weight factory bumper step hitch arrangement was also changed to a class IV hitch receiver under the bumper. The first picture shows the car with a straight receiver hitch arrangement. Not good.

Although the Rebel trailer is advertised as a light weight trailer, the delivered tongue weight is more than 600 lbs, and the loaded trailer GVW will be about 6,100 lbs (trailer axle weight rating is 7,000 lbs). It was obvious that the van's rear suspension was under sprung and under damped, and that the hitch height needed to be changed. An Air-Lift Ride Control Kit (second picture) was added to help hold up the rear end. This, including a load leveling hitch, put the van back to a flat ride height with the bags at 100psi. A heavier damper set will finish off the rear axle, however, it's nice to be able to soften the rear when not in the tow mode.

A trailer mover was going to be a necessity to get the Rebel positioned in its parking position. Research of available trailer movers was an eye opener regarding both cost and operation. A top-of-the-line Powercaster PC-3 was borrowed and adapted to the Dico trailer to check out ease of operation, etc. This proved interesting as a non-gambling joint needs to be used instead of the ball hitch such that the drive wheels are firmly held in place during operation. Another popular trailer mover outfit is Powermover. Their products can be customized for drive wheels up to six for heavier trailers being moved up grades. Powermover was contacted. They were not confident that any of their movers could push or pull the Rebel up the 19% grade. Many other trailer mover manufacturers supply similar products in electrical and/or gasoline engine types. None of them advertise pulling ability on a 19% grade. All of the pullers cost between $1,200 and $3,000!  Now what? 

For the first time, the Rebel was pulled into, and down, the driveway as far as possible. A borrowed trailer mover was thought to be sufficient assuming the trailer was beyond the steep grade of the first turn. The home built mover (third picture) had a single drive wheel and ball mount, and has been successfully used for some years moving a larger toyhauler on flat land. This move was the subject of an earlier blog, and from that first move it became apparent that the Rebel would need to be backed down the driveway in order to have space for maneuvering and turning (the Dico MX trailer is still housed on the lower level).

The lessons learned so far suggested that the trailer tongue would always need to be facing out, i.e. the trailer would be backed into the driveway, and pulled up and out of the driveway. The tandem axles limit maneuverability tremendously compared to a single axle trailer in tight quarters. The trailer must be positioned precisely in order for it to make the first 90° turn downhill within the ability of the tandem axles. By the way, the van has never been backed all the way down the driveway to the flat area next to the garage. Its turning radius makes a difficult uphill K turn necessary to do that!

Part III addresses the trailer mover issues and trailer modifications to accept a heavy duty mover.

by: Glenn Thompson