tow vehicles and trailer heights

[wish2fish]

I got a new tow vehicle back in November. The new vehicle hitch is 4 inches lower than the old vehicle. As I started to think about what new hitch I need to get I started to look at other GMC and Chevy trucks and noticed that majority of them sit low like mine and many had straight hitches without a drop/or rise in the hitch bar.

My question:
Is there a fairly standard height the most trailers are end up being?
Does Chevy/GM have their trucks set to this height?h

 

[Nehalennia II]

Here's the best source with some visual cues.
http://www.etrailer.com/faq/ballmount.asp

 

[Sundancer]

The Website Todd linked to gives you the quick and dirty way to estimate your drop or rise. What it doesn't take into consideration is how much weight you are putting on the ball and how much farther it will drop because of it. Is there a standard height? Not that I'm aware of. Due to all the options, two wheel, 4x4, duallie offroad, etc., I don't think they can have them all the same height. I think I lose about two plus inches on my burb with my boat loaded and on the dualie it drops about an inch so. It's hard to tell due to trailer tongue weight, distance from ball to rear axle and springs used. Put a hitch in, put the trailer on and note how far it sags. The ideal is height will have the trailer level as level as possible. I don't know that a one or two inch height change at the tongue is really even perceptible when you are just looking? :huh:

 

[First Born]

Chevrolet bumped up my payment but through in a brand new drop down trailer hitch with a smile. I am so lucky :huh:

 

[wish2fish]

Sundancer,

I meant is there a standard height on most trailers?

 

[First Born]

Wish2fish, I would think that the vehicles come with the standard height for their hitch. I would find out what type of hitch they put on the vehicle. Don't know if there is a standard but as was mentioned above when on level ground you want the trailer to be as level as possible. I think the new Tahoe, Yukons have a different hitch to use now that they have changed the position of the tow package. :smt017

 

[Nehalennia II]

The Website Todd linked to gives you the quick and dirty way to estimate your drop or rise. What it doesn't take into consideration is how much weight you are putting on the ball and how much farther it will drop because of it. Is there a standard height? Not that I'm aware of. Due to all the options, two wheel, 4x4, duallie offroad, etc., I don't think they can have them all the same height. I think I lose about two plus inches on my burb with my boat loaded and on the dualie it drops about an inch so. It's hard to tell due to trailer tongue weight, distance from ball to rear axle and springs used. Put a hitch in, put the trailer on and note how far it sags. The ideal is height will have the trailer level as level as possible. I don't know that a one or two inch height change at the tongue is really even perceptible when you are just looking? :huh:

good point.

 

[Sundancer]

I'm sure there is no standard height on trailers. If you look at boat trailers in general, the axle mounted above or below frame, wheel size, trailer style, etc all determine how high the frame sits above ground. I doubt any trailer manufacturer shoots for a particular hitch height. Different wheel sizes were an option on an old Calkins Escort trailer when we bought it new. The size would have dictated the height of the hitch! Even the trailers for the jet skis can be found with tiny little wheels or larger standard sizes. If they were all the same we wouldn't need all of these adjustable height hitches!

 

[Dave M.]

I'm with Sundancer on this one. I don't think there is a standard height for either the tow vehicle or the trailer. In my case, with a Dodge diesel, the tow assembly is higher on the 4WD than the 2WD because they build the 4WD with more ground clearance. The D0dge is quite high in the rear, and it is my understanding that fr the 4WD you can buy some sort of kit from Dodge that will lower the rear so that it is not too high to tow some 5th wheels. I think the Ford is nearly as high, and the Chevy PU is lower.

The trailer depends on a lot of things as has been mentioned. I have a 3 axle trailer with load range C tires. If I had a dual axle, then the tires would have to be load range D or E, and would likely be larger diameter. This would raise the trailer frame if nothing else changed. Since the boat sits over the tires, then this would cause the boat to sit higher off the pavement. Normally you want to get the boat low for easier launching and loading, but maybe not so low that the prop drags on the pavement when trimmed even with the keel. The way mine sits, it will barely touch the pavement in that case.

An issue for me with this setting is that I want the ability to trim the drive down so it is at least level, and preferably trimmed a bit down past level when on the trailer. This lets water drain out of the prop hub. If not trimmed down to let water drain, and you accidentally get into a situation where the weather freezes, then you can have freezing water in the lower unit area. That is not a 'good thing".

On a triple axle trailer like mine, with torsion suspension, the load on the axles is not equal unless the trailer sets level. I like to have the frame at the tongue be within an inch of the frame height at the axles. I have at least 4 different ball adapters, or 'stingers', that I switch between depending on what trailer I am pulling. They all have different height requirements, and that can change loaded or unloaded on the flat bed trailer. Also have to contend with 2" and 2 5/16" balls.

Last item, on some occasions you may encounter a ramp that is unusually steep or flat. In that case. having a different drop can help you get back to a more normal angle between the boat trailer and the water to ease launching and loading.