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Old 04-30-2021, 09:44 PM   #1
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Suspension upgrades, "flip axle" experience ?

Interested to hear thoughts on raising clearance, especially single axle owners. What route did you take? Additional ground clearance achieved? Or, grander suspension upgrades.
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Old 05-01-2021, 12:28 AM   #2
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Our drive was so steep that I had to lay 2x6's down to back in w/o dragging the plumbing off. I had a Dexter axle and used their spring over kit. It raised the trailer almost 4". It clears the drive great now. I had to change the entry steps because it was hard to get in and out of on us old folks. The Dexter kit makes things easy and the axle can be put back easily. The 12" tires look a little small now but I will up grade them when I need to buy new tires.
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Old 05-03-2021, 07:29 AM   #3
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On my old 24' Coachmen TT, I had clearance issues seemingly everywhere and I couldn't make my hitch low enough to get level (my truck wasn't lifted nor modified). I ordered the Dexter Axle kit to move my leaf springs from underslung to over and gained almost 6" of height. I did all the work in my driveway with basic tools, but I did hire a guy to come out and tack-weld the brackets in place as recommended in the kit. I had great success with it.

I did learn a few things though.. the change made it tow differently, I could feel more rock around corners and I could feel the higher center of gravity. It wasn't bad, but noticable. Next, the steps were too short now, I had to add a stable stool/step under the steps to make up for the difference. Although I could feel the higher center of gravity, it had less sway now that it was riding more level. Lastly, I didn't fear hitting stuff in every campground entrance anymore.
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Old 05-04-2021, 03:55 PM   #4
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The axle flip cured all my steep driveway problems, but as others mentioned, you will likely need an extra step, and the tires look like they should be on a much smaller trailer now. By the way, this is the 3rd trailer I have done this to, with both single and double axle rigs, and the results have been good on all 3 with no negatives.
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Old 05-04-2021, 08:49 PM   #5
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Hey there,

I have the same comments as above. I bout my trailer and the first time I tried to park it in the driveway I bottomed out. Not cool. I had to back in at an odd angle just to make it up my driveway. Bought the kit from Amazon installed myself with two jacks and some power tools had someone help with the weld. I did not have to cut my brake lines as some do or have done. Put wd40 on whatever you think will need it the night before and you will be fine.
With the 6” lift came 6” issues. Need more wood for leveling blocks and where to store said wood along with the steps. I’ve sourced some wood now where to put it. Still working on the steps and without hijacking this post if anyone knows where to get the right steps for a 2015 184bh single axle. Please pm me.
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Old 05-05-2021, 05:29 PM   #6
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I've got a 2018 174bh baja. We stripped down our weight to a minimum for our purposes, but still noted a non-trivial amount of bend in the axle. I'm not sure if the perches got welded to the wrong side of the axle or not, but it was clearly not correct, and weighing the trailer we were at ~3600lbs.

In the end, i ordered a replacement 6k dexter axle set up for spring over, and 4500lb springs (the stock springs had also sagged out significantly), new wheels and goodyear endurance tires. In the end, around 1500$ for everything, it all bolted up fine, and the axle much better supports the trailer.

it's easy enough to take the measurements for a new axle, springs are similarly easy to measure for, and there are not that may bolts to turn plus only one electrical connection (for the brakes)

what problem are you trying to solve? hauling an axle to a welder to have new perches welded on for a flip is easy enough.
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Old 05-08-2021, 10:01 PM   #7
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Good feedback across the board, thank you. My goal is to add clearance and A/T tires to get into some of the more remote dispersed areas. I had a 2008 Starcraft RT14 which was, stock, super beefy and had a very nice off-road suspension package.
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Old 07-18-2021, 08:45 PM   #8
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Follow up on thread I started

Bought the Dexter axle flip hardware, had the dealer install this past week and got out this weekend. The axle flip added 7 inches to the rear and leveled out the rig (needed the added tongue mass). Success. Looking to add 15 inch A/T wheels to wrap it up.
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Old 07-19-2021, 08:17 AM   #9
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I have a 195RB Baja that came with flipped axle. I tow with a 4Runner and wouldn't have a trailer without the flip, as we go places that I wouldn't be comfortable going without it.

The trailer comes with two steps instead of one, so no issue for us there. But it also comes with the standard stabilizers. Even on flat sites, without blocks the stabilizers are greatly extended, which reduces their effectiveness, and on uneven sites we often wouldn't even touch ground without blocks. One set of "lego" blocks is adequate, but sometimes we're still pretty extended.
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Old 07-19-2021, 10:40 AM   #10
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snip...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MontanaRick View Post
Even on flat sites, without blocks the stabilizers are greatly extended, which reduces their effectiveness, and on uneven sites we often wouldn't even touch ground without blocks.
This brand of stabilizer jacks are on our TT, they make a 30 inch model that would reach down a little farther. The price isn't too bad at $29.95 each.

DomarProducts - Quality Trailer Parts For Less! - Scissor Jack
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Old 07-20-2021, 08:35 AM   #11
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snip...

This brand of stabilizer jacks are on our TT, they make a 30 inch model that would reach down a little farther. The price isn't too bad at $29.95 each.

DomarProducts - Quality Trailer Parts For Less! - Scissor Jack
Thanks, might go that way some day.
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Old 07-20-2021, 08:51 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by erniegolen View Post
I've got a 2018 174bh baja. We stripped down our weight to a minimum for our purposes, but still noted a non-trivial amount of bend in the axle. I'm not sure if the perches got welded to the wrong side of the axle or not, but it was clearly not correct, and weighing the trailer we were at ~3600lbs.

In the end, i ordered a replacement 6k dexter axle set up for spring over, and 4500lb springs (the stock springs had also sagged out significantly), new wheels and goodyear endurance tires. In the end, around 1500$ for everything, it all bolted up fine, and the axle much better supports the trailer.

it's easy enough to take the measurements for a new axle, springs are similarly easy to measure for, and there are not that may bolts to turn plus only one electrical connection (for the brakes)

what problem are you trying to solve? hauling an axle to a welder to have new perches welded on for a flip is easy enough.

I'm planning on doing the same thing to our 174bh, as we like camping down bc forest service roads. What made you go with dexter instead of lippert? Just curious as I have a 3500 lippert axle and was thinking of just getting a 5200 lippert (next level up)
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Old 07-24-2021, 06:53 AM   #13
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How do you know what type of axle you have

Is there a way I can tell if I have a Dexter axle? I would like to do the flip, but want to know what kit I might need, or if I can just use the same U bolts etc?
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Old 06-27-2022, 04:36 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by OrangeLefty View Post
I'm planning on doing the same thing to our 174bh, as we like camping down bc forest service roads. What made you go with dexter instead of lippert? Just curious as I have a 3500 lippert axle and was thinking of just getting a 5200 lippert (next level up)

The dealer I was working with had more configuration options for dexter, or at least I was able to get the configuration that I wanted. The two brands seems interchangeable to me.
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Old 06-28-2022, 10:20 AM   #15
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We have the factory BAJA lift on our 212QBW. We wanted this option for two reasons:
1. Goodyear A/T tires are more rugged for off road/semi-improved forest roads than standard highway trailer tires.

2. The extra clearance for rocks and dips on the forest roads and getting off the road into dispersed camping areas. We didn't want any destroyed pipes or rear bumpers.

We've not experienced any problems with the flipped axles.

It does give more room to work underneath.

Ours came with the 3rd step.

I'm using 8 inch blocks for the four stabilizers. That works good at keeping the stabilizers from extending beyond 50%. Only once did I need to extend a stabilizer to 60% of travel. You'll need a block under the hitch jack as well, otherwise, you'll be extending it all the way up a times to hitch/unhitch etc.
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