What hitch to purchase?

[BoscoMN]

I had the Propride set up with no washers and I raised the WD bars level. They hit just a little bit aft of the bend in the bar. The nose of the trailer was about 1/2" higher than the tail.

[BoscoMN]

My driveway is "normal" for Minnesota, with some pitch to it. Tow vehicle is a short wheelbase Expedition.

I like going to the 15" wheels for the many reasons others on the forum have made the upgrade - the extra clearance mentioned above will be welcome!

[dkottum]

Originally Posted by BoscoMN

My driveway is "normal" for Minnesota, with some pitch to it. Tow vehicle is a short wheelbase Expedition.

I like going to the 15" wheels for the many reasons others on the forum have made the upgrade - the extra clearance mentioned above will be welcome!

You're only going to get 1/2" higher with the Michelin tires, but they are still an excellent idea, especially with a single axle Airstream. I don't think we ended up with any more clearance with the Michelin 16; our GYM's were at 60 psi and we run our 80 psi max Michelins at 65 lbs for a softer ride (and plenty of load capacity).

Trying to think of ways to get extra clearance. With weight distribution applied, does your Expedition have equal drop (measured at the wheel wells on one side) front and rear, or is it lower in the back?

Could you just turn in a little more w.d with the screw jacks to raise the back of the Expo and front of the trailer a bit just before entering and exiting the driveway (then set it properly after getting out). The ease of this with the screw jacks is one of the nice features of the ProPride, you may want to use the tongue jack to lift the tongue first to make the screw jacks easier to turn, then raise the tongue jack before you back in.

[switz]

The relative tire diameters:

14" GYM ST215/75R14C 26.7"

15" GYM ST225/75R15D 28.3"

15" Michelin LTX (P) 235/75R15 XL 28.9"

16" Michelin LT225/75R16/E LTX M/S2 29.2"

We got the most lift going from the stock 14" tires and wheels on the 23D to the 15" Michelins on 15" SenDel five lug nut T03-56545T wheels which was 1.1". Since the heaviest loaded tire (street side rear) weight is only 1,360 pounds, the 15" Michelin's derated capacity of 1,985 pounds is more than adequate for the job and we run 44 psi in them (per Andy Thompson at CanAm) for a softer ride. The 16" Michelins would have been a really tight fit and too stiff for the lighter weight of the 23D with four tires. Plus the conversion to 12" brake drums to get the six lug nut pattern would have added considerable cost in addition to the tires and wheels.

The extra height does get the sewer department higher off the ground which is the achilles heel of this model.