New Boler, new member, first question

[desy]

Hi all:
New member from British Columbia. We just brought our 1978 Boler home this past weekend. We're not planning on a full "gut" renovation, but will be doing some work on it over the next few months, so I expect I'll have a fair number of questions that I'm hoping this forum will help with.

First question though, is in regards to towing. I'm including a picture of the Boler hooked up to our tow vehicle, a Volvo 850 wagon. You should be able to see that with the current hitch on the car, the trailer angles up slightly towards the front. The hitch we had installed has a 3 1/2" riser, not sure how important it is to try and get the trailer more level, in which case I was thinking I could swap out for a shorter riser?

I know the general idea is for the trailer to be level when towing, but have the impression that it may be more of an issue for the front of the trailer to be sitting too low rather than a bit too high?

Appreciate any feedback on this. Thanks.

[Ian G.]

Welcome to the forum

Ideally the trailer should be level or very slightly lower at the tongue.
By the looks of it if you install a straight ball mount the trailer should be level.
Best method is to disconnect the trailer, level it and measure the height to top of the coupler

Take a look here: Choosing the Correct Ball Mount | etrailer.com

[Evan Friesen]

You may be able to use the 'riser' you have to drop the hitch height by taking the ball off, flipping the 'riser' (it then becomes a 'dropper' I suppose ...) and reinstalling the ball.
It may be too much of a drop though.

[Ian G.]

p.s. I have used my Volvo 740 to tow my Boler and a straight ball mount on it worked great. I am certain that reversing your current mount will make it too low, but measuring will confirm what will be the best.

[desy]

Thanks for the responses. I expect that flipping our current riser will make the connection too low, and that I'll need to swap it out for one with no rise or very little, by eyeballing it I would estimate that a change of a few inches will have the trailer pretty level, but I'll plan to sort it out through some measurement over the next while.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by desy

Thanks for the responses. I expect that flipping our current riser will make the connection too low, and that I'll need to swap it out for one with no rise or very little, by eyeballing it I would estimate that a change of a few inches will have the trailer pretty level, but I'll plan to sort it out through some measurement over the next while.

Check out Princess Auto. You can get a flat coupler pretty inexpensively there.

Standard Ball Mounts | Princess Auto

[Ron in BC]

Welome to the forum and the ever growing BC contingent.

One other possible consideration is that most times when the trailer is in use the tow vehicle is also loaded with "stuff". When loaded it might be lower than it is now. You may want to check the hitch height with it loaded.

Ron

[Donna D.]

Hi Don, welcome to FiberglassRV and THANKS for posting the pic!

You're going to get all kinds of help here from a group of very nice folks.

[CliveAlive]

Welcome to the forum from another Volvo tow vehicle owner.

[desy]

Thanks for the welcomes and the tips. Good thought from Ron to check it out with some weight in the tow vehicle.

[andrew78]

before you change anything, keep in mind it doesn't look like the car is loaded with any gear or camping stuff. the extra weight of coolers and people in the car might drop the car down a bit, making it lower to the ground. just something to consider, i know my wagon sits a little high with nothing in it but when we pack the boler and the car it does drop a couple inches. welcome to the group

[slavandheather]

Welcome! We also picked up a 1978 back in September of last year and it is being restored now.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by desy

I know the general idea is for the trailer to be level when towing, but have the impression that it may be more of an issue for the front of the trailer to be sitting too low rather than a bit too high?

congrats on your new trailer Don! Hope you make it out to our annual fiberglass meet June 21 -23 near Mission.

As others have indicated your best to get the trailer level or slightly down vs up. If the front of the trailer is up you may find you have a sway issue.

[desy]

slavandheather: yes, been following your posts on your reno project. We're not planning to be nearly as ambitious with ours, but learning a lot from your experience.

[desy]

Carol: You may just see us out there, depending on how the next few months of work go. We're working towards an inaugural camping trip the May long weekend, so should be on the road by June.

[slavandheather]

Originally Posted by desy

slavandheather: yes, been following your posts on your reno project. We're not planning to be nearly as ambitious with ours, but learning a lot from your experience.

Awesome! We never expected to do this, but having something "vintage" like this got us inspired to bring it back to life. And seeing what is possible from the work Robert Johans has done made it impossible to not want to do it well.

We look forward to seeing your progress!

Slav & Heather

[dylanear]

Originally Posted by Carol H

As others have indicated your best to get the trailer level or slightly down vs up. If the front of the trailer is up you may find you have a sway issue.

Glad someone mentioned this! Not having a enough front drop and too much weight in the back (of the trailer) has caused my only sway. Not a good feeling.