By Cheri Sicard
Does your travel trailer drag when going out of driveways? Have you ever thought about the process of lifting a travel trailer? In the video below from The More We Explore, we will learn the pros and cons of lifting a travel trailer.
Our hosts travel in an Airstream, trailers notorious for needing a lift because of the placement of the plumbing and dumping pipe. My old Airstream had the issue of dragging, but, then, so does my current Komfort trailer.
One of the negatives of lifting a travel trailer, especially with an Airstream like the one in the video, is you are messing with the aerodynamics a bit. But scraping the rear of the trailer almost every time you do something so simple as refueling gets mighty old mighty fast.
Another reason our hosts wanted to lift their Airstream is that they planned on doing a fair amount of boondocking in some remote places, and lifting a travel trailer gives it more ground clearance.
Pros of lifting a travel trailer
• Everything is higher, as you have added 3 inches of ground clearance.
• At around $200 for parts, it’s not that expensive to do this upgrade.
• The lift they use in the video is removable, so they can take it with them if they ever decide to sell the trailer and the new buyers don’t want a lifted trailer.
• Lifting got the trailer tongue off the ground more as they previously had to use a drop hitch (see video).
Cons of lifting a travel trailer
• When you lift a travel trailer, you also raise its center of gravity. Technically, this can make towing a bit more inefficient. However, our host says that, in practice, this is not a big deal as you are only raising a 9-foot-tall trailer by 3 inches.
• When installing the lift, the axles will now bolt in vertically as opposed to horizontally, which is not as strong. Again, see the video for details. Know that if everything is tight and torqued down, this should not present an issue. Nonetheless, for safety’s sake, it merits periodic inspections.
• Using a lift kit doubles the bolts that hold the trailer axles on, and therefore doubles the potential points of failure.
• Theoretically, there will be more wind resistance and the trailer will be tougher to tow, but this is so minimal that most people do not notice a difference at all. However, it could slightly reduce your fuel mileage.
• You will need to change your hitch configuration to match the new level.
• Your stabilizer and tongue jacks have to reach an extra 3 inches to hit the ground, so you might need extra blocks.
Every trailer owner is different, and they use their trailers differently. Despite all the cons, installing the travel trailer lift kit made sense for our hosts. You might feel differently.
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RVT1227
We had our TT lifted back at the factory after destroying the sewer outlet twice! No further troubles after that.
So, here we go again. A non-expert describing the benefits and cons of something he read or heard about. He never gets the lift installed (on this video). How about some before and after pictures and experiences/reactions. Oh well…
I have done “lifts” on towables and fifths. On my own and customers.
Regarding drag, I was told by a dealer once that the higher the trailer the less air drag/resistance underneath. Probably hard to measure.
I have a 2016 Keystone Cougar 29RLI, fifth wheel that I purchased new. The problem that I had with the trailer is the tires would rub on the floor of the trailer every time the trailer was on a rough road (it bounced). I did not over load the trailer & actually weighed most items so the trailer was not overloaded. I even moved the spare tire from the rear bumper to the front.
I added a 3” high lift kit and axle stiffeners to both axles. I have traveled over 9,000 miles on all types of roads with this new setup and have had no issues. The trailer rides fine.
Thank you for noting the video and summarizing its major points, Cheri! I admire those with the technical skill and the confidence to undertake and execute this and other modifications of their RVs. I currently lack both as well as an incentive to seek either. 😉 Have a great day and safe travels!