How do I get my 98" high TAB 320S in my 93" high garage?

john56

I am the new guy who just recently purchased a TAB 320S Boondock Edge.  I live in Utah and the winter weather will soon be upon us.  I want to store my new little baby in our garage but it is only 93" high and the TAB trailer is 98" high.  Do you think I can let 5" worth of air out of my tires, roll the TAB into the garage, and the put the air in again?  Your thoughts and expertise would be greatly appreciated!!!

DougH

They make 8" pretty small rims that still have a 5 on 4.5" lug pattern if that's what your Boondock Edge uses.  Etrailer sells them.

If you bought a couple of the lowest possible profile tires from your local tire shop that would fit that baby rim you ought to be able to make it, as long as that doesn't scrape your tank drains. Or just go without the tires and roll it into the garage on those new inexpensive baby rims.

Not sure if you'll quite make 5" with deflation alone.

Lil_Lucy back in 2015 posted here: "Yes. I removed the 14" tires and wheels and replaced them with 12" rims (no tires) then just pushed it into the garage. It's a real close fit. The rubber door seal on the garage door header just skims over the A/C fan vent cover but I didn't have to remove anything on the top. I would suggest to anyone to MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE before you attempt this in your garage. Height clearances could vary and there is no room for error. There was no dolly involved."

So you may be able to go with a bigger rim, like a 10" or 12".   Using the search feature for the forum on the top right of the screen with "garage clearance" I found pics of triumph... 

rcrcowboy

let the air out of tires  ha ha

MuttonChops

Buy a New House - - - - - - -

Verna

Buy a house with a 24x36 heated and air conditioned barn....it even has radiant floor heating!   

nhmike

talk to a local carpenter.  maybe modify existing space, maybe create new.  the expense will be worth it.

ScottG

Yeah, in hindsight I wish I'd built a four bay garage (rather than three) and installed 8' doors (rather than 7').

First world problems, baby, first world problems...  :-)

Verna

My challenge in the spring will be finding a contractor to replace the10’ wide, 8’ tall sliding door on my new 24x36 insulated, heated and air conditioned pole barn. With 12’ tall ceilings, I think that should give them enough room for a 10’x10’ “normal” garage door (fingers crossed). 

I didn’t get the 400 here soon enough to get it covered, but it looks like the temps will be high enough next week (and the snow and ice melted) to get the cover on her. 

tabiphile

ScottG said:

Yeah, in hindsight I wish I'd built a four bay garage (rather than three) and installed 8' doors (rather than 7').

First world problems, baby, first world problems...  :-)

Presuming compliance to local building codes raising the header over your entry to permit installation of an 8 foot door may be possible. The rafters should be up high enough to allow the door to clear and if they are not it's also possible to re-frame these. 

ScottG

tabiphile said:

ScottG said:

Yeah, in hindsight I wish I'd built a four bay garage (rather than three) and installed 8' doors (rather than 7').

First world problems, baby, first world problems...  :-)

Presuming compliance to local building codes raising the header over your entry to permit installation of an 8 foot door may be possible. The rafters should be up high enough to allow the door to clear and if they are not it's also possible to re-frame these. 

Good thought but no-go. There's no code issue but my doors are on the non-gable side and there's not enough space to raise the header unless I maybe went to a steel beam.

Regardless, that still wouldn't solve the problem of too few bays...  :-/

I do have land. I suppose if I cared that much I could just build another garage! Hmmm...  :-)

TBullard

Remove AC Vent cap.  Good for 1-2 inches.  One screw holds it in on a 2016 T@B.  Let air out of tires.  Should be able to get 3-4 inches doing this.

COHiker06

is it an issue of the garage door overhang when in the full up position or is it the framing of your house? I had to replace my dead garage door opener recently. Bought a 10 extension rail, really just a 2.5' additional rail and longer belt, then relocated the opener back two feet and gained the extra clearance because the door could travel to a full flat position when up. I also moved the door opener rail attach location at the header down two inches and the door attach point up an inch to shorten the lifting arm and gain more travel.

Passport

I purchased two rims off of Ebay that fit the trailer, had a welding shop laser cut the flanges off and every time I returned from using the trailer would take the wheels off and put on the cut-down rims.  That was in 2017 and I still have marks on my drive from the metal rims.  But it was sheltered and safe from weather.  Got old fast.

Passport

I know this is an old post but thought I'd add to it.  Recently we became the owners of a new 2022 NuCamp 320S Boondock.  It sits in our driveway and we have hail forecast for tonight the size of golfballs.  I have given a lot of thought into how I could get the behemoth T@B at 92" tall into a garage door that is 84" and...   I ordered a pair of tires 8" rims with 5 on 4.5 lug size witgh tires.  But will they fit over the brake drums of the Boondock?  I wondered.... So, I ordered a pair of spacers which will move the rim out about 1 1/2" and fit over the studs on the drum of the T@B. 
I'm not quite sure what the height will be with the 8" tires yet-they'll arrive tomorrow.  I may have to let some air out of the tires or even remove the tires  and use the rims only to get the Boondock in the garage.  I'll post more as time move along....

rcuomo

Some folks have successfully used these by removing the wheels and placing under the dolly under the drum  

Passport

That may be my next step...but I hope not.

fstop32

I don't know how anyone else feels about setting the camper weight down on the drums...but I wouldn't do it.  I was getting ready to go all Rube Goldberg with a plan but thought better of it 8^ D

Passport

fstop32 said:

I don't know how anyone else feels about setting the camper weight down on the drums...but I wouldn't do it.  I was getting ready to go all Rube Goldberg with a plan but thought better of it 8^ D

Has any one suffered any damage to their brake drums using these dollies?  That has to be figured into this somewhere I'd think.

rcuomo

There have been older posts around this temp solution. Put the lugs nuts back on to hold the drums in place and they are probably stronger than the wheels, certainly for the short distance to push into a garage. Once in place you can always support the frame with 2x4s. 

Passport

Well, the 8" tires looked good visually but alas, I still had even with taking the tires off 1/2" too high.  The 8 inchers dropped the Boondock very low but not low enough.  Probably if I were to take the tires off and cut the flanges off a couple of inches I could get it in but I'm old and tired after fighting with the tires all morning.  Ah well, tomorrow's a new day and I'll start over.  I returned the tires/wheels and maybe I'll see about buying some 5 on 4.5" rims and see what happens.

RVMike

I searched for topics about stuffing a T@B into a garage, and see that this topic has been talked about for a long time.  If anyone is interested, this is how I did it, with a couple pictures.

I have a 2020 320s Boondock Edge.  I have 7 1/2 foot high garage door openings.  The exact measurement for my third door is 88" vertically to the middle of the flexible vinyl seal.  I cut and stuffed two 2x4's for the left and right edges of the door to raise the door totally above the vinyl seal.  

I bought two 10x6 rims off ebay ($33 ea. they were "take-offs".) 5 hole on 4.5" circle.  They measure 11 5/16" maximum diameter.  I cut off the inside rim with my angle grinder so that they would clear the brake hub.  Interestingly, the rims would not slide on my lugs.  So I cleaned up the lug holes with a 1/2" drill bit.  Still not big enough.  I went up one 64th to 33/64ths.  That was perfect.  When I got the trailer on the ground I saw that the brake drum was way too close to the concrete.  So I cut some 1/4" plywood strips to roll the modified rim upon.  That worked just fine.  I backed in the trailer with my DW checking clearances constantly.  I can report that we didn't touch the vinyl top seal of the door, we didn't come within an inch of it, I believe.  So that means I could have bought 12" rims and would have still cleared.  When I roll it out, I will use thicker plywood.

With the Boondock tires on, I believe my trailer is 94 11/16" to the high point on the stock vent.  (The BD Edge lightbar mounts are 1/2" lower in elevation than that.)  With the 10" wheels on, my trailer is about 86 to 86 1/2" tall.

fstop32

@RVMike I like that approach!  Having a younger brother who is a "heavy metal" worker my thought was to get him to laser cut 2 discs out of 1/2" steel to a diameter that would give me sufficient clearance for the drums not to touch.  We would then cut the proper size hole for the hub and drill for the lug bolts.  These would bolt onto the hub/drum and I would roll it in on those.  You've pretty much accomplished the same thing with those rims, and done it with less expense and effort     I did mention earlier that I lean toward the Rube solutions, at least in the planning stage  

RVMike

@fstop32, I started out with that idea too!  What stopped me was worrying about how to get the lug holes perfect.  Only then did I think of buying rims and cutting them down.  

I want to correct one thing I said earlier about the height of my trailer on the 10" rims.  I just went out and measured the height:   Measured 87" on the right and 87 1/4" on the left.  This is with the rims sitting on about 1/8" of plywood (crushed 1/4" plywood).  

So the small rims lowered my trailer 7 7/16".  A regular 320 will not be this much, the fatty tires on the boondock is why, of course.  I was previously estimating the radius of the Boondock tire and wheel was 8", and guessed how much tire squish I might have.  Looks like 9/16", maybe.

My trailer will now happily sitting in the garage for five months.

Good luck Dave and to everyone else. 

scottincarmel

john56 said:

I am the new guy who just recently purchased a TAB 320S Boondock Edge.  I live in Utah and the winter weather will soon be upon us.  I want to store my new little baby in our garage but it is only 93" high and the TAB trailer is 98" high.  Do you think I can let 5" worth of air out of my tires, roll the TAB into the garage, and the put the air in again?  Your thoughts and expertise would be greatly appreciated!!!

I was pretty much in the same boat you're in. My garage doors are supposedly 8', but in reality they're about 93 inches. I was hoping letting air out of the tires would do the trick, but it wasn't even close. For me, it worked out for the best, however. I found a local farmer with room inside their barn and I store it there for pretty cheap. Whenever I want to use it, I text them and they have it waiting outside for me. Likewise, they put it away whenever I drop it off. They've spoiled me!

fstop32

@scottincarmel, talk about valet parking!!!! 
And @RVMike, my good fortune is my brother has access to a CNC type cutting machine so the location of the holes is all programmed in advance.  I wouldn't even think about that much effort if it weren't for the contact.