Ball Height

mmtab · April 2017

We just got our T@b....The rv dealer set the ball height at 17 inches. The Little Guy Owner's manual says it should be 16 inches from the ground to the top of the ball. Should I be concerned?.. or is the 1 inch difference inconsequential?
Thanks

Nomad · April 2017

It's 16 according to every post here discussing the matter. Always good to be level.
Saw a T@B on the road the other day that was so off I thought they'd drag the tail on the ground :-(

RollingBnB · April 2017

Depends on how much your tv sags when you hook up the T@B

Nomad · April 2017

That's true - Mine sags very little with the proper tongue weight - Not noticible so 16 works.

RollingBnB · April 2017

Some vehicles that people tow with have very soft springs and sag quite a bit. Not every car out there was made to tow.

jgram2 · April 2017

18 inches for the outback.

Nomad · April 2017

Moral of the story = You want 16 after you load it up and figure out how soft your springs/suspension is - Would you two agree with that?

RollingBnB · April 2017

Works for me

JohnDanielsCPA · April 2017

If you place a level on the tongue of the jack, (or inside the trailer on the floor), it should be level when hooked up. That tends to be around 16." If the trailer isn't level at 16", adjust the hitch until it is.

marknjudy · April 2017

Ditto what PXL says. My hitch was at the perfect height until I moved the spare tire to the tongue. Now it's a half inch too low to get the jack wheel off without raising the tongue, deploying the front stabilizers, raising the jack, taking off the wheel, lowering the jack, retracting the stabilizers and then lowering the tongue. Not a huge hassle, but I need to measure the height of the ball again with the spare on the tongue and decide if it's enough of a height change to change the hitch.

Verna · April 2017

And those of us with Tacoma's may need to put in air bags on the rear suspension to help with the soft suspension. 10 lbs when not towing and 25 when towing.

Ratkity · April 2017

Mark, replace the wheel with a jack foot unless you like to use the wheel to roll your T@B around your driveway.

marknjudy · April 2017

@Ratkity: I've given lots of thought to that and am considering it. However, I currently store in a storage building and soon will store in my garage - when it's finished next month. I'll have to see if the tight angle to turn into the driveway will let me pull in and out without unhooking. Right now, I can back it into the storage building, but there's just barely not enough room to pull it out if that makes any kind of sense; so I have to roll it out of the storage building to hook it up. I can't bring myself to cut the jack, but I'm thinking about the foot - which I think is an awesome accessory - and maybe one of those rollers like they put under car tires in a show room to let it roll in and out.

Ratkity · April 2017

I never got rid of the wheel. It was just held on by a pin. Easy to swap out.

Don't do anything to the jack, but you might consider replacing it with a flip up jack instead of a vertical one. Look at eTrailer. Make sure to measure, measure, measure - especially if you moved the spare to the front!

You can always do a PXL and put your back wheels on a Lynx block each. Then you can get your wheel on to unhitch and roll your T@B around. Your storage must not have a lip to go over inside. I hope your garage doesn't. That would sure mess with my back!

TerryV6 · May 2017

We've run into this problem too. We changed Tv and now will tow with a Ram 1500. With an empty TV, we needed a 10 inch drop to level out. Then we packed up our first time out and at the site, we couldn't get the wheel off. We are wondering about going to the 9 inch drop hitch that figures show us needing under load.

dsatwork · May 2017

I set mine at about 15" and a lot of pictures I see it looks like trailer is too high at the tongue. Not a perfect picture because I'm on an odd angle on the driveway, but when I got to camp I put a level inside Tab and it was dead on level front to back. Am I missing something here, isn't goal for the Tab to be level while towing?

mandt · May 2017

How do you adjust the height of the hitch on the car? Mine has no adjustments that I am aware of.

Sharon_is_SAM · May 2017

Mandt, several things contribute to where your TaB tongue lands. First - the kind of tow vehicle will dictate your choice of ball mount. Since our minivan hitch receiver is so low to the ground we needed to use the "rise" rather than the "drop" of the ball mount to approximate the required 16 inch point to run the TaB level. In addition, the weight behind the TV rear axle and in front of the TaB axel will reduce the height of the rear of the TV and front of the TaB. So, if the ball mount is not a perfect fit, you can adjust where you carry cargo to create a more level tow. Hope this helps.

Sharon_is_SAM · May 2017

dsatwork: We, too noticed that it appears that the TaB nose is a bit high, but it is level.

Ratkity · May 2017

If you look at some of the T@Bs (qualifier because I haven't done a side by side comparison), the tongue has a slight angle up. That's why I initially put the leveler on the counter above the frig and another on the floor to get an average for front to back and side to side (then used the cheapo sticky levelers outside). I think it's an optical illusion that the nose is high. like SAM and datswork said, as long as you are fairly level towing, you are good. Someone told me a rule of thumb is it is better to have a trailer level be slightly lower on the hitch than upward if you are between available hitch heights (could just apply to bigger rigs).

TerryV6 · May 2017

This was our setup as we stopped for a bite to eat.

We had done our initial measurements with the truck empty. I now realize, for the most part, we should use a drop for the truck loaded, as we would like to put the most used items (cooler etc.) near the truck tailgate.

marknjudy · May 2017

That's what I had to do too. Mine dropped just enough that I couldn't get the jack wheel off with the truck loaded and the spare moved to the tongue.

Ratkity · May 2017

@TerryV6, still an ABSOLUTELY cute setup.

TerryV6 · May 2017

Thanks Ratkity, I just turned 65 and my wife let me buy a truck. Years ago I had a 4x4 Ford Ranger, but with taking care of my mom and having my mom in law live with us, it wasn't a practical vehicle and we sold it. I wanted to buy a Colorado/Tacoma type, but they were out of my price range. Believe it or not, this full size used one was a lot cheaper. My Rav got 12-14 mpg when towing, and our "new" truck gets about the same, so its good. Being a environment lover, I did have some guilt, but it will go away... Grin...

dmerzbac · May 2017

Well, this thread answers a lot of questions for me. I, too, was having problems getting the jack wheel off. I also ended up shearing off the roll pin in the crank when I forced it trying to raise the wheel higher. I replaced the trailer jack and the wheel when on and came off fine. That was before I remounted the spare on the tongue. I'll bet if I went out side right now and hitched up I wouldn't be able to get the wheel off due to the extra tongue weight. Hmmmm......do I change the height of the hitch, move the tire back inside the camper (ugh!), or use the car jack to raise the tongue up enough to get the wheel off?

marknjudy · May 2017

I like the spare on the tongue so I don't want to move it back. Uhaul had a hitch an inch higher with ball for $28 bucks and so I went that way. Rated at 6000 lbs so it ought to be good.

May alternate approach was to raise the tongue sufficiently, lower the front stabilizers, raise the jack until I could get the wheel off, lower the jack and then raise the stabilizers. It wasn't a lot of work, but I figure it'll be easier to do it the normal way.

dmerzbac · May 2017

@marknjudy Buying a new hitch seems like the best solution at this time. I agree with you on not wanting to move the spare. I'll get out tomorrow and do the measurements to see want the height differences are.

marknjudy · May 2017

That's better than what I did and much more practical. I calculated that mine was about 3/4 to an inch lower based on clearance below the wheel. Then I took my hitch into the Uhaul store and said I wanted one an inch shorter. I hope that works out. In retrospect, I shoulda done what you're doing, but I am several miles from my trailer and, until the weather turned for the worse here with storms, high winds, hail and tornados predicted, I was gonna go camping so was in a sort of bind. Let me know what you find. I haven't used the hitch, so if I need to go shorter...

Ratkity · May 2017

TerryV6 said:

Thanks Ratkity, I just turned 65 and my wife let me buy a truck. Years ago I had a 4x4 Ford Ranger, but with taking care of my mom and having my mom in law live with us, it wasn't a practical vehicle and we sold it. I wanted to buy a Colorado/Tacoma type, but they were out of my price range. Believe it or not, this full size used one was a lot cheaper. My Rav got 12-14 mpg when towing, and our "new" truck gets about the same, so its good. Being a environment lover, I did have some guilt, but it will go away... Grin...

I upgraded from a 2006 Rav4 V6 to a '15 Canyon long bed crew cab. You're right. I got the same mileage as the Rav4 vs the Canyon with the T@B, (but not with the new camper - more width and height.. about same length).

dinzzy · May 2017

I have a Tacoma also with Firestone air springs. Like Verna I put 10 lbs when I'm not towing and 25 lbs with the T@B attached. It was worth the money!

Verna · May 2017

@dinzzy, if you need to cross what's called a "dry wash" (a stream crossing a road and there's no bridge), be sure to let the air out so you won't scrap your spare (if your spare is still underneath). I finally figured this out so I can get to my volunteer Camp Hostess assignment and the main road is still under construction, delayed by all of this rain. of course, reinflate after the crossing.

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links

Categories

Ball Height

Comments