raising ride height

i have spoken to Matt whom some of you know from Dandy meets about raising the height of our trailer.He has kindly offered to help me raise the height,Matt has a massive workshop with gantry cranes welding equipment and other tools suitable for the job.I know that once the 12inch wheels are fitted our hitch height will go up 10mm but it will still need another 40-50mm to get the trailer level.

Sounds like its a chance that's too good to miss

yes i was down at his workshop yesterday getting some work done to the car.I will buy 4 mounting plates off indespension as they are only £2.21 each and pre drilled then buy a length of 50x40x4mm box section some welding and galvo spray later and jobs a goodun.

I'll be interested to see how the project goes, so photos please when complete. In the past I've used a drop plate for the tow ball to level the unit up when attached to the car but never thought of engineering anything to give the trailer extra height. Our first Dandy had an underfloor heater and we were always concerned about the lack of ground clearance under the heater.

Steve

My pics are on the yahoo site under" The Enterprise "

John wrote:My pics are on the yahoo site under" The Enterprise "

John i had a look at your pic's they are spot on,i take it you went for a continuous beam/box section across trailer to give it greater strength.I am getting the mounting plates off indespension then Matt will have them powder coated as well as a length of box,once we get dandy up in air we can remove suspension and then weld box to new plates and spray welds with some galvo spray,should be a good job.

yea greater strength as i also used 750 kg units, you mentioned spacers, to move the wheel out 10 mm, well I had to move the wheel in 10 mm so I set the units in
10mm the only problem with using 750kg units is the fact they move the wheel back about 30mm no problem to a delta just reset the mudguard to suit a bit more engineering for your unit but no great problem, good luck anyway

John wrote: yea greater strength as i also used 750 kg units, you mentioned spacers, to move the wheel out 10 mm, well I had to move the wheel in 10 mm so I set the units in
10mm the only problem with using 750kg units is the fact they move the wheel back about 30mm no problem to a delta just reset the mudguard to suit a bit more engineering for your unit but no great problem, good luck anyway

If my suspension was 15-20years old i would probably have upgraded to 750kg myself as the wheels fit,unlike the 500kg units.Instead of Machining the wheels,it may be possible to remove 1mm dia from hub centre this would only reduce the 6.5mm steel by 0.5mm and it would only need to be machined part way as the wheels are going to be spaced off.

Ive just raised my ride height by 50mm, I thought ride height too low and had to remove spare wheel,mounting
studs and jockey wheel in order to get up the slope on my driveway. Like Nick I bought 4 mounting plates from
Indespension and got some 50x50x5mm wall from where I used to work. Jacked up and propped Dandy,removed wheels,
suspension units and fitted 2 plates while I tacked 50x50 on, removed and welded it up in the garage,painted
and left to dry overnight.In the morning refitted everything, I did'nt change suspension as the units seem o.k.
but, like John as done, will uprate to 750kg units if and when needed.(I could'nt find John's blog on Y tube,
but I know a lot about starships now,....must be doing something wrong.)Anyway she just needs undersealing when
I get it. I will post some photo's when I've sussed it out....Bilbo

It would be good to see the pictures, we have been going on about doing this for years but still haven't got around to it due to lack of working space. Although thanks to John (formerly known as Hooker) I now have a book with lots of information and showing all of the parts. We may still take the easy option and take it to Riva

Here are photos as promised (if sussed)
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And some more ...
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Trailer before raising ride height:

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Trailer after raising ride height:

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Very nice and looks easy enough to do too, Great pictures

Just going to lie down now,heads hurting,it must have been the repeated banging of it on the table.I had to
get one of my neighbours to do it in the end....He made it look so easy I could have wept so I'm going to see
if I can get more cleverer than wot I am on these here machines............Bilbo

That's very interesting to see how it's done, thanks for posting the pics.

I'm assuming the towing height has changed because our 60's Dandy sits level on our 1964 and 1986 vehicles. I wonder if, when and why they changed it?

I think it was the height of vehicles that changed.

Well done on posting the pictures, it's easy when you know how

We would like to raise ours because of the same reasons as bilbo and we also have the underfloor heater and with speed bumps everywhere you look it would just be more reassuring to have added height.

Or you could solve it like me overload the car just joking,did you manage to do it without any alterations to the brakes ect.

mike

I thought it was the cars that have changed, why? That's an interesting question.

Overload the car, a roof box, some bikes on the back and a few kids should do the trick nicely. Joking aside, in the summer, there are few like that.

Mine is like that anyway Cazz, minus kids there isn't room left to fit any in

helen wrote:Mine is like that anyway Cazz, minus kids there isn't room left to fit any in

How big is your car? To overload this, I need to add a few washing machines, I've already got the kitchen sink.

Nick's Dandy with the nice new white wheels would look good with her.

Here's Molly.

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Ours isn't small Cazz, it's a Santa fe and I do have a roofbox too

helen wrote:Ours isn't small Cazz, it's a Santa fe and I do have a roofbox too

Just think of the fuel.

Our notch has a boot at the back and a boot at the front.

When we first bought her and hitched her up she was tilted up and rear end looked awfully close to the deck,
although camping trailer was nice and level when hitched up, and when home had to remove spare wheel and mounting
studs. So we fitted a drop plate which levelled her up but that dropped jockey wheel even lower so had to remove
that when backing up the drive. So have now removed drop plate(you can see it in one of the pics)(M So now she
looks level with some ballast in the boot(Me,15 stone but don't tell anyone)Oh and my tow car is a 10 year old
Toyota Corolla.
No Mike, the brake setting as unaffected when I checked and testing her on the road everything seemed o.k
Tomorrow I will try and post some pictures of her at Scarborough without the neighbours help but first,a few rums.....Bilbo

my pics are on the yahoo dandy site under the enterprise,I was advised to use a beam to make sure the units are as one and square to the body, and it does make it simpler to achieve that, what it did show was that when the units originally placed on the trailer the one side was not square to body, so for first 19 years of its life one wheel was out of line..

Hi John,just read your post about mounting plates being out of line. It must have
been the same as a car with excessive toe in/out, was there any uneven tyre wear that
you noticed?or does it matters to the same extent on a trailer.Thats one of the reasons
I bolted the plates on and tacked beam in position(Its a lot more accurate that way.)
And I'm still trying to find your blog on Yahoo dandy,the enterprise but can't seem to
find it,but my seamans curses are coming along a treat,I am doing something wrong but
don't know what,but will keep trying.........Bilbo