Can't drop Jockey Wheel on driveway

[mercthunder]

Hi all,

My new boat (boating newbie alert) is normally stored at my parents house on their sloped driveway. On their driveway i can comfortable drop the jockey wheel and lift the trailer up to detach the trailer from my tow-ball. However, recently i brought it back to my house and on my driveway and when i went to drop the jockey wheel i couldn't get it all the way down and perpendicular to the ground. Basically the position of the trailer is too low in comparison to the shape of the driveway. Do i need to keep it stored at my parents house, or is there a way around this issue? Is there some way to raise the trailer into the air further so i can drop the jockey wheel?

Thanks.

[Berger4]

Would moving the Jockey wheel back further on the trailer help?

[Seahorse]

What size wheel. Maybe put on a bigger wheel.

[scottar]

Pics would help but there are a couple of solutions that spring to mind - reducing the size of the actual wheel on the jockey wheel if it only just misses, fitting a backing plate to allow the pivot point to be raised, change wheels to a jockey wheel set up that has a clamp and a totally removable wheel (these allow a few different positions in the clamp if you get the right one) or use a car jack to lift it high enough to get the wheel down

[Crunchy]

put a few bricks under the wheel

[Skusto]

Flip the ball over on your tongue, that's all I have ever done just means you can't carry max tow loads.

For example on my hilux goes from 2.5 tonne to 2.25 tonne.

Should give you at least another 50mm in height and may sort your problem if it doesn't can always just flip it back over.


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[PixieAU]

put a few bricks under the wheel

This was my thought also, when you get the trailer almost where you need it, reverse the car up on a couple of blocks of wood when you want to hitch/unhitch. You might only need a couple pieces of 200 x 25 pine (or similar). Lifting the car rear wheels will have more effect than lifting the trailer wheels.

[Feral]

You can buy a ball that sits 25 or 50mm higher, or you can get a tongue that has enough bend in it to raise the ball high enough to allow the jockey wheel to swing down.
But check your mount on the jockey wheel, a lot of them have two positions you can mount them, giving different heights, if you are really lucky, you might be able just swap to the mount holes that mount it higher.

https://www.couplemate.com.au/trailer-parts-shop-caravan-parts-shop/4wd/tow-balls/50mm-x-3500kg-tow-ball-high-shoulder/

[mercthunder]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. It looks like at this stage, the simplest thing to try would be to head to Bunnings and buy some blocks of wood and reverse the car onto that. The jockey just struggles to make the full 90 degree turn. I think the blocks of wood would work so i will try this first and see how i go.

[Giveitacrack]

I have a similiar problem.Where my boat is stored the garage floor is flat but the driveway is sloped lowering the coupling due the angle of the truck and towball when positioned.Solution is go to a car wreckers and get a scissor car jack then wind it off the towball just high enough to swing the jockey wheel around to its locked position after chocking the wheels.Same with hooking up.Easy.

[mercthunder]

I have a similiar problem.Where my boat is stored the garage floor is flat but the driveway is sloped lowering the coupling due the angle of the truck and towball when positioned.Solution is go to a car wreckers and get a scissor car jack then wind it off the towball just high enough to swing the jockey wheel around to its locked position after chocking the wheels.Same with hooking up.Easy.

You mean placing the jack directly under the tow ball on my car and lifting it? Is this safe? Could it bend the tongue?

[scottar]

You mean placing the jack directly under the tow ball on my car and lifting it? Is this safe? Could it bend the tongue?

No. Use the jack to lift the drawbar of the trailer with the hitch undone so the trailer lifts off the towball until it's high enough so you can get the jockey wheel down. Make sure the trailer wheels are well chocked prior to doing this. Personally I use a hydraulic floor jack when this is required with my rig (only when I have a heap of gear in the back of the car).

[Giveitacrack]

No. Use the jack to lift the drawbar of the trailer with the hitch undone so the trailer lifts off the towball until it's high enough so you can get the jockey wheel down. Make sure the trailer wheels are well chocked prior to doing this. Personally I use a hydraulic floor jack when this is required with my rig (only when I have a heap of gear in the back of the car).

Spot on Scottar.

Mercthunder just make sure trailer coupling is "unclipped" before jacking.I have a 15ft tinny so the scissor jack works fine.

[Fed]

How much it misses out by could determine the best way to go for you, plenty of solutions given already aside from digging a hole.
How much weight is on the tow ball coupling, thinking you may be able to solve 2 problems here by moving the boat back a couple of inches which will slightly raise the tow ball & mounting your transducer in line with Starboard trailer bunk.
That would be an elegant result even if it meant lifting the trailer by hand an Inch just to get the final swing down into position.