Hi From the Smokies

We are Scot and Sonja, new members here from Franklin, NC. Long time campers but new to Hi-Lo. We found a 1709T last week and bought it after looking it over thoroughly. It is in very nice shape. We used this forum before we bought looking for other trailers and found the forum and its members to be very helpful. (Hi to Pine, AZ...we're originally from Prescott!) We have a formidable driveway and need a trailer small enough to get up it and we like to camp where large trailers don't go easily, so the 17 footer seem about right for us. Plus it has the biggest bed in the Hi-Lo models! (I think.)
We've restored a trailer (1964 Holiday Trav'ler) that we sold last year and are pretty experienced with repairing stuff. Do a bit of woodworking, play a lot of guitar, and fool with motorcycles and restore old cars. And Sonja makes a lot of quilts!

The front seal on the trailer is not making contact and the last owner didn't know why, but it is the cable adjustment that doesn't raise the front as much as the rear of the trailer. So, I will go adjust that this morning thanks to info gather on this forum.

Cheers to everyone! Scotty

Welcome Scotty, from west of you in Andrews, NC. Best of luck with your Hi Lo. If you need any info or have any questions, just ask. Most of us don't bite, and we've done just about any repairs needed and a bunch of mods.
Again, Welcome,
Tree

Hi, Scotty - Don't know why you would have moved from Prescott (pronounced presskit, for those of you not from around here) to that muggy east coast locale. All that green! Sheesh!

Your trailer looks almost identical to ours of course and we got the size we have for the same reasons you cited. We've found it suits our camping needs perfectly, now that we've left tents behind us.

Ask if you have questions, but you seem to be on the right track already. Adjust the front cables so that the front seal just makes good contact. Don't try to "align" the top rail of the bottom half with the inside ledge of the top half (on the inside with the top up).

- Jack

Hi Tree. Wow you have a LARGE trailer! Like two of ours! Nice to have a Hi-Lo neighbor close by. Andrews is a great town. So is Bonita Springs. We last lived in Safety Harbor, FL but when we retired it was back to the mountains. I just adjusted the lift cables, the rears were never touched apparently as under the lock and adjusting nut, the bolt was shiny clean. The fronts I know were adjusted as there is a receipt from the original owner for "sealing air leak at trailer front seal." Anyway, the rear was still sealing properly but the front was 1-1/2" low! You could wave to your friends out the gap.
Hope to meet you someday. Scotty

Hi Jack...well Preskit it is indeed. Family's been there since the turn of the last century. And yes, the Smoky Mtns are a rain forest no doubt. But at least my nose doesn't bleed! Truthfully the rim country of AZ is great, but work moved us around and we ended up in Florida with one adult boy in Calif and the other in FL. So we retired to the mountains just to make everyone unhappy!
I'm going to have to look up you photos to see your trailer.
I just finished the cable adjustment. I never even went inside except to raise and lower it but I will check out the rails just to see where they are. I just left the rear alone, tightened the fronts but had to adjust them relative to each other as well because the right side was lower than the left. Overall the front was 1-1/2" lower than the rear. Got that Xs 2 geometry on the hydraulic piston but that is only when those pulleys are moving. When they're stationary, it is a one-to-one ratio. I simply brought the upper section seal up to meet the lower seal and then a bit of overlap. I used short 2X4s sitting on the frame stumps the top section rests on and that let me have enough slack to move the adjusters easily.
We didn't want to do a bigger trailer up our driveway; we had a 24" Lance up here for a year or so, but it was a strain on the truck. Then the '64 trailer was 17' stem to stern, but sleeping wasn't to our liking...plus it was fussy. Tents...no. Tent trailers - they mildew back here. So I always was intrigued by the Hi-Los and now we have one. Wish is weighed a bit less though. The seller told us 2497 but I figured he didn't really know. Turns out he read the brochure and not the "as-built" factory sticker that is closer to 3000 lbs. Still not heavy, but not a light weight for it's size. Tow really great though! We drove to Nashville to get it and camped out on the way home for two days. We're glad there is such a great support group. Scotty

Scotty, I'm not surprised at the weight of your trailer. Mine weighs the limit of 3800# when I fill the cold water tank. It weighs maybe 3500# "empty". Now, I DO have two batteries in it and a few odds & ends, but I think my trailer is 3300# "dry", with the factory installed options. I've got several threads here about that and what I've done to compensate.

One of the major things was that I had the axle moved forward 3" and then had a 1-1/2" spacer put between it and the frame, which gave me room for larger wheels and tires. The axle is still rated at 3500#, but the wheels and tires are now close to 5000#. Before moving the axle, my tongue weight was over 600#, with water in the tanks, which exceeded the limit of the WDH.

It's been quite a learning process. Now though, it performs beautifully and we've had many uneventful trips.

- Jack

Interesting. I don't know my true weights yet but I'm expecting about 3000 dry and a tongue of about 450 lbs. Ii came with an eq hitch and anti-sway and I use that, but I can tow it easily with just my truck hitch and it doesn't crush the truck...it's good for 500 lbs, no eq. I never keep more than 5 gal of water in the tank and we'll load pretty lightly. Still 3500# is a bit dismaying as there is not much margin. Dexter makes good axles so maybe I'll give them a call.

You're still running 15" rims? Just wider and more tire? Mine has LR D that I consider minimal; I like to run LR E on single axles, but these Goodyears Endurance are new in November and there good for 65psi. That really should be adequate for this rig. I'll go look up your posts. Do you have photos uploaded for your trailer?

Hi Scotty -

No, I don't have photos of my trailer per se. But, I have photos of the Solar Power mod and before and after photos of my axle change. There's a couple photos showing it in camping spots as I recall. And, there's photos of my modification to the useless "wardrobe". There MAY be others, but I can't remember for sure.

Yes, I still have 15" rims, but they are 6" wide, so they accept 225/75-R15 tires. And, like you, these are LR D. My tires are Maxxis - I got them just before Goodyear came out with the Endurance model. I'll probably switch to Goodyear Endurance next time because of the higher speed rating on those tires.

I went to Maxxis 205/75-R15 LR D tires before I had the axle moved, and they seemed fine. The OEM LR C Marathons failed due to cord separation within the first 5000 miles.

- Jack