New AR 195 Question

[Matts18]

Longtime forum reader, finally traded in a sterndrive runabout for a 2018 AR 195. I have already replaced the bow roller and added the boat buckles thanks to (or should I say no thanks to!) this site. Due to a weird driveway, the articulating keel gets to within about 1/2 inch from scraping when I am backing the boat into the garage. To give myself some breathing room, I have ordered some 1.5" spacers to go between the axle and springs as well as some 15" aluminum trailer wheels with slightly larger radial trailer tires to give about 2" total of extra clearance. The plastic fenders have plenty of room for the larger wheel and tire (especially with the 1.5" life) and I have no issue on garage door height and the ramps are all steep around here so I don't see any adverse effect the additional height will have.

Anyhow, does anyone have any recommendation on how best to jack up the shoreland'r trailer? I have tall 6 ton jack stands and a good 3 ton floor jack. I am thinking it might be easiest to hook up the trailer to the truck, drive up on top of some ramps (keeping the truck attached), then position the stands under the frame behind the wheels, jack up the axle under the spring pad and take off the wheel, remove the ramp, and lower the jack to relieve pressure on the spring. At this point I can undo the u bolts and drop the axle down enough to insert the block, then button it all back up with the longer u bolts.

Any other thoughts or suggestions? Sorry if that has been covered elsewhere, I did search!

 

[Beachbummer]

Your plan is solid, but if you have all hardware on hand, you could do this at the water ramp with no boat on trailer, giving you greater access and less weight on the trailer while getting the job done.

 

[Matts18]

That is a good suggestion and I may go that route, but my concern is that I will get started and not have everything I need to finish. If I had a bigger boat or tandem axle trailer I think it would a no brainer to do it without the boat on the trailer. Either way, certainly worth considering.

 

[FLBulldogger]

I just replaced my leaf springs and bearings back in Dec 17, I just used my jack to take the pressure off the axle once it was high I placed the stands under the frame forward and behind the wheel and completed the process, one side at a time boat was on the trailer the whole time. Heres a pic that should show you all the placements we did. It was a fairly simple job and did it in about 1.5 hours in my garage. Same should apply to putting the spacers on. If you have an questions just let me know.

 

[Matts18]

Thanks!! That helps a lot. Do you recall how much droop or downward movement there is in the spring when you take the weight off it? Seems like it is pretty stiff.

 

[FLBulldogger]

Shouldn't be alot, after we pulled the springs off we realized that 2 of the three springs had rusted through and broke (on each side)...you can actually see the spring closest to my son is hanging down quite a bit...

 

[Matts18]

Shouldn't be alot, after we pulled the springs off we realized that 2 of the three springs had rusted through and broke (on each side)...you can actually see the spring closest to my son is hanging down quite a bit...

Thanks. I should be able to do what you did then and have enough room to get the blocks in.

 

[tweeter1148]

I had a similar issue with my truck and my drive way and I just bought a drop down hitch and it lifted the back of the boat up and I was good to go.

 

[Matts18]

I had a similar issue with my truck and my drive way and I just bought a drop down hitch and it lifted the back of the boat up and I was good to go.

I thought about that, but I think I will get the same effect when the ride height is raised—right? It seems the slight lift will make the trailer more “nose down” thus raising the angle of the keel. We will see!

 

[Matts18]

Got the new tires and wheels on today and measured about a 3/4 inch gain. The blocks and u-bolts came as well but the u-bolts looked a bit weak and were of thinner diameter rod. I am going to see how my clearance is with the new tires and the slightly more nose down attitude the extra height gives.

 

[DBamaC]

Looks good.

 

[Matts18]

It appears the tires provided enough lift to solve my clearance problem....and what an improvement in towing smoothness. Took the boat out yesterday to do the break in. It was super windy and I had no issue with tracking or stability. Putting the boat on the trailer was a bit of a challenge but I got it perfect first try using quick bursts of thrust to keep it going straight despite the wind gusts. Yamaha must be making improvements in sound proofing because I found the boat to be acceptably quiet and not noticeably louder than any other boat I have owned or ridden on.