Shorelandr trailer tongue Jack

[Bubblehead]

With hitch ball at proper height for trailer, the tongue Jack is not tall enough to lift off of ball. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[HABANEROTE]

It all depends on the car no?

 

[Bubblehead]

I do not believe so. Height is dependent on trailer, specifically springs and tires. Hitch height is set by level trailer and to do that tongue Jack is fully extended. Need to go higher to back ball under tongue. I had to use truck Jack with blocks to hook up. Then put blocks under tongue Jack to disconnect. Real pain in the butt if I have to carry blocks with me everytime I plan to disconnect and connect trailer.

 

[HABANEROTE]

My jeep takes it straight with no lowering arm... just the ball and thats it...

 

[Bubblehead]

I originally had a 3" drop hitch on my f350, but switched to no drop because trailer was not riding level. Then ran into previously discussed problem. I do have aluminum/galvanized trailer, not painted. 215/75-d14 wheels

 

[AJack]

I have a zero drop hitch in my GMC 3500 dually with no issues with the height. I was told that single rear wheeled 3/4 & 1 ton trucks have a factory lift installed.

 

[Bubblehead]

I don't see how vehicle matters. If my trailer is on a vehicle, sitting level, with equal load on both axles and you extend the tongue Jack, it will barely touch ground. Needs to raise tongue high enough to come off ball

 

[AJack]

I guess to answer your original question, no, I don’t have that problem and it’s a galvanized trailer.

 

[Liveto99]

Shorelander Al trailer an a Titan and I need a 2” drop or I go downhill a little. It is so close but on level ground I need the drop or a board for under the trailer jack.

 

[swatski]

I do not believe so. Height is dependent on trailer, specifically springs and tires. Hitch height is set by level trailer and to do that tongue Jack is fully extended. Need to go higher to back ball under tongue. I had to use truck Jack with blocks to hook up. Then put blocks under tongue Jack to disconnect. Real pain in the butt if I have to carry blocks with me everytime I plan to disconnect and connect trailer.

I totally agree, different yamaha boat, but very similar experience.
I finally threw in the towel... Just not worth it - looking for a brick to pop the coupler off everywhere, and worry about the damn thing folding on me - it is so unstable when fully extended!
(sorry I do not have better advice)
https://jetboaters.net/threads/best-trailer-tongue-jack.18772/#post-323280

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[Tailwaters]

As I recall the trailer should sit level when attached to the vehicle . If not the braking system does not work properly nor is it good on the vehicle.

 

[Jameson Clark]

Different boat but same problem here. No matter what I tow with, same problem. And you are correct, the tow vehicle doesn't matter IF they have it setup correctly with the trailer level. But, to answer your question, I have the same exact problem and also hate this tongue jack in general. Overall, the Shoreland'r trailer my boat came on has been one big disappointment after another. My last boat came on a Boatmate trailer and I can assure you, given the choice, I would take a Boatmate over Shoreland'r every single time! I'm sure Yamaha orders these trailers how they want them and apparently that is with the cheapest parts you can get your hands on! But, luckily for Yamaha, their name isn't on that piece of junk riding down the highway, so I guess they don't care.

 

[HABANEROTE]

Jeep with big tires and l have no issues...

 

[Bubblehead]

You have more load on front trailer axle, based on space between fender and tire. Pictures can be deceiving though. The point of discussion is how far will you have to extend jack to free it from hitch ball?

 

[Julian]

I have no issues either...in fact I can raise my boat up WAY higher than I could imagine any vehicle would ever need to raise! I do this to drain the boat at home....the spot the boat is parked in leaves the bow down a little, so I have to crank the bow WAY up to get it to drain, this gives me probably 8-10" clearance above the hitch then I back up to it. So much clearance that I need to lower the jack before backing up to make aligning the ball easier.

Also, the topography of the spot you are parking in can make a big difference! If it isn't all flat, the tow vehicle nose can be on a down hill slope as compared to the boat, thus raising the hitch height significantly. See my crude and exaggerated example below.


The height at the arrow can often be quite different depending on the ground levels. I find the opposite problem where I park....I can't get the jack low enough for me to swing it into position because my boats stern and my vehicles front are both higher than the bow/rear, causing me to dig a small hole to get the jack to swing into position.

How about a wide shot (photo) of your situation...that would help us.

 

[swatski]

this gives me probably 8-10" clearance above the hitch then I back up to it.

That would have been impossible with my factory setup...

I needed a cinder block or equivalent (~8-10") to get that kind of clearance and to drain the boat/hull!
That factory jack, fully extended, would get my boat barely leveled (on level ground). It was enough to get the coupler onto the hitch ball (w/perfectly leveled trailer) but with basically zero clearance.

And NOT enough for comfort! Fully extended OEM jack always looked wobbly and like it was about to buckle..., I would have it supported by an aux jack frequently, for safety.


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[Jameson Clark]

Jeep with big tires and l have no issues...

View attachment 79738

Hard to tell from that picture but it does look a bit nose down.

 

[swatski]

Jeep with big tires and l have no issues...

View attachment 79738

The vehicle height/tire size etc. has no bearing on the issue here, the ball height/position can be adjusted w/the hitch.

BTW - trailering a 4k lbs combo with a Wrangler... How does that work? Most here report a 190 to be borderline behind a JW.

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[Bubblehead]

I have no issues either...in fact I can raise my boat up WAY higher than I could imagine any vehicle would ever need to raise! I do this to drain the boat at home....the spot the boat is parked in leaves the bow down a little, so I have to crank the bow WAY up to get it to drain, this gives me probably 8-10" clearance above the hitch then I back up to it. So much clearance that I need to lower the jack before backing up to make aligning the ball easier.

Also, the topography of the spot you are parking in can make a big difference! If it isn't all flat, the tow vehicle nose can be on a down hill slope as compared to the boat, thus raising the hitch height significantly. See my crude and exaggerated example below.

View attachment 79741
The height at the arrow can often be quite different depending on the ground levels. I find the opposite problem where I park....I can't get the jack low enough for me to swing it into position because my boats stern and my vehicles front are both higher than the bow/rear, causing me to dig a small hole to get the jack to swing into position.

How about a wide shot (photo) of your situation...that would help us.

I will try to get a pic posted today. Nice drawing, but I would be pissed if my driveway looked like that. haha

 

[Jameson Clark]

This is the day I picked up my boat. I took 3 different hitch inserts not knowing which I would need for the trailer to be level. On my truck, I ended up having to use a 1/2" raise (2" drop flipped over) to get it close and I still would have preferred it up a touch more in the front. One of the problems that compounds this for me is the boat/trailer has too much tongue weight right now. I am waiting in line for the "rental scale" to come my way to fix that but for now I just have to deal with it. But, with so much tongue weight, my truck squats a bit more which means I need a higher hitch point so that after the squat, I am still level. So, then the jack has to be able to accommodate that extra amount as well.

With that said, even with the proper tongue weight, the jack is nowhere near adequate for a trailer that sits this high or this type of weight. It is just junk all the way around.