Quote:
Originally Posted by CC_Turtle
Hi,
we are moving to a place with a lower garage - but want to park the tm in the garage. If we didn't have the roof air - it would fit easily. We have only used our air once--and could live without it--but don't want to get rid of it permanently because of resale value. does anyone know if it is possible to remove the air and then add it back on later? how labor intensive would that be? really expensive?
we only need to lose about 2" ... is there away to lower TM - such as letting air out of tires to get the TM in?
thanks for any input.
Teresa
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I would lean much more to the temporarily-deflate-tires-to-get-clearance approach than the remove-the-AC approach.
The sidewall height of the tires is around 5 inches @50 psi...if you were to drop the pressure to around 10 or 15 psi, you should be able to reduce the height to around 2 inches...enough to get the AC unit under your grarage door. Rolling the tires when mostly deflated
for only 2 or 3 feet with the the trailer as empty (lightweight) as you can get it shouldn't hurt the tires to any significant degree. However, you are putting extreme stress on the tire's inner structure (and bonding between the cords, belts and rubber) when rolling it with a load in a severely underinflated state. Tires are designed handle a certain amount of such distortion...they distort every time you hit a large bump (e.g. edge of a pothole) in the road...but each such major distortion really stresses the tire. Rolling 2 or 3 feet in a severely underinflated state is probably not a big deal...but rolling 20 or 30 feet with the tire that severely underinflated could be.
Therefore, it would be an
extremely good idea to reinflate the tires
immediately after getting the AC past the garage door opening. Don't roll the trailer even 1 foot farther than you have to with the tire pressure that low. And
never store the trailer with the tires severely underinflated. That basically means you will need to have some form of air compressor on hand...the 12V "mini" compressors
like these are what you need...something that's built well enough to do repeated re-inflations of the trailer tires and that has enough flow volume (~30 liters/minute) to re-inflate each tire in a reasonable (3 to 5 minute) time. As you can see, you should expect to pay around $50 to $90 for such a device. I would strongly suggest you not buy the "4-in-1" emergency powerpacks with lights and compressors...or $9.95 compressors...as these contain compressors that probably won't last beyond a half-dozen re-inflations of the trailer tires. Of course, you certainly can get a real 120V compressor with air tank...but those take up quite a bit of room and are bit pricey.
And do keep in mind that you will have to go through this deflate...roll under door...re-inflate process each time you take the trailer out of the garage as well as each time you put the trailer in the garage.
The alternative of permanently removing the AC could be somewhat tricky...
First, you will need an overhead hoist to lift the AC out of the roof (keep in mind that it weighs around 100 lbs)...this is not something you should do in a driveway.
Second you will need to craft a watertight, corrosion resistant cap to fit over the opening...getting a permanent seal might be a bit challenging. And you will also need to do something on the inside to aesthetically cover the cavity (which will have the AC's power wire dangling inside)
Third...and possibly the most challenging...is you may not be able to sufficiently adjust the torsion bars to account for the missing weight on the roof. These bars have a relatively narrow range of weights they can support and are chosen specfically by TM for the expected load. Remove 100 lbs of AC and you may find that even at their lowest adjustment, the bars will cause the front shell to spring up and be quite difficult to close.
Removing the AC gets you into the business of re-engineering your trailer and, unfortunately, you may encounter a surprise after you've already started pulling the AC out of its mounts.
Methinks that temporary deflation/reinflation of the tires before/after each trip is a whole lot simpler and less subject to surprises than removing the AC. And you will also always have the AC on the trailer if you should happen to want to go somewhere quite hot. Without the AC, your options become quite a bit more limited.