Drop Down Tongue, any tricks to disconnecting it from Ball?

[Kylersk]

I towed the house with my truck for the first time, down the block and back. Once I got back, I lowered the house to the ground and now I cant seem to get the tongue disconnected from the ball of my truck. I had a problem with the wheeler as well and had to remove the tongue completely. Not sure why?

Well, looks like I may need to carry a tire iron with to pry it off.

[Kylersk]

Also, is it better to have the house tilt slightly downward from front, or slightly upward from front, while towing? Right now, I've got a 2" drop ball mount. Should I go with a 4" drop?

Here's a pick of it connected to truck.

The first thing I've ever towed was my 2 place ATV trailer, and that was 2 years ago. So I have next to zero towing experience.

Thanks in advance.

[love to hunt]

I would rather be level if possible. Toungue high could cause issues coming on to or off of the lake.

The trouble with unhooking I have found is the nature of the pivot hitch beast. If you are going to unhook from the vehicle don't use the pivot. If you are going to run and gun use the pivot.

The house look great, I hope I see in it person some day. I fish Mille Lac quite often so let me kow.

[Kylersk]

Quote:

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The trouble with unhooking I have found is the nature of the pivot hitch beast. If you are going to unhook from the vehicle don't use the pivot. If you are going to run and gun use the pivot.

The house look great, I hope I see in it person some day. I fish Mille Lac quite often so let me kow.

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Ah! So that's why one needs a zero clearance Jack. I figured since I had the drop down, that I wouldnt need the jack as well.

I'm not a big fan of Mille Lac, lets just say that special they did a while back on the news put me off for the lake.

For the most part, I'll stick around the metro area, and make the occasional run up to Remer and hopefully hit leech or Winni.

[Gordie]

Hey kylersk,I ran into the problems that your running into and Ilovetohunt is right but I've built alot of these retractable frames and found that the angle that the ball to drop tounge is alot of the problem and the zero clearecne jack is the only way that I build them, if you set the house down and decide to leave it you just take pressure off the hitch with the tounge jack and unhook from the ball and jack down the house to the ice and take hitch with you. this also serves as some sort of theft deturant but any thing is not totally theft proof.

[KidWalleye]

You want the house level or just slightly forward. If it leans back you might be shifting the weight just enough to cause a problem. I had a fish tail at about 60 on 35W. It was tailing about 6 feet both ways. I thought I was a gonner. Luckily I was going uphill so I just let off the gas and coasted til it straightened out. Always weight forward. Hope this helps. Kid

[love to hunt]

[/quote} that special they did a while back on the news put me off for the lake.

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If we are thinking about the same episode of news I agree completely. I used to access from the north end but but when that aired I moved south.

Also I was looking at your picture and have another sugestion.

You may want to add some ground clearance height to your trailer. This can be done easily by adding a drop to the bottom of your pivot arm and welding the spindle to the drop.

I have found the more clearance you can get away with the better for those less then perfect landings.

Just a sugestion.

[LaZyDayZ]

Could one of you two point in the direction of this report or summarize it for me.

[nytelyter]

<<<<<<<< is curious too please. be at lib to expand on this. although i dont take a big house up there i do drag the wheeler and otter that way. ... paul

[Eric Wettschreck]

I do not know which news group did it, but in a nutshell they showed how some of the fellers that plow roads can be buttheads on the lake.

[LaZyDayZ]

Im not gonna name names but I only go out of 1 place on the North West side of the lake.

The owner can be a real @ss at times. He like it his way or no way. While I cant say he hasnt ruffled my feathers a few times, after thinking about it I have agreed with him and always return.

If he was on the list I would of stood up and defended him right away. Maybe a grumpy coot but always good roads, good advice on lake and safety and available in a bind. (might he give you a hard time? Probably. Might you have deserved it? Probably.)

Customer service is lacking in this day and age. I notice the lack of it every where I go. In this situation I would prefer straight and to the point talk. And if its a grumpy resort owner blowing a little justified steam, I'll take it.

How often do I hear all you guys/gals moan and groan about the idiots out there on the lakes. Imagine dealing with them every day year round.

Maybe this is not at all what the article was about but if so it's my 2 cents.

[McGurk]

Try searching around the Mille lacs forum, I remember this being discussed last winter. Both sides covered.

[deepportage01]

Could someone pull it up for me please I can't seem to find it ? thanks DP

[love to hunt]

here is the link to the news story:

http://www.kmsp.com/news/investigators/story.asp?1641637

The story was about people using the public access to get on the lake and then driving to a road system that a resort was maintaining on the ice.

Apparently some workers from a resort (I won't disclose a name on a public forum) were making threatening comments and badgering the folks off "their" roads unless they paid the resorts road fee's. They were laying claim to ownership of the ice because they were plowing the roads out there which they can not do.

Legally they can't kick anyone off any part of the ice reqardless of plowed roads. The lake is considered public frozen or otherwise. It would be like saying you can't fish from a boat in front of a resort unless you pay to use the resort landing.

On the same note I understand their frustration of going through all that work plowing and have someone by pass the resort landing to get away from the fee's but that is a risk they have to live with.

I personnally have no problem paying the resorts for road use. I like the security of knowing there is good ice under me. I used to use that resorts access and pay their road fee's untill I heard what was going on out there.

[LaZyDayZ]

Thanks for the link.

I wont hijack the thread any more. lol

[deepportage01]

Thanks L2H,your on top of thing as normal, sorry for the side tracking the post. by the way the warf was glad to sell me a road pass for the year Ok sorry back to Drop tongue topic...