Cougar ride height

[madmaxmutt]

This will be an odd issue to many, but we need an RV with a lot of clearance. Particularly, the rear end needs to be high enough to both get into some obscure camping sites, and more importantly get into the driveway for loading and maintenance.

Looking at the new Cougar 5ers, it seems they are actually lower than the Cougar TTs. Does anyone know if the rear bumper could be easily moved up inline with the frame?

[Javi]

A lot of the rear clearance issues are caused by moving the axles forward to reduce the pin/hitch weight of these trailers... The overhang in the rear is really the problem it produces both larger swing radiuses and bumper clearance issues..

I've noticed this with my past two trailers..

My solution is/will be to look for trailers with higher pin/hitch weighs to GVWR ratios.. and then look for the tale of the tape..

[mhbell]

Originally Posted by madmaxmutt

This will be an odd issue to many, but we need an RV with a lot of clearance. Particularly, the rear end needs to be high enough to both get into some obscure camping sites, and more importantly get into the driveway for loading and maintenance.

Looking at the new Cougar 5ers, it seems they are actually lower than the Cougar TTs. Does anyone know if the rear bumper could be easily moved up inline with the frame?

On some of the Motor homes I've owned We had casters (wheels) welded to The frame or bumper so the rear end would nor drag when going in and out steep driveways. You could always put spacers under the springs if they ride on top of the axle or you could flip them if the springs ride under the axle to gain more riding height. BTW my bumper pulls out of the frame and extends 2 feet. 2016 Cougar.
Mel

[madmaxmutt]

Originally Posted by Javi

A lot of the rear clearance issues are caused by moving the axles forward to reduce the pin/hitch weight of these trailers... The overhang in the rear is really the problem it produces both larger swing radiuses and bumper clearance issues..

I've noticed this with my past two trailers..

My solution is/will be to look for trailers with higher pin/hitch weighs to GVWR ratios.. and then look for the tale of the tape..

Originally Posted by mhbell

On some of the Motor homes I've owned We had casters (wheels) welded to The frame or bumper so the rear end would nor drag when going in and out steep driveways. You could always put spacers under the springs if they ride on top of the axle or you could flip them if the springs ride under the axle to gain more riding height. BTW my bumper pulls out of the frame and extends 2 feet. 2016 Cougar.
Mel

Looking at the competition, it seems Cougar decided to lower the bumper. It is fully below the body of the trailer. The Jayco next to it has a hitch on it, and it isn't nearly as low as the Cougar bumper. It could have something to do with 16" wheels vs 15" wheels, it just looks weird to be dropped down so much.

Would casters be OK to put a lot of the weight on? I think the entire rear would be off on the casters.

PS I should have got better comparison pictures . . . .

[madmaxmutt]

One other thing . . . All the Cougars on the lot here have rear bike racks. I have often read that those are a bad idea. So if they come that way, they are fine, but you cannot add one of those things?

[Javi]

Measure the distance from the ground for the lowest point of bumper/frame at the rear most point of each trailer and then measure the distance from that point to the center of the rearmost axle..

After that it's just geometry....

Sometimes it ain't the bumper that'll drag.. it isn't on my Cougar..

[Javi]

Originally Posted by madmaxmutt

One other thing . . . All the Cougars on the lot here have rear bike racks. I have often read that those are a bad idea. So if they come that way, they are fine, but you cannot add one of those things?

They added it on frame extensions.. They don't recommend adding it to the thin walled bumper..

I notice the Jayco has a bike rack receiver on it...