CT Axle Over or Under ??

hi Shawsie,
before you start increasing your ground clearance you may need to consider if your canvas on your CT can stand the extra 80mm height increase.
When I changed my wheel and tyre s from 15"rims running 31" tyres to 16 " running 33' tyres the extra 50mm put the canvas at its limits as far as wall sides were concerned.
what suspension are you running?
My 65 litre water tank sits directly over my axle which is overslung on springs and there is still 3-4 inches clearance between them
I would think you will be dragging your water tank at 200mm clearance especially if it is at the rear of your CT.
cheers
Howard

If you are going to drag it through the OTL then you will experience ruts and rocks....
If you are going on all the main dirt roads then you will have decent roads with some washouts to be careful of....
I had 4cars with me in 2008 which did Frenchmans Track and OTL with camper trailers and all had their crunches and grinds...
Campers were a limiting factor to some places we went to up there...

hi shawsie
you didnt say if your tank is poly or metal but for my poly tank

i made a metal bash plate to encase it but the ends are still open but extend out enough for protect the ends
it can now skid over obstacles if need be
thought this maybe of assistance
cheers

While you may find that the canvas will be at a stretch on flat ground, it may be easier when at most campsites there is a slope you can then put the canvas uphill.
The ease of doing a spring over on the axle will depend on whether the trailer has brakes.
If it does then you will have to either get the spring locating plates on the axle cut off the bottom and rewelded on the top or if the brake mountings are say 4 bolts you may be able to unbolt and turn them over as well.
If no brakes it is much easier as you can just turn the axle over so the spring locating plates are on the top.

i went from 15s to16s on mine and had the tent too high scenario. but the clearance improved so doing someting like that may be enough

compare the clearance of the camper to the towing vehicle.
if the vehicle is lower then i can't see a problem. i'd be more worried about the potential issue of the canvas not reaching the ground due to the increase in height.

hey guys, many thanks for your thoughts and experience, it's invaluable to me. I'll take another look this weekend and do some tinkering and also see if I can easily get some longer shackles as a starting point.
Cheers, Andrew

Have you given any thought of a new water tank that has a lower profile?
You may need to sacrifice some storage volume or install a wider tank.
May be a faster and possibly cheaper option.
Cheers

Had the same problem on our Cape trip and I reversed the axle. Canvas was a bit short but you can use terrain, scoop out a bit of dirt under the wheels, even deflate your tyres in necessary. Did all the tracks up the Cape including Cape Melville, OT Lines, Frenchmans track etc and never had a problem. Was going to change it back when we got home but it made the trailer so easy to take everywhere that I have left it.

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Shawsie
Some poly tanks ( Camel Group ) are designed to take a fair hammering from stones, dirt mounts, rocks etc. Camel have a photo where a 4X4 is parked on top of a 65ltr tank. Took my trailer up to the cape last year, and my tank sits lower than the suspension as i have independent suspension and had no dramas, a few minor gouges though.
Check to see what brand of tank, if a Camel tank, their name is on it, moulded in.
As usual no ties or affiliation with Camel.
Cheers.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I bit the bullet and put the springs over the axle. It was a straight forward job and now I have well over 300mm clearance on the tank so the axle is the lowest part by far. I'll be checking my canvas this weekend, but I knew that would be a compromise. We'll see how it go's.