Sorry sam, not to rub it in, but today is an air conditioning day, 80+ all week. My Hi Lo is in NC, otherwise I'd be waxing and other maintenance.
Tree

I have not heard of may folks replacing axles. I put "spacers" under mine to raise the overall clearance and that is a popular mod. I have a 2001 22' , by the way, and feel the bed( couch conversion) is long enough, but Im just 5'11" . Wife is about 5'4" so it works for her. :) If I DID replace an axle it would be because of their rating. My trailer is a double axle and the weight rating of them together is below the gross weighting for the trailer, meaning the engineers decided the tow vehicle should carry some of that weight. There is no good reason to do this other than to save money. Speaking of all this- my 2001 came with 13 inch tires and the way the axles are spaced you cannot put larger tires on. Later years accomodated 14 and 15 inchers. That might be something to pay attention to.

I have to go out now and chip ice. good luck.

rick

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. Think I need to type faster because I have been cut off for the third time. Not sure why it says i'm logged in and then when I post a reply everything is lost and it asks me to log in again.

Hunter, that sounds like an ISP connection problem to me. It's probably timing you out too early for "inactivity".

Rick, my single axle, rated at 3500# is below the GVWR of 3800# for my trailer too. When I called Dexter Axle about having one with a higher rating installed, they told me it wouldn't fit. So far, the axle has not given me any problems though, now that I've had it moved a bit.

- Jack

FYI-- etrailer sells bolt on torsion axles rated at up to 5200# Part Number TASR5200S03
$$$
Tree

Been searching for a leaf spring conversion and found none. Did find a 1982 model hi lo with a spring axle though. Hope to find the guy that had leaf spring conversion that I read about. Didn't save it to favorites.

Jack & Janet--Thanks for that. There is a source for axles sold by the inch somewhere I've read about. Why did Dexter say that a new axle wouldn't fit? Was it the conversion or maybe the length available?

I think the length was too long, but I'm not sure. I was told the wheel clearances would not be correct. AND, she may well have been wrong about that. If I needed a new axle, I'd certainly try to get one with more than a 3500# rating.

- Jack

Still new here so I'm perusing the forums...otherwise called lurking. Anyway, on axles the may be an alternative. There is a different torsion axle manufacturer - Flexiride. They offer full width as well as half-axle solutions and will make them to any load capacity up to about 7000 lbs. You can find them on Youtube. So if you are considering replacing the axle, maybe check them out.
It seems disappointing to me that Hi-Lo was so cavalier about their published trailer weights as well as the axle ratings being used. I haven't weighed our 1709 T yet, but I will before the next trip.

Scotty, unfortunately, all of our manufactures fudge the figures on weights. Towing capacities are greater than they really are. Curb weights are much lighter than for real. So the only REAL way to safely tow a trailer is to know the weight of each facet. Trailer weight (ready for camping) tow vehicle with everything needed, including passengers, and the capacity of WDH. Find a CAT scale, pay the price and weigh it correctly. Then you'll know how to distribute everything. Peace of mind. Don't want the tail waggin' the dog.

Exactly Tree. I always get my unloaded and loaded weights on a CAT scale. We don't have one locally but our city dump will weigh the trailer...it's just that the operators don't quite know how to do it right. So I take it there first and then find a CAT scale at the first opportunity. Here's a template I use to record the weights. This was on our current TV but a Lance trailer that weighed 4500 lbs. You can see the discrepancy between the CAT and the County scales.
I'm most interested in seeing what the Hi-Lo weighs, but that'll have to wait until I'm done working on it.

And to think I used to pull a houseboat with a 1973 American Ambassador. Good grief! We didn't think much about weights back then...if it had a hitch, off we'd go!

Hunter100, if you are still looking ...

With your past experience with trailers/motorhomes, you probably realize that EVERY RV you consider is a compromise. There is no such thing as a perfect one. So you have to figure out what advantages are most important. And what you can't live with.

I started with a '67 Ford F250 with a camper. Versatile, since I could unload and have a truck for other purposes. When I thought I could afford both, I got about a 23 foot motor home. It was a foot longer than the camper setup, two inches wider, the same height, and seemed to have about twice as much interior space. But since it wasn't much bigger than the pickup/camper, we could stop pretty much where we wanted, and I don't mean just camping. My wife would say, "Look! Let's stop at that antique store!" and I would pull right in. We got rid of the MH because it aged out before we did. And I'll never have a rig again that's so old that is has a carburetor instead of fuel injection. You ever have to fiddle with all 13 adjustments on a 79 Dodge ThermoQuad carb? If you messed with one, you had to re-do them all.

We retired some years after the motor home adventures, and the wife informed me she was not sleeping on the ground anymore. What's more, she said she was not about to re-make the bed every single night and morning. So I had new parameters. Including, that I needed something I could tow with the 2008 4Runner I just bought. It will go anywhere and then some, once the trailer is parked, and is very versatile for other uses.

This time around I too was intrigued by the Hi-Lo concept and really appreciate the better gas mileage. And I thought, "How much better is it to have a tow vehicle you can unhook and go driving up into the Idaho mountains where no motor home would ever go?" But, big compromise: I can't just pull into that antique store on a moment's notice. Now, I have to find some place I can park a rig that's twice as long, maybe go around a block or two and walk to the store, maybe can't find any place at all available to put this thing. So you give up one advantage for another. A whole different life style on the road.

But OK. I looked at some Tow-lites and then a Classic. Appreciated the greater storage and some other nicer details about the Classic. Looked at models under 20', but there was no way we could leave the bed set up and still have a table to eat at, and I was not keen on just a single axle. The models longer than 22' were all too heavy for the 4Runner to pull, even with the load-distributing hitch I installed. I thought something 2001 or newer to get the aluminum frame, but it seemed like they were all 24' or 25' or greater; too heavy. I ended up with a 1999 22' Classic, with a steel frame. You can leave the front couch made into a bed and still have a table to eat at. The couch conversion is not as comfortable sleeping as I'd like, but is tolerably good with a decent foam cover.

Notice all the compromises in the above? No matter what you do, you will have your own list of compromises.

And of course, the Classic is a compromise over the Towlite not just because it's heavier, but because it's wider. Which means a little less convenient to drive around with, and you need wider mirrors. Which I just get by using the McKesh mirrors. A guy on another forum said he got rid of his McKesh's because the mount crushed the rubber seal in the window of his 4Runner, but I added a little piece of oak to each one and never have that problem. More compromises ...

Well, this post is way too long, but maybe gives some food for thought for some.
Roger

Thoughtful answer Roger. Lots of experience on your end is evident.

Hunter, are you still looking? If so, there is a trailer company that may satisfy all your requirements except price and telescoping. That is Lance. The are tall inside, lightweight for their size, have permanent full size queen beds, exceptional in cold weather, dinette is in a slide out. You might check out their 24" model which is model 1985 or 1995...they label by box size, but they're 24' overall. Sorry to post this here as I like the HI-Lo versatility, but you seem to be searching....