I tried something different to give me more clearance for my 9 foot garage door. Before I did anything, I had about 1 inch of clearance between the trailer fenders and garage door trim. Pretty tight and broke one trailer light on my blind side backing in. Read some posts about cutting the trim about 3 feet up and using velcro to reattach the trim. Tried that, but it did not hold the trim tight enough for weather proofing. I have the trim cut 3 feet up and installed insert nuts into the door frame and used bolts through the trim into the nuts. Holds great, a breeze to take off, weather proof and I now have 2 1/2 inches clearance on both sides of the trailer. Pretty much invisible from the street. Also, I taped marks on the driveway to help guide the trailer in. Hope this helps anyone who has a tight fit with a wide trailer and 9 foot door.

Fitting a tow bar attachment to the front of your tow vehicle would make tight spaces easier to negotiate too. ;)

Fitting a tow bar attachment to the front of your tow vehicle would make tight spaces easier to negotiate too. ;)

Absolutely!! I never want to buy another tow vehicle that can't be fitted with an aftermarket front receiver hitch. At present, that eliminates the majority of late model GM, Dodge and Ford light truck models. If I can keep my '04 Suburban running for 20 more years, I will.

I checked about everything there is to check - electric trailer dollys, front hitch, etc. Have a manual trailer dolly, but tough to push against the slightest driveway grade. Great on a flat surface, though. The trailer hitch dealer said the front bumper on my 03 Ford F150 would have to be cut to fit a front hitch on it. Didn't like that. Cutting the garage door trim was the cheapest solution and so far so good.

Fitting a tow bar attachment to the front of your tow vehicle would make tight spaces easier to negotiate too. ;)
Easier? Not for me. I like to be able to see exactly where the sides of the trailer are, and that can only be accomplished backing up using your side view mirrors, barring some funky forward facing side view camera setup to go with that front hitch .

Easier? Not for me. I like to be able to see exactly where the sides of the trailer are, and that can only be accomplished backing up using your side view mirrors, barring some funky forward facing side view camera setup to go with that front hitch .


:exactly:

while that is a creative solution ... I would probably find myself putting the trim back on after my wife yelled at me or "comany" or a storm was coming.

Using the boat a few times a week would become laborious engaging and disengaging the trim each time ( especially after a long night or day on the water ) .... I would probably opt to change out the door size to a 10 foot door if the structure will accomodate it.

Morton

Sounds like a good economical idea:)

My problem is that the garage door can't be widened. Brick all around the door and not enough room to the end of the house. Of course, anything could be done if $ was no object. Actually, it takes less than 3 minutes to take the trim off. Maybe it sounds like a hassle, but it reallly isn't.

Maybe just a good grinder or wood plane to shave off a little on each fender...... probably gain a couple of inches:) lol

In most states, the widest trailer allowed is 8'6". That would allow 6" of play, 3" on each side. Which is exactly my set up. With the door trim, I still have 2" of play on each side. In 20 years, I only nicked the side one time, my fault for being in a rush. If you do not have the same clearance you may want to check out why.