TM length and garage space question

[Douph92]

Are the listed lengths of the TM models bumper to bumper or bumper to tongue? Also, the TM website states that a TM 2619 will fit in a 17 1/2 garage with the swing around tongue. Would a 2720 model be able to fit in my garage if I have about 19 feet 4 inches to give, if I have the swing around tongue?

 

[rpcoombs]

TM closed length (first two digits of the TM model number) is from the tip of the tongue to the rear of the rear bumper (when closed). If you add a rear hitch then add on about more inches or so. The swing around tongue reduces the TM lenght by two feet if I recall. Do the math and a TM2720 with swing around tongue should fit in your garage as far as length goes but you may have to back it in in order to have room to swing the hitch around and close the garage door. Watch your overhead door's clearance with the air conditioner. You can usually adjust a door to gain an inch or two more clearance if neeed and some have even taken air out of the tires as a last resort. Good luck Cheers, Dick Coombs

 

[PopBeavers]

I have a 2005 2720 with rear hitch, swing tongue, 2 inch lift kit and a/c in my garage. I *THINK* my garage length is 19 feet 6 inches. I'll measure the length a little more carefully later today.

I can say that with the lift kit and a/c you better have a full 7 feet of vertical clearance. I have 1/4 inch to spare.

 

[Douph92]

I checked my garage. I have 6 ft 9 inches vertical distance to the lip of the garage door.

 

[PopBeavers]

2005 2720 with 2 inch lift kit and roof a/c, you will need 6 feet 10 inch vertical clearance. My driveway slopes a little steeper downhill than the modest slope of the garage floor.

With the rear receiver approximatly one inch from the back wall, and the TM slightly swung to one side, the front of the TM with the tongue swung away is 18 feet 1 inch from the back wall. Be careful measuring the distance to the door. I just noticed that the hinges on the roll up door stick back into the garage by almost an inch.

It appears that you have plenty of depth. The vertical height might be an issue.

Options that I see are:

1. Make sure the roll up door rolls up higher than the door header if it does not do so already. I had to convert from a rigid swing up door to a roll up door.

2. Don't get the a/c. I used mine on one trip last year out of 8 trips.

3. Don't get the lift kit. Without the lift kit I would be dragging the ground while backing into the driveway. The crown of the street rolls down to the gutter and then the driveway slopes up from there.

4. Let air out of the tires when going in/out of garage.

5. Make your own one inch lift kit. The factory sells an after market 2 inch lift kit that bolts in. When the lift kit is installed at the factory it is welded in. The lift kit is basically a length of 2 inch box tubing. I have not done this, but it appears to be possible.

I suggest you get the TM with a/c and no lift kit and then add a little lift if you need it. Maybe you don't need the lift kit at all. If you know you will need a full two inch lift kit then either omit the a/c or plan on letting air out of the tires.

 

[Bill-TMO]

Douph92 -

My garage is 19'6" deep. My 2720SL is exactly 20'0" long, from the way way back edge of the bumper to the way way front edge of the hitch coupler. Clearly, the trailer would not fit without the swing tongue. With the swing tongue, no problem.

So, to answer your original question, a 2720 with swing tongue should fit your 19'4" garage very nicely.

FWIW, I am under the impression that the swing tongue doesn't quite subtract 2' off the length - more like 1'10" or 1'11".

By the way, my garage door opening is 82 1/4" high. My 2006 2720SL with 2" lift and air conditioner clears the top of the door frame by 3" - 4". The air conditioner is a low-profile model. On older TMs, the air conditioner was taller. I know this because my 2002 TM kissed the rubber weather strip, and it did NOT have a lift kit. I talked to the folks at the factory, and was told that they changed to the low profile A/C specifically so that a lift kit could be added without increasing the overall height. Those boys are paying attention!

If you have a new TM without a lift kit, it should be about 77" high, I think. So your 81" garage door opening should be OK. And as Wayne said, you can usually make the door open higher than its normal position. If you have a garage door opener, it has an adjustment to change how far it opens. If not, it may be as simple as opening the door normally, then pushing it open further and propping a 2X4 under it. Of course, the ultimate limit to the height is the header at the top of the opening.

Bill

Oh, by the way - Dick Coombs meant the last two digits of the model number is the closed length. Simple typo.

 

[grampa]

We have a 2005 2720. Our garage, measured from the horizontal braces which run the full length of the door and project farthest into the garage, to the back wall is 19' 7". With the swing away tongue we have 1' 7" from the wall to the back window cover. The cover actually hangs over the bumper by about 2". We do not have the lift kit. Our TM has standard suspension, 14" tires, etc. We have the Low-profile A/C. The garage door is exactly 7' high. There is about 5-6" clearance between the A/C and the garage door. A 2720 with swing-around hitch will fit in your garage. We put the TM so there is about 1/2" clearance between the retracted hitch and the garage door horizontal braces.

Hope this helps. Grampa

 

[grampa]

Hey Dough,

You didn't say if your garage was 1 car or 2. If one car check the door opening. Any TM with an awning is 8' wide. Without an awning it is 7"7' wide. Most 1 car garage doors are 8'.
Whether with or without an awning, a TM in a one car garage would be a tight fit through the door. There are several folks on this forum who keep their TM's in one car garages.
Grampa

 

[Douph92]

Thanks Grandpa. We have a two car garage.

 

[camp2canoe]

TM height

We have a very small garage further reduced in length by an indoor/outdoor dog kennel and our 2619 with swing away tongue barely fits. We also have a height problem. I have two height suggestions to try before bleeding your tires. First, almost all overhead garage doors still project below the overhead jamb but can be manually pushed up to gain a couple of inches or more. We keep a 2X4 cut to length to hold the door out of the way when pulling our TM in or out. Secondly, on our door there is a drilled bar that projects down for adustment purposes and we sawed off that portion of the bar below the hole in use which gave us more clearance and obviated the need to bleed the tires. Lastly, if you do bleed the tires remember to refill them once your TM is in the garage (and to bleed them again before pulling out!) as the weight of the TM may damage partially inflated tires.

 

[PopBeavers]

Lastly, if you do bleed the tires remember to refill them once your TM is in the garage (and to bleed them again before pulling out!) as the weight of the TM may damage partially inflated tires.

An alternative might be to put the jacks down to support some of the weight. I would think this was ok if you will be pulling it out again soon. If it is long term storage maybe put the air back in. But if it was long term storage it might be tempting to set the jacks down anyway.

 

[mntlblok]

More garage questions

I'm brand new here and brand new to RV'ing. I've narrowed my choices down to TT's that will fit in my garage, but are hard sided. TM 2619, while maybe heavier than what I want to deal with, is still in the running.

My garage sits at a right angle to the primary driveway direction, necessitating a sharp turn at entry. It could be that, with the other car out of the way, that I might be able to back the TM into the garage. Maybe not.

My question is, can a couple of relatively small humans do any significant moving of this smallest of TM's by hand if it can't be accurately positioned by the TV?

Note the advanced use of abbreviations by the newbie. Google has threatened to start charging me for all of my searches for RV info. However, I have *not* been able to come up with what such abbreviations as "DW" and "DH" mean - and am almost afraid to speculate.

Kevin
Savannah, GA

Soon to be Chalet XL 1930 or Chalet Arrowhead or Aliner LXE or Aliner Cabin A3 or Hi-Lo Towlite 1706T (probably not) or Trailmanor 2619 owner.

 

[Freedom]

DH = Dear Husband, DW = Dear Wife (Can also be "Darling" and maybe not-so-dear depending on your mood!)

 

[PopBeavers]

I can push my 2005 2720 around by myself as long as the ground is flat and hard (asphalt or concrete).

If it was not flat, it would run away and I could not stop it.

 

[fcatwo]

I'm with Wayne on this. I'm not particularly big and not particularly young but I move our 2619 around all the time by hand. It's even easier if you block one tire at a time and swing the tongue side to side to move forward or back. You can even move it up a slight incline that way. As Wayne said however, don't let it get away from you if you are on an incline. Having a buddy standing by to move the blocks helps. I've moved boats weighing two or three times as much as the 2619 this way. I'm assuming you have the nose wheel that comes with the TM.

 

[Leslie & Nick]

Garage Questions

My question is, can a couple of relatively small humans do any significant moving of this smallest of TM's by hand if it can't be accurately positioned by the TV?

We have the exact same situation that you describe - a drive-under garage perpendicular to the driveway. I use a trailer dolly to help maneuver the trailer (also a TM 2619) into the garage. The dolly is much easier to steer with than the small single wheel on the jack.

Unfortunately there is a small incline in the concrete apron, in front of the garage, that makes getting over it a little more "challenging". Even with the dolly, it takes two adults to steer the trailer into the garage. The garage is standard 8 foot width, and I thus only have few inches of clearance on each side, so we have to be very careful. BTW, the TM has a fold away hitch, so once I get the trailer in the garage, and swing the hitch, I have quite a bit of lengthwise room. Actually the trailer would fit in the garage without the swing away option, but I wouldn't have as much room.

 

[mntlblok]

I've moved boats weighing two or three times as much as the 2619 this way.

Yeah, I've moved boats that way, but really didn't have a feel for the relative weights. Sounds very doable.

*And*, as I read more and more of what all you helpful folks have posted here, I'm moving closer and closer to deciding that the TM is the way for us to go, even if it means a new TV. I think I'll wander over to another section and ask a few TV questions.

Thanks for all the swift and helpful replies.

Kevin
:new_newbi

 

[Bill & Lisa]

Just out of curiosity, what other hard sided travel trailers have you found that will fit in your garage besides a TM? You also mention that the TM is heavier. I just thought of one, the little A frame hard side pop ups - chalet or something like that. If possible see if you can spend a night in each of your finalist at the dealers. You would be surprised how much your opinion of what is Okay can change after a few hours in one.
Bill

 

[mntlblok]

Just out of curiosity, what other hard sided travel trailers have you found that will fit in your garage besides a TM? You also mention that the TM is heavier. I just thought of one, the little A frame hard side pop ups - chalet or something like that. If possible see if you can spend a night in each of your finalist at the dealers. You would be surprised how much your opinion of what is Okay can change after a few hours in one.
Bill

From my first post : Soon to be Chalet XL 1930 or Chalet Arrowhead or Aliner LXE or Aliner Cabin A3 or Hi-Lo Towlite 1706T (probably not) or Trailmanor 2619 owner.

The Aliner Cabin A is one piece and fairly ugly looking, but it clears the garage door by one inch. I *think* it can be made to sleep more than 2 in the Model 3. The other "A-shaped" contraptions, even the smallest ones made, would be plenty for me. The teardrops that would fit in the garage are too short.

I understand the space concerns of a "normal" person, but when I spent a couple of weeks volunteering over in Waveland, MS, right after Katrina hit, I took a couple of the seats out of my minivan and slept in there for the first few nights. If it hadn't been so dern hot, I woulda been fine.

DW is small enough, at 5ft. and 93lbs., that I can just pick her up and move her if she gets in the way, but I suppose she wouldn't mind having a bit more space in an RV. Actually, if I'm gonna get permission to buy this thing, it looks like I'm going to have to go with the 2619.

A motel room or an RV is mostly just a place to sleep for my style of traveling. We'll mostly be taking it to tennis tournaments, maybe some hiking in the mountains, and probably some scuba trips to the Keys. The tournament sites have showers, but I do like having the option of bathroom and shower on board if needed/desired. Most trips will be of the long weekend variety - which we are fortunate enough to be able to do *a lot*.

I also like the idea of the "handiness" of Walmart-type parking lots - never far from the tournament site. And, I plan to acquire one of those quiet generators - and would even were I to end up with one of the tinier foldups.

Hadn't considered the rainy day thing. Even the satellite dish would likely be a washout in that case. I do have a large stack of magazines that I've been meaning to get around to, and there's always all those digital photos that I will have taken that will need some work on the laptop.

I got serious today with pricing them and it looks like I can get a new 2006 2619 locally for 21K, with awning/kite, AC, swivel hitch, microwave, and even the microwave drawer thrown in (snatched from another model on the lot). Are the hanging cabinet and 3-drawer dresser options on the 2619? Am I likely to do significantly better on the price? There is definitely significant value in my mind in having a local dealer and not having to drive six or eight hours and back to buy it.

Thanks, again for the help and the suggestions.

Kevin

 

[Doug W.]

You might want to look into used TMs. You might just get lucky. I was going to buy new. I was leaning towards a 2720SL, because the wife liked it. I was looking around on the Internet and found a used 3124KS for about $18,000. It had a couple minor problems, but I have them taken care of. When we looked, we saw the 2619, 2720, 2720SL, 2720SD and 3023. Now that we have the 3124KS, my wife is glad we did not buy the smaller one.