stablizing jacks

I have taken the tool for raising and lowering the jacks and cut the long handle off. I then shaped the end just a bit so that I can secure it in my cordless drill. It now takes me about a second to lower or raise the jacks with my cordless drill!!
Carmen Lee #507

 

This is a redundant post… but for those whom may have missed it, I think it might be a little easier to buy this Camco - 57363 Leveling Scissor Jack Socket from Amazon for $5.70… and you would still have the hand crack as a backup if you misplace the socket.

Fits perfect and works like a champ!

 

Maybe I am missing something, but is this really worth it?

Maybe I've been lucky and have only camped at fairly level sites.

-Al

 

Hi Carmen,
sounds like a good plan.

 

I just remembered why I don't think this is necessary....because my WIFE does all the leveling!!

- Al

 

I've never had a problem using my hand jack, but since there seemed to be so much interest, I brought a drill setup to the Mossyrock gathering. The only problem with an impact driver is they are VERY loud. They don't seem that loud when you work with one, but in a pristine camping environment it was just plain wrong. So, we are sticking with the hand crank.

 

Jenn: I do hear ya, re noise

but not everyone is as able-bodied as you or Evan

If a person needs some motorized help, I'll put up with the noise. (and I know you and Evan would also)

-Al

 

On our ten days of travel coming home from picking up our trailer at the nest, I became increasingly annoyed at how hard it is to crank down the stabilizers, especially if a some lift is needed to level the galley. So I stopped at an auto parts place somewhere (Kansas I think) and picked up a tub of grease. I smeared a bunch on the already pretty greasy screws and while it seemed to help a bit, I feel it was still too hard to crank.

So home in my shop I decided to see what's up. I disassembled the jacks and found this:


Clearly there is a lack of lubrication where the arms meet the foot and the brackets at the top. This wear is after only a few operations of the jacks. I found that the bolts were much tighter than they need to be, they are not going to come apart as they are locking nuts. A lot of the friction was eliminated by simply loosening the nuts a little (it takes a 17mm wrench).

I added some grease to the friction points and reassembled, leaving the nuts about 1/4 turn from full tight.

The operation is greatly improved.

Another note about lubricating the screw. Even before I added a lot of unnecessary grease to my jacks (lying in the dirt in a campground) They were pretty greasy already, along the entire length of the screw. While working on my jacks I observe that most of the screw is unused and so any grease on the unused part is only adding to the mess. My suggestion for greasing the screw: Crank down the stabilizer jack to raise one side of the trailer as high as you can imagine would be the maximum you would use. Put grease on the parts of the screw sticking out of the back of the jack and between the drive nut and the front of the jack:


You can use a rag or paper towel to clean all the grease you can from the part of the screw in the middle of the jack, this part will never be used. Raise that jack all the way back up and clean up any extra grease that squishes out at the ends. Now repeat on the other side. Do not jack both sides up at the same time.

One final irritation was the crank that Camp Inn supplied. It is too long to store anywhere that is easy to access when you need it most, and the crank has a bit too little leverage, even with my newly lubricated jacks. So, I assembled a set of parts to use: a 12" long 3/8" square drive extension, an 8" long 3/8" drive "T" handle, and a deep 3/4" six-point socket.

These can be used to crank the jacks up and down, the T handle can slide to provide more leverage, and it comes apart in small enough pieces to fit in my little front storage compartment (I have the furnace so this is quite small) along with wheel chocks, hitch lock, and several other things.

I hope this information is useful to some of you.

 

I use a 1/2" drive socket wrench with an extention, it works well and fits in my tool bag.

 

Just got one of these and tried it out...wow, this is way easier and faster than hand cranking with supplied handle or using a socket wrench.

 

I would be curious what the best approach is for leveling the TD. I am guessing I could find it if I searched, and I could probably find tips on youtube, but if any of you have suggestions, I'd be interested. I think I rely too much on the jacks, and I never use leveling blocks....

-Al

 

Personally, I don't obsess about being "perfectly level". At some point I read here (or someone told me) that their method of leveling, which I've adopted, is to open the doors, and if they don't swing open or shut on their own, then back-to-front is level "enough". For side to side, a soup can on the galley bins; if that doesn't roll either way, then side-to-side is level "enough" for me.

I know (from friends who have larger RVs) that leveling is very important for black water reasons, and because some fridges work better when level. But if it's just for personal comfort, the "meh, that's good enough" method is good enough for me.

And remember that the jacks are for stabilizing; not really for jacking up crazily for leveling. If you've moved your tire off the ground, you should put blocks under the tire and back the jack back to be just a stabilizer, not the main balancing point (well, in my opinion; maybe I'm wrong and it's totally OK to have the tire off the ground for long periods of time--maybe it's just me being paranoid)

 

I have a small level similar to this

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-42-2...&ie=UTF8&qid=1426704616&sr=1-4&keywords=level

I keep it in the galley and pull it out when I level the trailer.

I level the front first, then go to the galley and level using the jacks. In most cases, you don't have to do much to get it level.

If it is a really bad spot, I have the big RV Lego blocks that I use in combination with the leveling jacks.

The jacks on the trailer are very beefy and more than enough for the trailer. Most scissor jacks that come with your car are not as strong as these jacks are on our trailers.

When I put the trailer in the garage, I just do the door method of leveling.

When camping, I always drop the jacks even when the site is already level. The extra contact points with the ground help minimize the shaking when moving around in the cabin.

 

hahaha - I didn't mean to start a feud about using a level versus using a soup can. I am a fan of the soup can, myself.

People "level" when the unit is in the garage??? Wow. Who cares?

Good tips re using the jacks even when level.

I need a youtube about how to use the lego blocks (though I probably don't need the youtube)

My wife insists we don't need to use leveling blocks, as the jacks are enough. And I say, "not so." But she'll believe you folks, first, of course.

I also need a "trick" about what to do when you are ready to drop your trailer and you can't get the front wheel "down" because of the angle of the TV and the angle of the TD....(and then what do you do when you need to hook the TD back to the TD and the TV and TD don't line up...)

-Al

 

Al, I level mine in the garage because I have occasionally hid/slept in it while garaged, therefore, I like it level.

For instance, Halloween, no candy in the house. Did not want to spend the evening turning kids away so rented some movies, shut off lights in the house and hid in garage watching the movies.

I rarely use the lego blocks but have them just in case. There has been a time when the campsite pad was short and back of trailer was overhanging the pad to the point the jacks would not hit the ground. Used lego blocks plus jack to level trailer.

Other times, I have used lego blocks under tires. But that makes it harder to chock the tires.

If you can't drop the front wheel, you need to raise the back of the vehicle...lego blocks can help with that as well.

 

hahaha - that's great! Good idea.

thanks for the other thoughts

-Al

 

The manual refers to the jacks as 'leveling jacks.' The warning is not to raise both tires off of the ground at the same time. Cary also mentioned this in my orientation. I have used them to level the trailer and at times, one of the tires has been off of the ground. At Mossyrock with all of the mole holes, you are guaranteed to need to raise a tire nearly off of the ground.

 

Correct. As you move around in the cabin, the cabin is going to shake. If your tires are off the ground you are placing rotational/twisting forces on the jack. While the jacks are sturdy and strong for expansion/compression type force (raising/lowering), side to side is the weak point on a scissor style jack. If your car ever rolled forward and fell off a scissor jack, you would likely see a twisted frame on the jack because it is not meant to handle sideways type forces.

Therefore, I would never suggest that someone raise their trailer completely off the ground and rely only on the jacks. You should always have the trailer weight spread across the axle and wheels and not the jacks.

My point was that the jacks are very sturdy, much more so than the jack that comes with your car. Therefore, they can handle the weight of raising/lowering the trailer without issue so you can place blocks under the tires as needed.

 

And what are Lego blocks? Anyone have a link so I can see these? Thanks!

 

Leveling blocks on Amazon