BAL lock arm stabilizer struts and jack pad upgrade
I installed a pair of BAL Lock Arm stabilizer struts to the rear of our TT as you can buy just a pair unlike the others out there. We have electric stab. jacks and they do little for "stabilizing" so stabilizers for the stabilizers are needed...
Before doing this, I mounted an 8" x 8" x 3/4" piece of HDPE plastic under each jack foot. I bolted them onto the Lippert pads and recessed the bolt heads into the plastic. The new pads provide a more stable footing and I don't ever have to put down a "lego" block or piece of wood. The plastics shop happened to have a scrap piece at 16" x 16" that was perfect for the job.
The only place I could find to mount the upper BAL strut mounts to was the bumper. The rear of the I-beams is closed off with a sheet metal valance which wouldn't work. I used a length of 2" x 2" steel mounted to the bumper and then the spherical rod pieces were bolted to the tubing. The 2x2 was bolted onto the bumper with the bolt heads inside the bumper (a challenge to do). By mounting to the bumper, it also provides some fore/aft control. The lower end of the struts were bolted onto the new pads at the outside to provide max. stabilizing. I tried mounting them to the OEM Lippert horizontal bolts on the jack pads but there was too much play for my liking. I used stainless steel bolts for all fasteners and replaced the plated OEM bolts on the Lippert jack as they were badly rusted in just over a year.
One problem I discovered is that the struts are not long enough and the inner tube would occasionally slide out of the outer tube if a site sloped downhill at the rear. I welded in a 10" length section of 1" tubing to the outer tube to fix that. (last photo) Another thing I learned is that you need to buy the Lippert adapter kit that bolts onto the foot pads (see photo) otherwise the struts hit the angled piece on the Lippert jack. The BAL info. did not mention this.
The stabilizer struts work very well. Not as good as I'd like, but still much better than without. If you push on the side of the trailer when set up, you can still create some degree of movement. This is largely because the Lippert elec. stab. jack feet are too close together relative to the height and width of the trailer. It would be better if the feet were 8' apart when jacks down, and better still if even a few feet more than that.
I will probably add a set to the front as well. Before I do that, I may look at strengthening the A-frame power jack. There is quite a bit of play in it and I might install a collar at the bottom of the A-frame and see if that helps reduce left/right movement at the front of the TT.
Before doing this, I mounted an 8" x 8" x 3/4" piece of HDPE plastic under each jack foot. I bolted them onto the Lippert pads and recessed the bolt heads into the plastic. The new pads provide a more stable footing and I don't ever have to put down a "lego" block or piece of wood. The plastics shop happened to have a scrap piece at 16" x 16" that was perfect for the job.
The only place I could find to mount the upper BAL strut mounts to was the bumper. The rear of the I-beams is closed off with a sheet metal valance which wouldn't work. I used a length of 2" x 2" steel mounted to the bumper and then the spherical rod pieces were bolted to the tubing. The 2x2 was bolted onto the bumper with the bolt heads inside the bumper (a challenge to do). By mounting to the bumper, it also provides some fore/aft control. The lower end of the struts were bolted onto the new pads at the outside to provide max. stabilizing. I tried mounting them to the OEM Lippert horizontal bolts on the jack pads but there was too much play for my liking. I used stainless steel bolts for all fasteners and replaced the plated OEM bolts on the Lippert jack as they were badly rusted in just over a year.
One problem I discovered is that the struts are not long enough and the inner tube would occasionally slide out of the outer tube if a site sloped downhill at the rear. I welded in a 10" length section of 1" tubing to the outer tube to fix that. (last photo) Another thing I learned is that you need to buy the Lippert adapter kit that bolts onto the foot pads (see photo) otherwise the struts hit the angled piece on the Lippert jack. The BAL info. did not mention this.
The stabilizer struts work very well. Not as good as I'd like, but still much better than without. If you push on the side of the trailer when set up, you can still create some degree of movement. This is largely because the Lippert elec. stab. jack feet are too close together relative to the height and width of the trailer. It would be better if the feet were 8' apart when jacks down, and better still if even a few feet more than that.
I will probably add a set to the front as well. Before I do that, I may look at strengthening the A-frame power jack. There is quite a bit of play in it and I might install a collar at the bottom of the A-frame and see if that helps reduce left/right movement at the front of the TT.
