Jacking up 5th wheel

What you have described is normal when you do not have your truck hooked up to the trailer. It does put a lot of strain on the opposite leg. I either have my truck hooked up and raise the legs if I need both tires on one side off the ground or jack under the bolts or pads to raise one tire.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
I know it's recommended to jack on frame BUT I never do........

Too much cribbing needed (6X6), need to build it stable, jack head can bend lip of I-frame, whole thing too high......

So I jack under the spring perch on axle (directly under where springs are attached to axle). And I do one wheel at a time.
I'm in no hurry......

Now IF I was replacing springs, axle etc. Then I would build a solid platform of cribbing and jack up both sides and then block the frame.
But I have no plans on doing that.

45Ricochet wrote:
I've done it both ways and prefer jacking up each wheel on the axle under the spring. Major work requires all wheels off ground which I did while hitched up (think safety) . Yes crib blocking is required IMO.
I have seen tech's use the landing gear method but they have two big floor jacks on each side of frame and rotate the lifting process.
Bottom line, I try not to stress my Lippert frame to much :W

X3

Right under the spring location on the axle with a bottle jack.

If changing a tire lift about 1" clear of the ground.

I've done it both ways and prefer jacking up each wheel on the axle under the spring. Major work requires all wheels off ground which I did while hitched up (think safety) . Yes crib blocking is required IMO.
I have seen tech's use the landing gear method but they have two big floor jacks on each side of frame and rotate the lifting process.
Bottom line, I try not to stress my Lippert frame to much :W

I know it's recommended to jack on frame BUT I never do........

Too much cribbing needed (6X6), need to build it stable, jack head can bend lip of I-frame, whole thing too high......

So I jack under the spring perch on axle (directly under where springs are attached to axle). And I do one wheel at a time.
I'm in no hurry......

Now IF I was replacing springs, axle etc. Then I would build a solid platform of cribbing and jack up both sides and then block the frame.
But I have no plans on doing that.

I've never jacked a trailer under the frame except when it was attached to the truck. That avoids the very scenario you are describing. Raising the trailer by the frame can be very impractical if you're along side the road changing a flat tire. I always use a bottle jack and place it under the spring mount to change a flat tire. YMMV.

As long as you don't get carried away and go very high, I don't think that it will hurt anything, but it is putting a little more stress on the other landing gear. I'm assuming that you're using 2 jacks equally spaced along the frame rails. Using only 1 jack sounds like a bad idea to me.