Jacking up my 5er to R/R equalizers

Believe me, attempting to do one side at a time is tough. What happens is everything goes out of alignment and trying to get the shackle bolts back in is not for the faint of heart. Your better off supporting the whole trailer, get all wheels off, then you can drop one axle at a time. Dont forget wet bolts and bronze bushings. If you have the plastic bushings they likely will already have failed.

That does make sense and It is a good point. I guess I will need to get another set of 6 ton jack stands. Even though the dry weight is 11K it seems like the trailer weights 20K.

So would it be better to hook up the trailer to the TV?

I purchased the Morryde upgrade wet bolt kit.

My harbor freight has 6 ton jack stands on sell for $34 and 3 ton for $21.

This is how I put my 10,000lb 5er on 4 jack stands to flip the axles.

I was able to lower the front of the 5er using the landing gear as far down as they would go. Then I put jack stands about 6 inches behind the rear axle. Next raise the front using the landing gear until the wheels lift off the ground. Then put another set of jack stands 6 inches in front of the front axle and lower the 5er onto the front jack stands. The 5er was suspended on the 4 jack stands, but the wheels were barely touching the ground and could be removed to give access to the axles.

For safety sake I added more jack stands behind and in front of the main jack stands because I happen to have 8 jack stands and figure more is better, but with the 4 six ton stands I do not think the extras were necessary.

What a great idea and I love HF! That's where my 6 ton jack stands came from originally.

I think I'll have to use a 2x4 on top of the stands. The frame near the axles are an I-beam sandwich below the frame of the trailer. The jack stands bend the lip of the I-beam up.

You won't have any issues doing one side at a time...been into mine a couple times and had no problems with any kind of alignment. Your far enough from the other side that its a non issue. I've done my tri-axle and tandem axle both with no problems. I would recommend having truck hooked to RV while doing it as it gives the RV a solid point of stability. I raised mine with a floor jack at the spring pack then blocked up the frame in front and behind axles, then released my jack to use to hold axles. If you have access to a bottle jack as well as a floor jack it makes the job a little easier. Keep in mind shackle bolts have to be driven out of the shackle because of having a spline on them same as a wheel stud on a car/truck. If your planning keeping the RV I would upgrade to wet bolts and bronze bushings along with the rubber isolated Dexter equalizer. Dexter has a kit that all is included.

Calkidd wrote:
What a great idea and I love HF! That's where my 6 ton jack stands came from originally.

I think I'll have to use a 2x4 on top of the stands. The frame near the axles are an I-beam sandwich below the frame of the trailer. The jack stands bend the lip of the I-beam up.

I used a couple 8" concrete blocks front and rear with wood blocks on top. Worked fine.

I replaced all of my equalizers and such doing 1 side at a time.
No big deal and everything lined up.

Always jack the trailer up by the frame, never the axles.

I would not use my landing gear to do all the work.

Big floor jack and big jack stands.

I did this on the exact same camper in a parking lot in Gila Bend Az a few years ago. I had a shackle fail while returning from the dunes. I have 4 6X6 blocks I always carry to go under my levelers. I placed two under my frame fore and aft of the side I was working on. I used 6 ton jacks on them to lift one side, removed the tires and replaced the shackles and equalizers. I used a compressor I always carry and an impact wrench to remove the hardware. I had no trouble aligning everything to put it back together. I repeated the procedure when I got home on the other side. I used the Dexter equalizer with the rubber cushion in it, worked great. It came with wet bolts and the shackles were 3 times thicker than stock.

CJW8, I am not sure I understand your process. I assume you used your 4x4's as a base to set your jack stands on top of? How did you lift your trailer to get the wheels off the ground?

lincster wrote:
I replaced all of my equalizers and such doing 1 side at a time.
No big deal and everything lined up.

Always jack the trailer up by the frame, never the axles.

I would not use my landing gear to do all the work.

Big floor jack and big jack stands.

2nd that!!(Always jack the trailer up by the frame, never the axles)

And check your shackles make sure their in the right position as your lowering it.