Rockin' in place

Besides the front two jacks and two scissor jacks on the rear, I have a King-Pin Stabilizer on the front and a “Valterra RV Stabilizer” on the rear of my 5th Wheel, and I have no bounce or sway.

Valterra RV Stabilizer

As you see you received a lot of good suggestions. For us, as we are 18 year fulltimers who are on the move all the time, we wanted something that was permanently installed so we didn't have to bother putting something up,taking it down. This has worked for us for over 8 years and I have virtually no movement when Dutch is turning over in bed or gets up in the middle of the night for a potty stop. Hugs, Di

Our 5er used to wiggle quite a bit even with the stabilizers down. Instead of spending hundreds on JT Strongarms or other stabilizers, I decided I would first try a pair of the $49 "Universal RV Stabilizers" from Camping World. I'm glad I did! They really work!

It's a multi-step process for most of us:
1- triangulation stabilizers (JT's StrongArms or the such)
2- between the wheel chocks (good ones, like Rotochoks)
3- jacks placed near the axles (scissor jacks or reinforced electronic jacks if your inventive)

Here's my write up on it:
http://www.learntorv.com/2013/06/shake-shake-shake-rv-stabilization.html

I'm very sensitive to motion - but have to admit that with the rear stabilizers down, a bipod on the pin; and a Rotochock between the tires - I don't notice any movement in our 28' 5er, even with the dogs wandering around at night.

I use rotochoks they took almost all of the rock n roll our of our trailer. Only thing left was the little bounce from the tires. For that I got 2 scissors jacks out of a couple cars at the junk yard. I got the ones that need the lug wrench to operate them. I set them up on a 6X8 block just so I dont have to crank them all the way. I stick them right on the forward most spring hanger on each side to support the center of the trailer. I got the ones for lug wrench style because I use my cordless impact wrench on them. This makes quick work of them, and also ensures that should I even get a flat that the impact wont be found under a mountain of******and have a dead battery when I need it.

wandering1 wrote:
When someone is walking around inside the 5er it will bounce/wiggle. Rubber tires will bounce, suspension systems are made to bounce. To eliminate the bouncing/wiggling you need to keep the weight from pushing down on the tires and suspension by making sure your stabilizers are tight between the 5er and the ground. Don’t just let them out far enough to touch the ground, turn the crank more to make sure they are tight so they will not allow the 5er to push down on the tires.

Use a bipod/tripod under the king pin. Make sure it is tight between the ground and the king pin, don’t just adjust it till it touches, tighten it so the front overhang will not move. Make sure to check the stabilizers and bipod/tripod every couple of days because they will loosen up over time.


Chocks are to keep the 5er from rolling forward or backwards. They do not eliminate the weight of the 5er from pushing down and causing the bouncing/wiggling.

There are a lot of other options out there to “eliminate” the bouncing/wiggling if you have the extra money and want to spend it.

The *chocks*.
Disagree with the above - most of the time I use *only* my Rotos.
Don't bother with the rear stabilizers - even though it's an electric (push-button) operation.

IMO the bal-chocks would probably do the same.
Next would be 4 'store-bought' style of aluminum stabilizers under the frame like "dapperdan" made. Very inexpensive (cheap!).
Great place to start - then go with the other options from there.

BTW - Maybe it's an unintended bonus -
No visitors will come knockin' if the place is rockin'..;)

~

dave14117 wrote:
We've been parked in our 07 Cameo 5'er for the winter in southern Calif. Our rig has 4 jacks under it for stability that really don't work well. Anyone have ideas on how to eliminate the little bit of bounciness that persists? The jacks are small and inexpensive but wonder if there isn't something better

I feel your pain Dave. You can try using the X Chokes that's what we did, it helps a little but still had the "bounce". I made up my own "stabilizers" using scrap lumber laying around. They worked well enough that I took the time and effort to paint them. We used the rear stabilizers and placed these right behind the rear axel. Believe it not they work pretty darn good, I just have to spend a bit more time setting up and tearing down. Best part of all was they cost about 12 bucks to make!




Dan

Get a complete set of JT'S strong arms installed... You will notice a huge difference as soon as you walk in the door...!!!! I also use Roto-chocks , just because.... :B...
I also added an additional set of scissor jacks directly in the middle of the coach directly in front of the wheels... that helped with what little bounce I had...

When someone is walking around inside the 5er it will bounce/wiggle. Rubber tires will bounce, suspension systems are made to bounce. To eliminate the bouncing/wiggling you need to keep the weight from pushing down on the tires and suspension by making sure your stabilizers are tight between the 5er and the ground. Don’t just let them out far enough to touch the ground, turn the crank more to make sure they are tight so they will not allow the 5er to push down on the tires.

Use a bipod/tripod under the king pin. Make sure it is tight between the ground and the king pin, don’t just adjust it till it touches, tighten it so the front overhang will not move. Make sure to check the stabilizers and bipod/tripod every couple of days because they will loosen up over time.

Doesn’t make sense spending a lot of money on landing jack stabilizers when the landing jacks are stable and don’t bounce up and down. If you have properly adjusted the stabilizers and bipod/tripod then you shouldn’t have any bouncing/wiggling. This has worked for me over the past 15 years.

Chocks are to keep the 5er from rolling forward or backwards. They do not eliminate the weight of the 5er from pushing down and causing the bouncing/wiggling. If you park on a site that has a incline/decline then you probably want to use chocks to keep your 5er from rolling when you unhitch.

There are a lot of other options out there to “eliminate” the bouncing/wiggling if you have the extra money and want to spend it.