Tripod for 5er

I once forgot to take the weight off my rear stabilizer jacks that cranked up & down and lifted the front of the 5er, and subsequently broke both rear stabilizer jacks. Had to replace them while in the campground. thankfully it was not a difficult repair and did it myself. I don't think most rear stabilizers are made for lifting a lot of weight even though they may advertise it.

The tripod seems to help but not eliminate the problem. I believe as one member posted that the tire and suspension bounce seems to be a main cause of the problem. The other thing is there are times when your nose is so low that you can't fit the tripod underneath the kingpin. With the JT's or other brand of stabilizers they are mounted to the frame and should work regardless of how high or low the nose of the 5er is.

As far as cranking down on the rear stabilizers and raising the frame to reduce weight on the tires and suspension as mentioned, I’m not sure how that would affect the frames flexing limitations and would like to hear more opinions on that as I may not be using the rear stabilizers correctly myself.

Buy mine??

Tripods are ok, JT Strong Arms are better.

I bought four of these Camco 57371 Olympian Telescopic Jacks a couple of years ago. I set them up on the frame rails just in front of and behind the trailer's tandem axles. Snug them up just enough to keep the suspension from flexing. Now I can play basketball in the livingroom without waking up DW in the bedroom. Of course, when I bought them they were $40 per pair. I don't know why the price has suddenly doubled.

I'm with your wife. I complained for a very long time with our Bi-Pod because I hated the movement. Finally enough was enough and we installed a permanently installed set of stabilizers about 9 years ago and boy was Dutch happy that I wasn't complaining anymore. Even after adding a leveling system, which did help a bit, we still have our stabilizers on. I wouldn't be without them. We are fulltimers so we're in our 5th wheel all the time. I'm sure you will make the right decision for you. Hugs, Di

LOFAT36 wrote:
I'd like to know the yays & nays of a tripod stabilizer. My better half complains of the back & forth, side to side motion when she's in bed and I walk around downstairs. We set up for about 4 month's, jacks down, wheels blocked etc. I've used two 4 x 6 blocks each side on the front jacks so I'm not lowering the landing gear too far. I've heard yes they're great, so so, & not worth it. Any opinions ?

I have use one for 12 years when setting up for a lengthy stay. Personally I like my tripod as it along with the wheels chocks does a good job in stability.

As you have already seen you will get a lot of different opinions on it.

Tripod is too heavy and doesn't do enough to make it worth setting up.

I use a bi-pod pin stabilizer that stops side to side motion at he front of the trailer. For motion at the trailer rear I use a BAL telescoping stabilizer which eliminates up and down and side motion. And a set of adjustable chocks between the tires that eliminates fore and aft movement. I'm rock solid which my medical condition requires.

The JT or similar stabilizing product does the same thing.

I had one , installed JT's... gave the tripod away to someone on the forum..