Jacking up TT to remove wheels - Leaf spring tandem axles

Use stands or cribbing and take all four wheels off. That will be one trip to the tire dealer. While you have the wheels off, it may be a good time to check suspension hardware, bearings, brakes, and brake wiring. All of those maintenance items are easier to accomplish with all four hubs exposed.

Keep cool and drink lots of fluids.

You will not damage or crush or bend the axle tube with a jack placed next to the U bolt (under the axle) on a std leaf spring suspension. Pure internet myth.

Now if you place the jack in the middle of the axle between the wheels its possible to bend (more camber) the axle.

I've jacked trailers under the axle tubes on 1750 lb axles up to 10k axles on my fully loaded equipment/flatdeck/RV/boat trailers/enclosed trailers/dump trailers with no issues.

RJsfishin wrote:
Its not rocket science. Its hard to do it wrong And its hard to damage anything.
The only time to jack the frame is if the wheel is not removeable by jacking it on the axle,.....fender or plastic shirts.
Anyway, keep a bottle/floor jack on, or close to the u bolts, and you can't miss. Then put a jack stand or blocks also near the u bolts.
Its kinda like, "if it feels good, do it"

edit, be sure to loosen lugs before lifting wheel,......if no impact wrench

Yeah, Im probably overthinking it a bit. Not like I haven't put cars on four jackstands countless number of times. Just concerned with trailer as I don't want to bend or twist anything.

Mike

I think the reason why the "official method" recommended by most trailer and axle manufacturers is they are concerned that if you put the jack right on the axle tube you might damage the tube and weaken it. If you do like others have said and spread the contact point of the jack with a wood block, and jack under the u-bolts to further spread out the weight, you will be fine ....

Its not rocket science. Its hard to do it wrong And its hard to damage anything.
The only time to jack the frame is if the wheel is not removeable by jacking it on the axle,.....fender or plastic shirts.
Anyway, keep a bottle/floor jack on, or close to the u bolts, and you can't miss. Then put a jack stand or blocks also near the u bolts.
Its kinda like, "if it feels good, do it"

edit, be sure to loosen lugs before lifting wheel,......if no impact wrench

Thanks... So, Im assuming it is not acceptable (or proper) to support the trailer via a jackstand under the axle. But, I can support it via the frame, as long as I use a wood brace to spread the load? That makes sense since the axle and suspension wouldn't be able to support the trailer weight.

So thinking this through a bit more, can I do one axle at a time (both sides). Do the rear axle, supporting each side of the axle with a jack, or the jack stands, and still having one axle with wheel resting on each side to support the trailer? Seems like that would work. That way the jackstands are just supporting the one axle, and the other axle, with wheels still on, would support the trailer.

EDIT: Im thinking that may NOT work afterall, since I would be balancing the trailer on one axle. Guess I'll make three trips to the tire store, since Im also replacing the spare, I'll take the spare, plus one.. swap those, then put new spare plus one on, then take next two, swap those, then the last one. Man what a load of work in 95 degree/95% humidity. But, it is what it is.

Mike

I jack on the U-bolt right next to the wheel. One at a time.
Just lift the tire 1/4" off the ground.

Officially you are supposed to jack on the frame only. I would save this for axle or spring replacement.

Bottle jack under the spring perch is the accepted method.

I use truck tire dealer locations as they can jack the whole trailer and do the work there.
However I was set up for a 30 day stay at a KOA. I had the drain hose all rigged up so all I had to do was pull the tank valve open when it came time to dump.

Things worked out with a job so I decided to go with new tires. I used my 12 ton shorty hyd jack and a 3 1/2 ton floor jack under the end of the axles next to the U bolt one side at a time. That way I didn't have to unhook anything or even re level.

Or jack one end of the axle at a time won't hurt anything either.

You will hear several opinions here. What I do is place floor jack with block of wood under each shackle on axle. All that is required is to raise the unit abt 3 inches to get tire off of ground. This works for one tire/wheel removal at a time.
If you are removing all 4 at once to take to tire shop, you will need 4 jack stands, lots of wood blocks, stable surface and a floor jack. The jack stands with oaks of wood need to be positioned at well established frame I beam framing just fore and aft of the spring hangers on each side. Make sure trailer is on level surface.