Levelling with Scissor Jacks

Billieg2 wrote:

JJBIRISH wrote:

HappyTrails2U2 wrote:

JJBIRISH wrote:

BTW those scissor jacks are very poor lifting jacks that have a lot of free play in them and they to will buckle easily with only modest movement applied to them… the lifting part in their claims are more marketing than fact…

That's why people buy heavy duty ones that are rated for twice what you want to lift. Actually more like 5 or 6 times. And if you have six 7,000 lb. jacks lifting an 8,000 lb trailer that's only 1,333 lbs each which I think even a light duty scissor jack can handle let alone one rated for 7,000 lbs.

As far as calling him silly like you did because you don't agree with him well I don't agree with you either but I won't call you silly. I'll just state what works for me. I've been doing it for 2 years and mine has not fallen apart and neither will his. Most all trailers are supported at four or 6 points on the frame by the springs that attach the axles to the frame and the remainder of the frame is back there bouncing up and down cantilevered out as people go speeding down the highway at 75 or 80 mph over railroad crossing and big bumps in the road without any support and are no worse for the wear.

The way you do it is you jack it where the axles are attached to the frame at the center of the trailer on each side. You don't jack it at each end. Then use the stabilizers at each corner to stabilize it. All the weight is carried by the frame right where it's being supported anyway by the springs.

Wait a second… I didn’t call him silly so lets get that straight right now…
I did say his test and procedures were silly and not well thought out and stand by my comment…

Did the trailer pass the test??? Maybe… did it stress his laminate walls??? I am betting it did… did it do any damage to them??? Could there be one or more stress cracks in the thin aluminum tube superstructure??? Who knows…

Can you properly lift a trailer??? You sure can, I have lifted many myself and put them on concrete blocks… never said you couldn’t…

Those heavy duty scissor jacks are on my trailer, they still are not good jacks and their rating is a fantasy… they can easily bend and collapse with any fore or aft movement…

I know because I was sitting under a friends awning at night when the trailer seemed to just fall… but it didn’t just fall, one of the scissor jacks just left go and ended up being bent like a pretzel… is it likely to happen??? I guess not… does it happen, you bet, I witnessed it… this trailer was set for 4 or more weeks when this happen with no indication of failing until then…

So your friends STOCK jacks didn't hold up and now you are an expert?
So many experts on this forum.....

JJBirrish is one of those members that I always see very good, solid advice coming from. I consider him pretty close to an expert on here as he always replies with facts and logic.

I have not seen him ever flame anyone here, and he didn't flame the OP. Saying what he did was stupid (or silly to be exact) isn't the same as calling the OP stupid.