OutdoorsRV Thread

This is about strengthening the arms of the Lippert electric stab jacks. It's also possible to warp/kink the main U-channels that cross the width of the trailer (as I also found out!) but that takes much more load. I lifted the front of the trailer with the tongue jack and crumpled both the arms and U-channels of the rear stab jacks. It would be possible but more difficult to reinforce the U-channels, but it would add a lot of weight, and as long as I remember not to do anything stupid with the tongue jack, I think the arm reinforcements will be sufficient.

The arm reinforcements help with vertical stability as I can really crank the stab jacks tight now. I use the electric motors to set them initially, but a day or so later may go around and manually tighten them as necessary. But the U-channels can still slide within each other, so side-to-side stability is still an issue; with supporting jacks under the steps, we're just living with it now.

So here's some pictures and info about strengthening the arms of the Lippert electric stab jacks.


The components for each arm:

1 - 26+1/8" of 2"x2"x1/8" sq. steel tube with 2 - 7/16" holes drilled on one side, each ~24mm from the end. If your arms are a different length than mine, the length will have to be adjusted. I just made sure the feet can fold down.

2 - 2"x4"x1/8" steel plate each with a 7/16" hole drilled.
One plate with the hole in the middle, the other the the hole ~24mm from one end along the length.

2 - 7/16"x1" Grade#5 fine thread bolts, nuts and lock washers.

Rough steel is Filed, Wire brushed, Cleaned and painted.

Only one hole has to be drilled in each Lippert arm.

Using one of the nuts+bolts, loosely mount the plate with the asymetric hole on one end of the sq. tube so the plate doesn't hang over the end of the tube.

Slide the plate+tube into the notch on the inside of the arm to be reinforced until snug. This notch is why it is only necessary to drill one bolt hole in the arm.

Mark the position of empty bolt hole on the arm. Move plate+tube and drill this 7/16" hole.

Insert the other bolt and tighten up both bolts. Done.



And what they look like installed. They do stick down an extra 2 inches when lifted up but that may just help protect my plumbing from scrapes.

Think each Arm reinforcment adds 6-7#

brulaz wrote:
3) Those Lippert electric stab jacks are pretty weak. Especially when there's not much distance to the ground, you can't put much weight on them before they kink (as I found out). So I bolted on lengths of 2x2x1/8" steel box to reinforce them.

I have seen you mention this before and totally agree with the weakness. They are ridiculously bendy IMO. I want to do this mod. at some point (TT is under 2 year warranty). How much of an improvement has the reinforcement been and could you possibly post a pic or two? Thx

matt_r wrote:
I thought it would be fun to start a thread dedicated to OutdoorsRV TT. A great place to show off our rigs as well as share modification ideas, tech tips etc.

Anything you post here will eventually fall off the bottom of the page.

There is a sticky thread for modifications at the top of the page, HERE.

Another sticky thread for pictures of your rig can be found just under the modifications thread,HERE.

I've been asked to clarify what I mean by "drip rail" on the bottom side of the slide and the problems with it. Here's a photo.

You can see the drip rail is not really doing it's job on this side. The end of the plywood floor is exposed and collecting drips. Luckily that's marine grade plywood so it can handle some wetness, but really it should be fully covered by the drip rail and have an abundance of caulk covering it.

I didn't move this drip rail down, rather I just cleaned the ends of the plywood and smeared it liberally with 3M4200 adhesive caulk. Now the drips form at the bottom of the caulk and the plastic layer of the floor, but the wood is protected. Maybe I should have moved the drip rail down, I dunno, maybe I will ...

The other side was not as bad as this, only a small amount of plywood edge was exposed. But another problem occurred that was really weird and took me over a year to figure out. The "drip rail" is actually a metal strip, but it's hollow, in a "C" section. In the hollow of the "C" is a strip of putty tape. On this drip rail, the putty tape didn't fill the hollow, it was only up at the top, leaving a gap at the bottom that wasn't caulked and would fill with water. I guess the outside drips forming on the bottom of the drip rail would get sucked into it by capillary action or something. Then, if the open slide was slightly tilted toward the trailer, the water would move down the inside of drip rail and drip, drip, drip onto the main floor of the trailer. The inside rugs and floor would get soaked if the slide was open in a rain storm.

I took this drip rail off and the inside was filled with mold and crap. Obviously it had been filling with water since day one. I cleaned it, packed it *full* of caulk and put it back on, making sure to cover the plywood ends with more caulk where they were exposed.

So far, all is good.

Great looking rig. That one and the Creekside 27 bhs is my short list when I get to buy a new TT. Enjoy it.

We like our Timber Ridge too.

Here's a couple of our mods:

1) The slideout side wall has a "drip rail" at the bottom. But on one side it didn't cover the edge of the slide's plywood floor leaving that exposed to the elements. I cleaned it and smeared 3M4200 adhesive caulk on the plywood edge to protect it.

2) On the other side of the slide, the "drip rail" managed to conduct water to the trailer interior (if the trailer was slightly tilted in that direction). Weird, took me a year to figure out where the water was coming from. Removed the drip rail, cleaned out its moldy inside (the putty tape hadn't filled it completely and water was somehow getting inside the drip rail and draining toward the trailer), re-caulked and re-installed.

3) Those Lippert electric stab jacks are pretty weak. Especially when there's not much distance to the ground, you can't put much weight on them before they kink (as I found out). So I bolted on lengths of 2x2x1/8" steel box to reinforce them.

4) Also the motors on those jacks can get water inside them, especially when driving all day in the rain. They then corrode and can freeze up (as I found out). At Lippert's suggestion I pulled out the rubber cap by about an inch and smeared dielectric grease all over the exposed motor and where the wires go in, then slid the cap back on.

5) Added solar panels and an MPPT charger ...

6) Other stuff I can't remember right now.

Have fun. They're great trailers and fun to work on.

EDIT: Like your truck too.

Isn't that what the "DIY Mods and Upgrades" forum is for? It is already there so use it. Nice looking rig and family.

Very nice trailer. I have been looking at Outdoors RVs and I really like them. They are on our short list of new trailers. I really like the 31kqbs.

Nice set up!
Pat

Nice rig!