Parking Camper On New Driveway Question

I parked the camper on the new asphalt I put 3 x 8 x12 inches long under each foot ,no problem. Thank you everyone for your responses

Wardster wrote:

mattyj wrote:
Hi All, I just had an asphalt driveway poured at my house, its soft so Im waiting to drive on it for a week or so. I have parked my camper on the old driveway for 12 years on 3x8 blocks but the contractor said I should use a piece of 3/4 plywood under the jack legs to spread out the concentration of weight. I am wondering if anybody out there has done the same or has any other suggestions for under the jack legs. Thank you, Lou

A solid concrete block - just a 4" thick one - will distribute the load of the camper just fine. The other advantage is that they are cheap, already the perfect size, and don't deteriorate like wood will.

I didn't pour it in the asphalt guy did

CapriRacer wrote:


Here, try this one:

Fact or Fiction: Tire Contact Patch Size

The link doesn't work, but the article that seems to be referenced is so full of anomalous data that we can discount it. For example he concludes that tire ride height is increased by reducing pressure in some cases - without explanation. No contact area or pressure measurements where made, only inferred from sparse metadata. The articles referenced in the Wiki are at least scholarly, used directly measured contact patches and pressures, and deal with truck and passenger car tires, not F1 tires.

Asphalt is soft and will get impressions if there is too much heat or weight applied. Since you cannot control the exterior temperature, you need to distribute the weight more and/or build up a thicker base of asphalt to handle your desired weight at local temperature.

jimh425 wrote:
Besides not wearing stiletto shoes, can someone summarize the thread? ;)

yea! Totally lost! That's summarizes it pretty good.

All I know is, if you've freshly laid new asphalt and your parking something on it for any length of time over 1 minute, and you want to be sure to keep it from dempling, put something under it that will distribute the weight over a wider area.

I do think in that ... we all agree.

Besides not wearing stiletto shoes, can someone summarize the thread? ;)

The key to a strong and level driveway (one that doesn't shift and allow ruts etc.) are your base thickness and compaction, the number and rating of your asphalt lifts, how long the asphalt has cured and the weight it will be supporting. These all vary based on where you live. For example, here in Canada, a minimum 12" thick compacted base is needed for a strong, level job.

Asphalt is laid down in layers or "lifts" to use industry terminology.

Several thinner lifts are better than one thick lift. And waiting up to one year between lifts is preferable (to allow for curing).

Yes, asphalt does cure over time ... about 1 year for a full cure cycle.

Roads are typically driven on immediately after resurfacing because 1) the public wouldn't tolerate waiting up to a year for the asphalt to cure and, 2) the mix is a "stronger" commercial mix i.e. the aggregate used is bigger/stronger (bigger stones, less fine materials like sand, and more/thicker lifts, better compaction with commercial rolling equipment etc).

With heavy equipment like our trucks and TC's, it is better to wait to drive on a freshly laid driveway and it is certainly better to spread out the weight of the contact patch if possible. 8" circles/ovals cut out of 3/4" plywood is sufficient for any 4 legged truck camper.

Finally, tire pressure does not equal contact patch pressure. i.e. do you think a stand alone tire filled to 80 psi is exerting the same force on your driveway as the same tire mounted to your 7,500 lbs truck? or ... are an empty pair of stilettos exerting the same pressure on the floor as a 100 lb. woman wearing those same stiletto shoes?

Wardster wrote:

mattyj wrote:
Hi All, I just had an asphalt driveway poured at my house, its soft so Im waiting to drive on it for a week or so. I have parked my camper on the old driveway for 12 years on 3x8 blocks but the contractor said I should use a piece of 3/4 plywood under the jack legs to spread out the concentration of weight. I am wondering if anybody out there has done the same or has any other suggestions for under the jack legs. Thank you, Lou

A solid concrete block - just a 4" thick one - will distribute the load of the camper just fine. The other advantage is that they are cheap, already the perfect size, and don't deteriorate like wood will.

My thought was to inlay concrete pavers where wheels or jack points are located if you you always park in the same location. This can also be done with a framed concrete mold. If the location or vehicle vary, these fixed pads do not make sense.

HMS Beagle wrote:

CapriRacer wrote:
Guys,

The inflation pressure in the tire is NOT equal to the pressure in the footprint.

Here's the wikipedia article on it:

Wikipedia: Contact Patch

However for low pressure tires (passenger car tires - about 30 psi), it's a good approximation, but for high pressure tires (100 psi), it is not.

The Wiki article summary mischaracterizes those papers. They are talking about second and third order effects due to tire carcass stiffness and rolling dynamics. In both papers referenced by the article, the data shows that linear and proportional is a pretty good approximation (errors approach 10 percent only at extremes), unless you are interested in fine detail not relevant to your driveway asphalt. For example the paper dealing with high pressure truck tires states explicitly "Average contact pressures at these same loading conditions are about equal to inflation pressure..."

Here, try this one:

Fact or Fiction: Tire Contact Patch Size

CapriRacer wrote:
Guys,

The inflation pressure in the tire is NOT equal to the pressure in the footprint.

Here's the wikipedia article on it:

Wikipedia: Contact Patch

However for low pressure tires (passenger car tires - about 30 psi), it's a good approximation, but for high pressure tires (100 psi), it is not.

The Wiki article summary mischaracterizes those papers. They are talking about second and third order effects due to tire carcass stiffness and rolling dynamics. In both papers referenced by the article, the data shows that linear and proportional is a pretty good approximation (errors approach 10 percent only at extremes), unless you are interested in fine detail not relevant to your driveway asphalt. For example the paper dealing with high pressure truck tires states explicitly "Average contact pressures at these same loading conditions are about equal to inflation pressure..."