Forum Discussion

NMace's avatar
NMace
Explorer
Feb 28, 2015

Removing Wheels and Tires

I need some guidance on the equipment needed and procedure to remove wheels and tires on an 20' 8,000 pound trailer to lower it in a semi-permanent location.

I am thinking two 5 ton bottle jacks and cinder blocks with 2 x 6 treated lumber. Placing the jacks about 6 - 7 feet from each end.

Thanks in advance,

Neil
  • I would pull the trailer up on a 2x8 and block under the trailer securely to support the weight. Then I would let the air out of the tires and allow the trailer weight to settle on the blocking. That takes your tires and suspension out of the equation.

    Then if you need to move you can just air up the tires and roll out.
  • If you are going to be moving the trailer from time to time. I would just leave the tires on the trailer & jack it up just enough to place jacks stands or some type of blocks under the axles to just get the tires off the ground, then put tire covers on each tire.
  • At that specific park, how are other RV/TT owners supporting their trailer? Might be good idea to clone their method. Especially if majority are done the same...

    Hope this helps.
  • First...you are saying semi-permanent. Does that mean you are going to occasionally move it? If so, leave the wheels on, park on patio stones and cover them. No matter where they are sitting, they are going to dry rot over time.

    If you are going to block up the trailer, put your cinder blocks on patio stones so they dont sink into the ground. Piece of wood between block and trailer
  • Bottle jacks may not go low enough for what your want. They also have a very small head at the top of the shaft. This is normally OK for changing a tire, but when lowering a whole trailer, the trailer could become off-tilt when lowering it a long ways causing the bottle jack to slip. I think I'd use floor jacks with the larger contact surface if you have them.

    I assume the trailer has two axles? If so, I think I'd work from side to side lowering it.

    As for the blocking, treated lumber should be used for the ground contact boards, but rest of them don't really need to be treated if you don't have them. (Watch out for slivers when using treated lumber, they fester very easily.) If the trailer is being lowered on dirt and not cement, then on the bottom layer, I'd make it two 2X6s wide for a 12X12 pad and make the "bottom pad" two layers thick - in other words the bottom two layers should be 12X12. Also take some smaller / thinner pieces with you as you'll have to do some shimming to get everything level. If you store the tires there, put them on some wood also.

    Bill