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NickG's avatar
NickG
Explorer
Oct 16, 2017

Stabilizing jacks don't really stabilize much at all

If this has been discussed (I can't believe it hasn't), I was not able to find anything in a quick search for it.

I recently bought a 2012 Forest River Flagstaff 27BHSS. It has electric stabilizer jacks in which I thought was an added bonus. My previous travel trailer was a 2001 Mallard 30E and is also the only other one I ever had.

I assumed the jacks would steady the trailer since the ones on my old Mallard did a great job. This Flagstaff may be different due to it being a "superlite", which I define as "flimsy". Still, shouldn't I expect a reasonable amount of steadiness? With the jacks fully down, the entire trailer reacts to anyone walking up the steps into the door. I can tell who it is by the amount the trailer moves. Also, If a kid turns over in a rear bunk, we feel the trailer rock all the way up in the front bed.

I can't be the only one experiencing this. What might our options be? Add more jacks?
  • Durb wrote:
    Some electric stabilizers are ganged meaning one switch lowers both rear stabilizers at the same time. If you have these it is critical that they are block sufficiently so that both stabilizers hit your blocks at the same time. If not you may only have ground pressure on one stabilizer. I used to lower the rear stabilizers with the tongue a little low. Then use the tongue jack to bring to level and load the rear stabilizers more. Then firm up the front stabilizers and then firm up the tongue jack a bit.


    Mine DO have the one-switch for both jacks. However, if one touches first, that one does not bind while the other continues down. When the other touches, the resistance transfers the pressure to both jacks. Knowing how this works tells me I could have another inherent issue. If the jacks "pivot" to allow them both to contact before the pressure reacts to both of them, then they really aren't very stable to begin with. There will always be that pivot point that is not locked in.
  • Thanks for the responses. Just a few notes...

    -I am aware that I will never get the trailer rock solid, but I was hoping to get it to perform like my last one.

    -I do use wheel chocks, but don't see how that stabilizes with the suspension still being active. I see these as safety items for anti-roll, but doing little to ward off up/down shake.

    -I do use the orange, plastic stackable blocks, but did not use them on my last trailer. I will try the old wood blocks I used on the old one.

    -I do adjust the jacks to compensate for settling. However, I have this issue on my concrete driveway as well.

    -While it's possible the electric motor does not have the power to put enough pressure on the frame, I believe they do. Knowing I should not be trying to "bend" the frame with the jacks, they do set in hard and actually move the trailer up a bit when I let them dig in.

    I believe it is possible that this trailer design simply has a more inherent wobble factor. My plan is to make something that will go between the axle and frame to lock out suspension jounce.


    From the answers here, I think I will go back to wood bases under the jacks, minimize the extension lengths, do something that locks out the suspension, and maybe add a manual jack near the steps.

    I do appreciate the many responses. If there is not one already, I'd love to see a stabilizing "sticky". There is a lot to know beyond the obvious, and I'll bet many people have improvised with great results.
  • Some electric stabilizers are ganged meaning one switch lowers both rear stabilizers at the same time. If you have these it is critical that they are block sufficiently so that both stabilizers hit your blocks at the same time. If not you may only have ground pressure on one stabilizer. I used to lower the rear stabilizers with the tongue a little low. Then use the tongue jack to bring to level and load the rear stabilizers more. Then firm up the front stabilizers and then firm up the tongue jack a bit.
  • The only way to truly stabilize a travel trailer or fifth wheel is to use the JT Strongarms

    I have put them on 2 Fifth wheel trailers and they make the trailer rock solid.
  • First, the "perception" of "Stabilizer" jacks is really completely wrong. Those jacks are really designed for one purpose, and that is to keep the trailer from tipping if too much weight is placed on the end, and really, that's about the only real expectation out of them.

    To use to stop trailer shake is near impossible. The only way to make that happen is to get the trailer frame on something solid and the wheels completely off the ground.

    There are some things you can do to help eliminate some of the "shake" with your current jacks however. But it will not eliminate all of it. By nature and design of the jacks, the way they are attached to the camper frame, you'll never have a "rock solid" feel inside the camper if this is the only device you are using.

    First, make sure you have something solid under the jacks on the ground. Many use Lynx blocks. Personally, I don't like them. If parking on grass, sand or dirt, the first one will sink into the ground because of the hallow inside of the block. Once it's completely sunk,it may work pretty good, but then, you'll need to continue to tighten your jacks until the bottom one is completely squished in the ground.

    Lumber (in my opinion) is a much better solution. Although lumber is heavy, and harder to store, (in my opinion) stabilizes more sound than the Lynx blocks. And the larger the board, the bigger the foot print on the ground, the less the board will sink into the ground, grass, dirt.

    Another factor that makes the jacks so inadequate by their design, is simply, the longer they are extended, the less stable they are. So another tip is to build up a solid base under the jack as high as possible to the bottom of the back, before extending the jack. Shorter shaft on something solid makes less shake in the camper.

    Next, if you are using electric jacks, does your electric system have enough "umph" to actually lift the camper? If not, it's possible the electric motor does not have enough "umph" to put enough pressure on the jacks to make them stout enough to help prevent shake. Hand tightening, that extra turn, that extra "umph" can make all the difference in the world.

    A few winters ago, I parked my (previous) camper on grass at home. I had 6 jacks, plus the tongue jack permanently attached to the trailer. All 6 were down on lumber. I also had 4 manual bottle neck type aluminum jack stands I placed between the jacks attached to the trailer. They also were on lumber, and I'm talking 2x6x24 inch or longer boards under each jack. I also also shortened the distance from the ground to the bottom each jack by adding more lumber. And guess what? even after all that, the trailer still had wiggle to it. By spring, when the ground settled under each one of those 'pads' on the ground, there was enough wiggle and shake back in the camper, it was as if the jacks were not down at all. They sunk in the ground that much, and I did not keep them tight through the winter and spring when the ground started to thaw.

    Unless your stick and brick house is built on a concrete slab, even someone walking across a wood floor will cause vibrations across the floor, and sometimes can be felt in another room of the house. When we were house shopping many years ago, we were shocked how shaky second floors were in stick and brick houses, by simply slamming a door in one room, you could feel the whole house shake in another room. I'd hate to think what the washing machine and dryer would do?

    That's why we ended up buying a house built in the 1950's, that was still built with real wood and real construction methods. That taught me a lot about stabilizing a travel trailer too.

    You're going to have trailer shake, no matter how hard you try to eliminate it. When it does shake, just enjoy the moment and be glad you're in the camper and not spending the day at work! It will put a smile on your face. ... guarantee it!
  • We've mostly fixed this problem by using a BAL X-Chock,placing the stabilizers down onto a Lynx block for more surface area and on the second day ill retighten the stabs to make sure they haven't settled.

    So far this has stopped the excess movement.
  • All the electric part does is run them down for you. It will help if you put them on some sort of pad, and tighten them every day. But the trailer is still sitting on its suspension and tires, which will flex. The X-chock type devices will help, but the only true way to stop it is to jack it up and put solid support under the axles and get the weight off the tires.
  • My 25 ft. TT is sitting on a pair of spring loaded wheel and a flexible frame. I have never found a way to completely stop the TT movement.

    As mentioned, unless we are on concrete or pavement, the stabilizers do sink on and loosen.

    Good luck.
  • Maybe some block under each one...the more you extend them the less they stabilize.
  • I have four manual stabalizers which work okay for the first day. Then they settle and trailer movement increases. I just tighten them up a bit and that helps. What really helps tremendously is my external home made wheel locks. . What is happening is the trailer roakc front and back slightly. This eliminates that. Just a couple of 4X4 cut at an angle with some threaded rod through the middle tightened down with nuts. Give that a try