Where to place jack when changing flat tire?

westend wrote:
I'd suggest to place the jack underneath the spring shackle.

SPring shackle is the absolute worst place for jack placement. The shackle idea is BAD, VERY BAD.

I'd carry ramp and blocks and drive up on it. To hell with jacking. I have 2 plastic 12,000 lb ramps.

For better or worse I jack on the U-bolt.

If replacing suspension... jack on the frame and use jack stands.

This is a pic of my F250's screw jack under the spring perch U bolt of our 2007 KZ 5th wheel. I had a brake grabbing on one wheel so I decided to give all four a quick check and adjustment while in the campground on hard clay ground. The long handle to the screw jack made it a lot easier than the short handled hydraulic bottle jack I'd been using. No stress on the suspension, chassis or DW inside blending me up a frozen strawberry Margarita.

JIMNLIN wrote:
All you need to do is lift one end of the axle instead of the whole side of the trailer.

Jacking under the axle next to the U bolt or the U bolt itself on a std leaf spring suspension works fine and there will be no damage to the axle.

If your going to lift one side of the trailer from the frame I would suggest using two jacks next to the farthest apart spring hangers. That way less chance of a bent frame from a single jack point on a heavy trailer.

Whatever method you use make a dry run at home.

Agree with all this. Practice at home! I found that the jack for my truck works fine to change a tire on my trailer - actually, the extended handle for reaching under the truck is perfect for getting under the axle of my TT.

Make sure you carry a socket and/or lug wrench that fits the lug nuts on your TT!

And... check the air pressure in your spare tire.

After my first flat tire we bought the Anderson rapid jack. We have used this three times now. My wife and I are like a nascar pit crew on changing a tire.
Check out this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jE_x_TjlOI

The manufacturer suggests the frame on my Dutchmen. It works okay. I prefer the aforementioned shackle.

A quick call to the manufacturer might be in order.

The important thing is to practice changing the tire, beforehand.

i've been researching this as well...where do you jack on a single axle trailer? right under the leaf spring?

All you need to do is lift one end of the axle instead of the whole side of the trailer.

Jacking under the axle next to the U bolt or the U bolt itself on a std leaf spring suspension works fine and there will be no damage to the axle.

If your going to lift one side of the trailer from the frame I would suggest using two jacks next to the farthest apart spring hangers. That way less chance of a bent frame from a single jack point on a heavy trailer.

Whatever method you use make a dry run at home.

Toddupton wrote:
The frame, always the frame and never the axle.

On Lippert manufactured frames, that used to be their instruction. Now, they are okay with using jacking the tire off the ground when you are changing a tire as long as you are right at the spring U-bolts. In fact, I was at a rally last month and the Lippert techs were doing some upgrades for folks, and they were using the axles to lift it.

Lifting by the frame is nearly impossible to do on the side of the road without special jacks or cribbing material. In fact, there is no reason to lift the entire weight of one side of the coach when you only want to pull one wheel off.

Jim