wiggle wiggle wiggle on stabilzer jacks - cured

I've thought about trying these or a version of them. Did you do front and back or just front? I would think in a longer trailer you might need to do both just from tire squish at the pivot point. I've also thought about another set of jacks near the center to take susupension/tire bounce out of the equation.

Hmmm I've never seen the Bal C jack turned fore and aft. Mine turn side to side for no wiggle. My adjustable chocks stop fore and aft wiggle.

I would like to try that at the rear of our TT. I tried this over the July 4th weekend,




and it totally removed side-to-side wiggle at the front. Those BAL stabs with locking arms might remove the side-to-side wiggle at the back, and also the front-to-back wiggle, as well.

mosseater wrote:
I've thought about trying these or a version of them. Did you do front and back or just front? I would think in a longer trailer you might need to do both just from tire squish at the pivot point. I've also thought about another set of jacks near the center to take susupension/tire bounce out of the equation.

Just the front.

The tires being the center of rotation, adding a jack in this location is counter intuitive. (it will make matters worse)

The 4x4 and chain rig does the very same thing, but supports the tongue directly vs the jacks. Its a bit red-neck, but that type of support system will have the same good result.

IMO, those who still see and feel suspension and tire movement on jacks are not watching the watching the jacks, and how they allow the flex and movement to occur. Stabilize the jacks (at the outermost corners of the trailer) with additional support, and all movement disappears.

Picture lifts and even fire trucks with stabilizing systems. Its the jacks that must do all the work...and at the extents of the vehicle. (Not near the center.)

JIMNLIN wrote:
Hmmm I've never seen the Bal C jack turned fore and aft. Mine turn side to side for no wiggle. My adjustable chocks stop fore and aft wiggle.

A proper trailer will have one set for fore/ aft and the other set port and starboard

We recently bought something similar to what you have...got ours at CW. DH hates the scissors jacks on our TT and even with the excellent BALs, it still wiggled. These made all the difference in the world in the stability. We're still looking for replacement of the scissor jacks with the long-arm type that came on our HTT....they were much more solid. Problem is finding them long enough since our TT has 3 steps and lots of clearance. Seems we either have the time to do a search in earnest or the extra $ to invest, but not at the same time. Sooner or later.

dadmomh wrote:
We recently bought something similar to what you have...got ours at CW. DH hates the scissors jacks on our TT and even with the excellent BALs, it still wiggled. These made all the difference in the world in the stability. We're still looking for replacement of the scissor jacks with the long-arm type that came on our HTT....they were much more solid. Problem is finding them long enough since our TT has 3 steps and lots of clearance. Seems we either have the time to do a search in earnest or the extra $ to invest, but not at the same time. Sooner or later.

I agree with you, and they make 31" models for extreme lift. May be do some measuring first to make sure you really need such distance, because these probably wont be cheap.

http://norcoind.com/bal/products/consumer/stabilizing_products/c-jack.shtml

Does anyone have a link to the thread where those stabilizers were being made at home from pipe?
Thanks,Mike

RinconVTR wrote:

mosseater wrote:
I've thought about trying these or a version of them. Did you do front and back or just front? I would think in a longer trailer you might need to do both just from tire squish at the pivot point. I've also thought about another set of jacks near the center to take susupension/tire bounce out of the equation.

Just the front.

The tires being the center of rotation, adding a jack in this location is counter intuitive. (it will make matters worse)

The 4x4 and chain rig does the very same thing, but supports the tongue directly vs the jacks. Its a bit red-neck, but that type of support system will have the same good result.

IMO, those who still see and feel suspension and tire movement on jacks are not watching the watching the jacks, and how they allow the flex and movement to occur. Stabilize the jacks (at the outermost corners of the trailer) with additional support, and all movement disappears.

Picture lifts and even fire trucks with stabilizing systems. Its the jacks that must do all the work...and at the extents of the vehicle. (Not near the center.)

Sorry, but I don't buy any of your reasoning presented and it's great that you're pleased with your results, but I don't think just stabilizing one end of a longer trailer is going to give one satisfactory stabilization results.

The two major causes IMO of movement is the suspension and tires and the length of span of the frame rails. To effectively address these two sources you need support at the tires/suspension point and to reduce the open span of the frame rails. This is why MANY, MANY, here have reported great improvements with putting an additional pair of supports near the axles. I'm not going to go into my diatribe on this subject since it's well documented and a cursory search will give those interested more reading than they probably want.

IMO all that these stiffen gizmos that are at the existing stabilizer positions do is to correct the inherent poor slop in what is there and really don't address the two basic causes of poor trailer stability I have already mentioned. They do demonstrate just how poor most of these stabilization jacks/supports are, but there are IMO much better and cheaper ways to address this issue as I have described in my prior posts on this subject.

Your analogy of the fire trucks is not IMO valid for TT for two reasons. One is often that support is for ladders that necessitate a wider footprint and vehicles have a much heavier frame and are already supported at the corners with the wheels and not in the middle like our TTs.

Larry

LarryJM wrote:


The two major causes IMO of movement is the suspension and tires and the length of span of the frame rails.

Your analogy of the fire trucks is not IMO valid for TT for two reasons.

Larry

These two statements are precisely why you are having trouble understanding.

I only needed the front better supported based on the orientation of the front jacks. The rears are pointed outward, not allowing side to side movement. But the fronts have a long span to the tires, so the movement allowed by the jacks, is transfer to the tires...and they squirm.

Look. Here's the thing, despite what I've said to help people understand the basic principle...I found and ACTUALLY TRIED what was already proven out. Proven not by me, but by a large manufacture of the most common trailer stabilizers on the market.

Did you even bother to look at their web site and VIDEO?

http://norcoind.com/bal/products/consumer/stabilizing_products/lockarm.shtml