X-chock vs. Jack Stabilizers
I want to stop the rocking around on my 30ft Cougar and the two products I can find to help eliminate that are X-chocks and jacks stabilizer cross bars. I know both help, but which one helps the most?...
Forum Discussion
Having studied reducing movement in our TT, my thoughts:
TT movement is often called "bounce" but the movement is actually 3 dimensional. Using X-chocks, or equivalent is the first and least cost thing to do to minimize/eliminate the fore-aft movement sensation.
As said, there is the vertical up/down movement caused by tire and suspension movement and frame flex. But the TT can also move laterally side to side and particularly at the rear even if you have X-chocks and use a set of jack stands at each corner. A set of manual or bottle jacks at the axles really helps.
Our first TT was 20' and had scissor jacks. Movement was not too bad when set up. Not the way I would have liked it, but acceptable. Then we moved up to a 29' TT. It has a lot of frame flex and we bought electric stabilizer jacks as an option. I am extremely disappointed with the performance (movement) of the electric jacks considering we spent over $600 on them. If you watch them at the rear of the TT when someone walks up the steps, the jacks move all over the place. I was going to take a video clip but didn't get around to it. Without going to manual screw jacks at the 4 corners, the only way to eliminate the movement is to spend another $300 or so on BAL lock-arms (or equiv. like Ultra-Fab eliminator, Jt's Strongarm, Steadyfast). It chokes me up to think that you end up spending $1K to minimize or eliminate the TT's movement when set up. Why can't Lippert just make the elec. stabilizers stronger to start with?? I considered adding some reinforcement to them but will probably just go with the cross-bracing add-ons.
We have a new TT coming in a couple of weeks. Same TT but one year newer and it has a stronger frame so I am waiting to see what the difference is in movement when set up. I am pretty certain that there will still be some "offensive" movement in a side to side direction. The 2013 one bounces like a trampoline when walking back and forth. Even the dog makes it bounce.
I agree that a set of 4 manual jack stands at each corner will help a lot but I think you can still get some side to side movement and more so at the rear of the trailer because the tongue jack helps to stabilize the front end. The tires will have side to side flex. With the jack stands, you're relying on the triangulated base to reduce or eliminate side to side movement which is only maybe 8" and only goes vertical from the ground by about the same amount.
While a set of 4 jack stands at each corner are a pretty good method to reduce movement, I think from an engineering perspective, the BAL, Ultra-Fab or the OP's ones will be the best way to eliminate movement. What I don't like about them is having to bend over to undo and tighten them up. It looks to me as if the ones on the front would be harder to reach because they're behind the A-frame.
I really like the electric stab. jacks for ease of use, but definitely not for stabilizing. The scissor jacks do a far better job of controlling vertical movement, but not as good as for lateral left/right movement. I think a pair of the cross-braces at the rear may be all you need for about $80 and will be cheaper than buying a set of 6 ($250 and up). Not sure how much improvement the braces will be in the fore/aft direction. If you find you'd still like to reduce movement more, then add a 2nd set at the front.
For those that want to use slideout stabilizers, I would never use them until you have eliminated the "bounce" by adding cross-bracing or jack stands.
TT movement is often called "bounce" but the movement is actually 3 dimensional. Using X-chocks, or equivalent is the first and least cost thing to do to minimize/eliminate the fore-aft movement sensation.
As said, there is the vertical up/down movement caused by tire and suspension movement and frame flex. But the TT can also move laterally side to side and particularly at the rear even if you have X-chocks and use a set of jack stands at each corner. A set of manual or bottle jacks at the axles really helps.
Our first TT was 20' and had scissor jacks. Movement was not too bad when set up. Not the way I would have liked it, but acceptable. Then we moved up to a 29' TT. It has a lot of frame flex and we bought electric stabilizer jacks as an option. I am extremely disappointed with the performance (movement) of the electric jacks considering we spent over $600 on them. If you watch them at the rear of the TT when someone walks up the steps, the jacks move all over the place. I was going to take a video clip but didn't get around to it. Without going to manual screw jacks at the 4 corners, the only way to eliminate the movement is to spend another $300 or so on BAL lock-arms (or equiv. like Ultra-Fab eliminator, Jt's Strongarm, Steadyfast). It chokes me up to think that you end up spending $1K to minimize or eliminate the TT's movement when set up. Why can't Lippert just make the elec. stabilizers stronger to start with?? I considered adding some reinforcement to them but will probably just go with the cross-bracing add-ons.
We have a new TT coming in a couple of weeks. Same TT but one year newer and it has a stronger frame so I am waiting to see what the difference is in movement when set up. I am pretty certain that there will still be some "offensive" movement in a side to side direction. The 2013 one bounces like a trampoline when walking back and forth. Even the dog makes it bounce.
I agree that a set of 4 manual jack stands at each corner will help a lot but I think you can still get some side to side movement and more so at the rear of the trailer because the tongue jack helps to stabilize the front end. The tires will have side to side flex. With the jack stands, you're relying on the triangulated base to reduce or eliminate side to side movement which is only maybe 8" and only goes vertical from the ground by about the same amount.
While a set of 4 jack stands at each corner are a pretty good method to reduce movement, I think from an engineering perspective, the BAL, Ultra-Fab or the OP's ones will be the best way to eliminate movement. What I don't like about them is having to bend over to undo and tighten them up. It looks to me as if the ones on the front would be harder to reach because they're behind the A-frame.
I really like the electric stab. jacks for ease of use, but definitely not for stabilizing. The scissor jacks do a far better job of controlling vertical movement, but not as good as for lateral left/right movement. I think a pair of the cross-braces at the rear may be all you need for about $80 and will be cheaper than buying a set of 6 ($250 and up). Not sure how much improvement the braces will be in the fore/aft direction. If you find you'd still like to reduce movement more, then add a 2nd set at the front.
For those that want to use slideout stabilizers, I would never use them until you have eliminated the "bounce" by adding cross-bracing or jack stands.
