Lifting fifth wheel

Puddles wrote:

goducks10 wrote:
"I would leave a 5th wheel hitched to the truck to help with lateral and longitudinal stability."

x2

X3... if you lift one side at a time, you put extreme pressure on opposite landing leg..

Well I used the truck to run for parts, so it was parked to the side!

I have had mine off the ground for various reasons numerous time, including installing Correct Track & wet bolts.

Prefer to leave the trailer on the truck. Lifted with a 12 ton jack then blocked it using a very large block as a base aft of the rear wheel. Removed wheels & used bottle jack & jack stands to have precise control & support axles one side at a time. Could have lifted the whole thing, only supporting the front with the truck if I had wanted to.

Looked at the cribbing rhagfo used. Uh...no, too unstable for me. I do my refits in a boatyard so sizeable lumber is available.

2 hydraulics bottle jacks
2 screw type house jacks
1 floor jack to support the axle.
Several 6x6 timbers

Lowered the front landing legs all the way
Hydraulic jacks behind the rear axle to a slight load
Raise the landing gear
House jacks forward of the front axle.
Raise the hydraulic jacks and landing gear till tires are clear. Adjust the house jacks to keep pace.
Install the 6x6's for safety.

The shackle bolts are easier to line up with both tires off the ground.

I stored mine off the ground for several yrs to see if it would help the ST tire life... which it didn't. I backed the 5er onto blocks that I cut in two pieces, between the axles, put the jack stands under the frame behind the rear axle and then raised one wheel at a time with a floor jack and remove the blocks. I had the wheels off the ground in < 10 minutes and the truck and blocks did the hardest work of raising the entire 5er. The front legs did fine to support the front end. Craig

goducks10 wrote:
"I would leave a 5th wheel hitched to the truck to help with lateral and longitudinal stability."

x2

X3... if you lift one side at a time, you put extreme pressure on opposite landing leg..

RCMAN46 wrote:
I use 12 ton jack stands.

Two reasons. They have a wider footprint and are taller not requiring cribbing under the stands.

The wood cribbing as tall as required I would be concerned with lateral and longitudinal stability.

I would leave a 5th wheel hitched to the truck to help with lateral and longitudinal stability.

Well with the 12" long 2X4 cribbing, didn't move when I put a shoulder to the back of the 5er and pushed hard. I will trust the cribbing anytime. Like the OP stated in a reply, a bunch of cheap 2X4's once used you can burn in the fire pit. :)

In addition, as mentioned in my first reply, that section of the driveway is not level, I simply shimmed the first layers of cribbing to make the stacks vertical.

Good ideas, one and all! Thanx!

"I would leave a 5th wheel hitched to the truck to help with lateral and longitudinal stability."

x2

I use 12 ton jack stands.

Two reasons. They have a wider footprint and are taller not requiring cribbing under the stands.

The wood cribbing as tall as required I would be concerned with lateral and longitudinal stability.

I would leave a 5th wheel hitched to the truck to help with lateral and longitudinal stability.

I changed out both of my axles and I jacked and cribbed both in front and behind the shackles. I hooked up the truck and used the front electric jacks as stabilizers only and was very pleased with everything. With out being hooked to the truck I was worried about putting too much side (front to rear ) pressure of the front electric jacks.