Changing tires on flipped triple axle

fj12ryder wrote:

lincster wrote:
I always use the jack to lift at the frame.
Whether it is a bottle or floor.
Jack it up high enough, the middle tire will lift off the ground.

It seems to me that jacking in the middle of the frame at one point is putting one heck of a lot of stress on the frame. And how big of a jack do you use, and how much cribbing do you have to carry to reach the frame? I have a 10-ton long reach(tall) jack that will reach the frame from the ground, but I honestly can't imagine lifting the trailer with it. I tried it once when changing the front jacks and it didn't want to move the trailer much at all. Maybe a 20-ton?

Not slamming, just honestly curious.

No more stress than anything else.
I use a 10 ton floor jack from Harbor Freight and a couple of big chunks of wood. Works just fine.
I carry the wood with me since I need it to jack up the front of my sand rail.
I do this same thing when I do brakes/bearings each year.

I jack the axle tube next to the U bolt on my triaxle GN stock trailer and all my other triaxle GN fladeck trailers I've had in service. All I'm lifting is one end of a axle just enough to change a flat tire or service work. I've jacked axles from 1750 lb on up to 8k lbs.
My old 12t shorty hydraulic truckers special is made for jacking one end of the axle on std spring suspension trailers. The top of the jack has a short leg U channel adapter that fit the axle
Agree with others on jacking both end of the center axle off the ground can flip the spring hangers if its raised high enough.

lincster wrote:
I always use the jack to lift at the frame.
Whether it is a bottle or floor.
Jack it up high enough, the middle tire will lift off the ground.

It seems to me that jacking in the middle of the frame at one point is putting one heck of a lot of stress on the frame. And how big of a jack do you use, and how much cribbing do you have to carry to reach the frame? I have a 10-ton long reach(tall) jack that will reach the frame from the ground, but I honestly can't imagine lifting the trailer with it. I tried it once when changing the front jacks and it didn't want to move the trailer much at all. Maybe a 20-ton?

Not slamming, just honestly curious.

I always use the jack to lift at the frame.
Whether it is a bottle or floor.
Jack it up high enough, the middle tire will lift off the ground.

bighog01 wrote:
I've camped in spots before where the level up lifted one side of my triple axle tires a few inches off the ground in order to level it. No issues afterwards.

On the Heartland owners forum there are numerous posts concerning this issue. https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/66262-Flipped-Shackle-Help?highlight=shackles+flipped

I've camped in spots before where the level up lifted one side of my triple axle tires a few inches off the ground in order to level it. No issues afterwards.

I use a 12 ton bottle jack and jack on the axle between the u bolts. The 12 ton works effortless, with a 2 ton bottle I couldn't even get 1 pump on it.

On a triple axle rig I've heard that lifting all wheels off the ground with the leveling system can cause the shackles to flip and they are a nightmare to get back in position.

Don't put the bottle jack on the axle, put it on the U-bolt.

Rockinfigs wrote:

George3037 wrote:
I use a $30 portable 2 ton floor jack available from Harbor Freight or most any hardware store. I've had a bottle jack kick out too many times due to weight shifting while lifting under a round axle. The floor jack is small and light enough to carry in my storage compartment and feel it is much safer.

Yeah I was leaning towards the floor jack idea because of the reason u mentioned the surface of the bottle jack on the curved axle I don't feel safe. Is the 2 ton jack enough to lift the axle?

A 2-ton bottle jack on the middle axle of a triple axle isn't strong enough to lift the axle without a very large cheater bar, and I wouldn't even try it. I use a 10-ton bottle jack on my triple axle toyhauler and it works very well. I tried a 5-ton before that one, and it struggled to do the job.

And I jack on the U-bolt opposite the plate. No issues so far, but I've only done it a couple times.

Rockinfigs wrote:

firemedic1992 wrote:
Do you have the Lippert auto level feature (6 hydraulic jacks)?
If so I’d lift the trailer with the jacks to change the tire.

Yes I do.. I have the 6 point hydraulic... I also thought about this but I thought I read somewhere not to use it to change tires..

Is the trailer still under warranty?

I’ve done it to change all 4 tires on my toy hauler (upgraded to G rated over E rated).
Find a safe spot.
Trucks E brake on

If the location is not level, eg crown of the roadway, you may need some additional blocks under the jacks.
Trailer stays hooked up
Turn on the LevelUp, and access "manual mode"
Lower all 4 rear jacks until they just bottom out.
Alternate left and right sides to start raising the trailer.

The system will not allow raising out of side to side level more then about 2.5 degrees, that is one of the reasons for alternating.

If you can't get the lift because of the crown, then that is why you need the extra blocks.
On level ground you could expect to raise the tires off the ground Indy "style". That is four jacks all the way down and tires 4-6" off the ground.

I would suggest giving this a try long before you actually need to do it for real. Find an empty parking lot that is level.

As for all the naysayers about how dangerous it is, or catastrophic failures etc, it is no different then using any procedure to try and lift any trailer.
And IMHO, it is a much safer way.

Besides, even if the levelUp were to fail at the time you have the bad tire off, it will still have 3 tires (or 5 with a larger TH) to keep things up right.

I’m sure I’ve read somewhere the system is capable of lifting 30,000 lbs, I’m sure it’s Lipperts way of avoiding any liability if you do it and something goes wrong. Just be safe!