Jacking up a Fifth Wheel

[TomC1216]

I posted this on another forum, but didn't get much of a response. I have a 2011 Open Range fifth wheel. I just purchased the Morryde wet bolt kit and will be replacing the original tires with GY Endurance as well. As I plan to do this in my driveway, what did others use to support the fifth wheel frame once its jacked high enough to work on? The front of the unit is already 3 feet off the ground! That's a lot of cribbing!
Thanks for the tips and pointers.
Tom

[Allworth]

When I switched out my axles, I used 4x4 fence post cut down to 12 or 18 inch pieces for the cribbing.

[robroy90]

Mbiviano wrote:
I jacked mine up one side at a time. You don't need to get the whole trailer jacked up all at once, but have to get all the weight off the axles to get the bolts swapped out. I also upgraded the suspension to the SRE4000 equalizer with the crossmember if you haven't done/considered that yet. Made a world of difference with bumps and wind and not too costly.

Thanks for this info, I am considering doing this to our 2017 Vilano. How hard of a job was it overall? What tools did you need? I have jack stands for the frame. Did you do the wet bolt kit at the same time you did the SRE4000 and the crossmember? I was given a tip to use a pair of HD Ratchet straps around the Axles to pull them closer together so the SRE units could be put into place easier.

[dadnjesse]

rhagfo wrote:
Well when I put wet bolts and the 1/2" shackles on our 32' Copper Canyon, I made cribbing out of 1' sections of 2X4. I also added extra support at the landing gear as an extra safety measure. I did NOT leave it attached to the TV, and my driveway had a slight slope I needed to shim the low side to be level with the high side.
Once it was full supported on the cribbing, I put a hard shoulder push on a back corner and it didn't budge.

I use 4x4's staggered as you have the 2x4

[Cummins12V98]

You can do most any maintenance with this simple device. I serviced my 07.5 DRW with truck attached. Simple safe method.

Even great for roadside repairs.

[rhagfo]

Veebyes wrote:
rhago, all of those small bits to make up worked but looks highly unstable. Much better to use more substantial wood like 12X12, 6X6 & such.

Well pushed hard sideways at back corner, didn’t budge.
I believe you might consider the the height width ratio and rotation resistance. A 2X4 is twice as wide as it is tall, a 4x4 is as tall as wide easier to roll.
This is the second 5er I did the with both solid as as rock.

[Veebyes]

rhago, all of those small bits to make up worked but looks highly unstable. Much better to use more substantial wood like 12X12, 6X6 & such.

[ford_truck_guy]

I go to a bunch of industrial auctions for work, I picked up a 20 ton pneumatic jack, and 2 10 ton Industrial jack stands..

Now I use my 6 point system to do that work for me...

[ACZL]

I left ours hooked up to the truck, then raised all 4 tires off the ground and added jackstands under frame just like a couple others said. Easier to do bolts w/ tires off and to move axle around to align bolt holes up. Takes some doing, but can be done.

[rhagfo]

Mbiviano wrote:
I jacked mine up one side at a time. You don't need to get the whole trailer jacked up all at once, but have to get all the weight off the axles to get the bolts swapped out. I also upgraded the suspension to the SRE4000 equalizer with the crossmember if you haven't done/considered that yet. Made a world of difference with bumps and wind and not too costly.

I found it easier to get the entire 5er off the ground as I was also installing a Correct Trak system.

[n0arp]

Do you have Level Up or another hydraulic leveling system?

I just use Level Up in manual mode to lift the whole rig off the ground. I put some 12 ton jack stands on blocks under it for additional safety but the actual lifting and most of the support was provided by the rams.

[Mbiviano]

I jacked mine up one side at a time. You don't need to get the whole trailer jacked up all at once, but have to get all the weight off the axles to get the bolts swapped out. I also upgraded the suspension to the SRE4000 equalizer with the crossmember if you haven't done/considered that yet. Made a world of difference with bumps and wind and not too costly.

[rhagfo]

Well when I put wet bolts and the 1/2" shackles on our 32' Copper Canyon, I made cribbing out of 1' sections of 2X4. I also added extra support at the landing gear as an extra safety measure. I did NOT leave it attached to the TV, and my driveway had a slight slope I needed to shim the low side to be level with the high side.
Once it was full supported on the cribbing, I put a hard shoulder push on a back corner and it didn't budge.

[time2roll]

I bought four 12 ton jack stands at Harbor Freight.

Used my floor jack with cribbing to do the lift.

[Veebyes]

Done that. Left it on the truck & lifted the frame aft of the rear axle. Don't forget to loosen lug nuts before wheels come off the ground.

Do the wet bolts one side at a time. You may need to do some creative jacking & wedging to get holes to line up but it gets done.