Jacking up Fifth wheel

I've yet to see any builder say to jack on the axle. Simple CYA, if you told people it was okay, you'd have people jacking their trailer in the middle of the axle, and bending it. And then complain that that was what they were supposed to do.

Print your rules for the simple common denominator.

I have owned Sunline travel trailers and Jayco 5th wheel. Both manufacturers say jack to the frame with jack close to the leaf spring hanger.

I used to use the truck to do the work and pull my 5er onto blocks, about 4" tall, put jack stands under the trailer and use a floor jack under the axle plates to remove the blocks... one wheel at a time. The tires were off the ground in ~8 minutes.
Since then I scored some 6 x 12 pneumatic cylinders out of a scrap pile and I literally blow the 5er up in 2 minutes. Craig

Lot of good info and will be starting in the next week.Pics and update when done.
Thank you to all that contributed there help

GDS-3950BH wrote:
At today's prices those 38, 1 foot pieces of 2×4 used in that one cribbing tower will set you back about $48.97 lol.

The TrailerAid Plus is around $50.

On the axle directly under the spring perch is okay. If you're concerned, use a jack on each axle to share the load. If you have 6-point levelers, you can usually get one side off the ground using the manual function. Yes, I know Lippert says no, but many of us do. It's advisable to use a couple of jackstands under the frame no matter what method you use.

Having owned many non rv trailers in commercial service and doing most of my own R&R/maintenance on their suspensions I kept 3' long cut up RR ties for cribbing under the frame in 4 places. I turned them at angles to eliminate them rolling over. I also used the front landing jacks to stabilize and take most of the weight up front.
I raised the frame till the tires cleared.

Depending on what type of suspension work was to be done I left the tires on or removed them. They can be handy to roll a axle out and back under the trailer.

With the axle hanging I then used a couple of hyd floor jacks under the axle for releasing pressure on the equalizer bar and shackle pins/bolts.

Several ways of doing trailer suspension work....much depends on what tools one has and experience of doing this type of work.

I never worked under a trailer that sat on just jack stands ....thats just me. Others may be comfortable with doing it.

fj12ryder wrote:
Well, you have to support/raise the frame if you're unhooking the suspension. But you also have to jack the wheels up to support them so you can remove the bolts.

Obviously you can't jack up just the wheels, or just the frame. It takes a combination of both to do suspension work.

What I did what the OP is doing , I jacked a wheel up as said , then removed the wheel, placed some stands I made out of 6x6 steel tubing , lowered the the fifth wheel on to that, repeated until I was sitting on all four steel stands . Axles were hanging free to do whatever I needed to do, was not a hard job at all installing the wet bolts ,and axle braces at all three points.

Obviously not everyone has access to that kind of tubing, but there are quality jack stands or like many do use wood.

At today's prices those 38, 1 foot pieces of 2×4 used in that one cribbing tower will set you back about $48.97 lol.

RCMAN46 wrote:
I would not jack on the axles. If you look at the geometry you will see the unbolts only hold the axle in place. Axle tubes are made from very light gauge steel. Jack only on the frame to be safe.

I also recommend having the 5th wheel hitched to your truck which takes a lot of strain off of the landing gear.

Well I have jacked on the tubes, and also the U bolts, never collapsed an axle, they must be only jacked on at the springs!!!
You will need to support the frame, I prefer cribbing to jack stands, although with today's lumber market may be a bit spendy.
I don't hook to TV as is my Get Parts vehicle.

I used 2x4's 12" long, so eight pieces to a 8' 2x4, and 3" of support. I supported just behind the axle, and added jack stands to add extra support at the landing gear.I actually needed to shim the starter coarse of cribbing as our driveway had a slight slope to it.