Raising a 5th wheel without a jack

Cummins12V98 wrote:
You will get the sky is falling comments soon on the TrailerAid. They will say you are putting too much strain on the tire on the TrailerAid or the springs. I always say you never have driven over a curb?

It is a great tool for maintenance or road side repair as seen in this pic. That was over two years ago and the tire and springs are just fine.

I wish I could say that I saw this BEFORE I gave away mine ? Had one , got the IS installed , tried it , gave it to my B-I-L.. :S I may have to go and reclaim it !!

^^ I agree.

I was just saying I wouldn't dig a hole to fit a jack under a flat. If you do that with some jacks you may find you run out of jack before the axle is high enough to fit the spare. I suppose at that point they could dig a hole to fit the spare too. ;)

Sport45 wrote:

larry barnhart wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

laknox wrote:
For less than the price of a Trailer Aid, I bought a 6 ton, low-profile, bottle jack that stays in my FW. I jack between the u-bolts and don't have a problem.

Lyle

Will it fit between the ground and the bottom of your axle with the tire flat?

The terrain is not always flat asphalt when a flat occurs that is another positive to the TrailerAid.

guess you forgot how to dig!!!!

chevman

Running the flat tire up on a block to raise the axle is much easier than digging.

Easiest/safest way to go!

larry barnhart wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

laknox wrote:
For less than the price of a Trailer Aid, I bought a 6 ton, low-profile, bottle jack that stays in my FW. I jack between the u-bolts and don't have a problem.

Lyle

Will it fit between the ground and the bottom of your axle with the tire flat?

The terrain is not always flat asphalt when a flat occurs that is another positive to the TrailerAid.

guess you forgot how to dig!!!!

chevman

Running the flat tire up on a block to raise the axle is much easier than digging.

Well I figured out a way that worked well for me to repack the bearings on my 5th wheel. I took a combination of advice from several posters and this is what I did.

I used my Anderson Rapid Jack (trailer-aid type device) and drove one wheel up on it about 1/4 of the way. I loosened the lugs on the other wheel and took my bottle jack and placed it on the axle between the u-bolt just inside the hub and raised the wheel just enough to take the tire off the ground.

Doing it this way distributed the weight to both axles rather than putting all the weight on one wheel.

If I had a flat tire I would do it the same way.....it was easy and I didn't have to worry about the trailer falling.

I also want to share my experience with repacking the bearings.
I found that all four wheels had grease get past the seals.
This was alarming to me because my trailer is brand new with less than 1000 miles on it. We only used it last summer for a few short camping trips.

The point here is to say......DO NOT assume everything is all good because it's new.

My trailer has easy-lube axles but I have never pumped grease into them and NEVER will.
I don't know what happened but I expect the manufacturer or local dealer decided to use the easy-lube and pumped too much grease and blew the seals.

This is why I will always do my own maintenance if at all possible and when I can't I will be watching them closely.
It's really disturbing that a lot people have the I don't give a******attitude when it comes to working on someone else's equipment.

My next project will be raising the pin box a notch. Thanks to the great advice I received on this forum.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my questions.

Tony

In my opinion the Trailer Aid is safer than using a bottle jack. The trailer is less likely to slide off a Trailer Aid than a bottle jack. I’ve changed tires on the side off the road and feel safer using my Trailer Aid. As far as repacking bearings-its only one wheel at a time. But if you have more time than MONEY, why not.

Happy Camping

avvidclif1 wrote:
I think they are referring to the axles that are UNDER the spring and jacking directly on the tube itself, between the ubolts. A 12,000 jack with a 1" diameter head can put a lot of pressure on an axle tube with the very limited contact area of a flat surface against a round tube. Depends on what is above the axle weight-wise.

A lot of people buy/build a slip-on saddle for their bottle jacks, but if an axle tube that's supporting only about 2,000 lbs (on my FW) dents if I'm jacking between the u-bolts, I'd have =serious= reservations about the whole axle.

Lyle

I think they are referring to the axles that are UNDER the spring and jacking directly on the tube itself, between the ubolts. A 12,000 jack with a 1" diameter head can put a lot of pressure on an axle tube with the very limited contact area of a flat surface against a round tube. Depends on what is above the axle weight-wise.

pyoung47 wrote:
I'm not sure there is a good way. I believe there is a caveat against jacking on the axle tube since it may collapse. Jacking on the frame is sometimes tough if you are not on concrete. I roll one wheel onto three 2 x 8's. The patented device appears a bit precarious to me. I always hook to the truck for stability.

Not collapsing the tube, but bending it if you jack too close to the center, which some not-so-common-sense-types have done. To me, if the spring perch is strong enough to support the springs, it's strong enough to support the jack.

Lyle

fj12ryder wrote:

jerem0621 wrote:
Looks like a good design. I have personally been considering the Andersen Rapid Jack. One advantage the Rapid Jack gives is the ability to chock the tire that's in the air. Just another safety item in my mind. The rapid Jack should be fairly easy to use alone too.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Be aware that a couple people have posted that their Anderson Rapid Jack broke when used. Sounds like there could be a slight design problem, or the material was too brittle.

Thanks for the heads up!