Service, landing gear down, or while still hooked to truck?

[MFL]

In the past, I normally stay connected to my truck, when raising the axle slightly, to adjust brakes, or do bearing work. My thinking was less stress to the frame and landing gear.

I am going to do some servicing over several days, and would like others thoughts about raising axles, one side at a time, just enough to remove wheels, with the landing gear down. Have I been overly cautious in the past, or do you think this may stress landing gear and frame?

Appreciate others opinions,

Jerry

[MFL]

Braces wrote:
If you add 2" to the inside of the wheel well you might face the possibility of the tires hitting the wheel well on some of our nice, smooth, no bump roads. Happened to me when I went up a little on tire size and hit a really rough road section.

You are correct...taking away 2"s of clearance in the well, would not work in most cases. I will be replacing, not adding. My FW is designed with a 6 sided 2.5" square tube aluminum cage. I will slice the Darco wrap that covers bottom of tubing, remove existing fiber insulation, replace with above mentioned, glue Darco back to solid insulation. I will be adding 4mm thick coroplast over the fix. I will still have nearly 3"s of tire to WW clearance as 4mm (a long 1/8 inch) is all that will be added.

My question/concern was raising the axles to remove tires, with the landing gear down, not connected to truck, causing stress.

Jerry

[Braces]

If you add 2" to the inside of the wheel well you might face the possibility of the tires hitting the wheel well on some of our nice, smooth, no bump roads. Happened to me when I went up a little on tire size and hit a really rough road section.

[MFL]

Nope, I bought as big a FW as I could, to keep at home 31' OAL. This allows 4"s from garage eve, and pin box right at edge of public sidewalk. I put my MC trailer tongue under FW, and other end under pin box, so no one can possibly hit their head.

Truck connected...across side walk, apron, and in street. I may want to remove both wheels, same side, for best access.

If I leave truck connected, it would be at a shop a couple miles away, so not so handy.

Jerry

[Cummins12V98]

You just don’t have room to leave truck attached?

[MFL]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Jerry this item works wonders!!! I have done maintenance and road side repair with this wonder.

TrailerAid Plus

Yes Ron, those work great for a lot of uses. I like my trailer aid plus, especially for brake adjustment, as then there's nothing in the way to use brake tool. I've used it once in an emergency road side issue. Nothing quicker, to get her done, on a busy interstate.

Just not going to work, if I do it at home, truck unhooked.

Jerry

[MFL]

garyp4951 wrote:

MFL wrote:
Thanks for the replies! I plan to rebuild my wheel wells to make them more water proof. I try to avoid towing in the rain, as the nylon Darco covering has a few holes, with fiber insulation above, and then floor above that. I plan to use 2" extruded closed cell foam insulation, a layer of foil faced bubble water proof insulation, and cover all with 4mm coroplast.

This project will take a while, as I have other daily obligations that take me off the job. It would be nice to not tie up the truck, being connected for 3-5 days, but seems others feel like me...best to leave connected, landing gear up.

Any other thoughts/replies appreciated,

Jerry

Jerry, I have to do the same thing, my new FW just has the black tarp looking material in the wheel wells, what a stupid thing for manufacturers to do.
I'm thinking of using the pvc material sheets at Lowes for bathrooms on mine.

Yes Gary, while that Darco actually is pretty rugged, a rock, stick, or flying road debris will cause a puncture. Wouldn't matter so much, but with fiber insulation above, getting wet, could lead to flooring issue.

Jerry

[Cummins12V98]

Jerry this item works wonders!!! I have done maintenance and road side repair with this wonder.

TrailerAid Plus

[garyp4951]

MFL wrote:
Thanks for the replies! I plan to rebuild my wheel wells to make them more water proof. I try to avoid towing in the rain, as the nylon Darco covering has a few holes, with fiber insulation above, and then floor above that. I plan to use 2" extruded closed cell foam insulation, a layer of foil faced bubble water proof insulation, and cover all with 4mm coroplast.

This project will take a while, as I have other daily obligations that take me off the job. It would be nice to not tie up the truck, being connected for 3-5 days, but seems others feel like me...best to leave connected, landing gear up.

Any other thoughts/replies appreciated,

Jerry

Jerry, I have to do the same thing, my new FW just has the black tarp looking material in the wheel wells, what a stupid thing for manufacturers to do.
I'm thinking of using the pvc material sheets at Lowes for bathrooms on mine.

[FlatBroke]

I got 48 hours to service my trailer in front of my house. Code says it Must NOT be unhooked.

[MFL]

Thanks for the added thoughts and opinions! I think I'll try it disconnected, as I'll only need to raise the axle about two inches to remove tire/wheel, while doing one side. I'll use my 8" high wood blocks under landing gear, so I won't need to use much of the landing leg extensions.

I jack under a U-bolt, using a hardwood 2x4 that is cut out, to just fit one of the U-bolts. I have a rubber padded jack stand to put under the axle tube near axle end. My axles are 5200 lb, and seem robust.

Jerry

[JIMNLIN]

I never leave the truck hooked to the trailer while I'm working on it.

While doing brake work or just changing a flat while my rv trailer....bumper pull trailers....stock trailers....GN equipment trailers....cargo trailers sits on the concrete pad in front of my garage I use a hyd floor jack under the axle tube next to the U bolt on a std leaf suspension and lift just enough to remove the wheel. Nothing gets stressed...bent...crushed....twisted by doing so.

Out on the road or sitting in a campsite I use my trusty old 12T shorty hyd jack 1978 Trucker Special with a 10" X 10" base in place of the floor jack doing the same.

[Tom_Cooper]

This is a rather sensitive topic. It seems to be doing everything right, but the jack once bent the chassis to me. It was very disappointing

[ksbowman]

I'm with Old-biscuits thought. I changed axles with the landing gear and jacks with jack stand supporting the weight. Very stable and I had mine up several days.

[azdryheat]

When I work on my trailer, when needed, I put all 6 jacks down to raise the tires off the ground. Did that today as I'm changing the suspension from Equa-Flex to E-Z Flex. I still use jack stands under the axles to be safe.