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rolypolyman's avatar
rolypolyman
Explorer
Mar 17, 2017

Help jacking up an older Tioga

Hello all... I have an older RV, a 1982 Ford Tioga, which looks almost identical to the image shown below.

Where is the jacking point on this RV, especially in the rear? I figure this must be in a service manual somewhere, but I have no idea where to even find one for something that old. I'm pretty certain that it shouldn't be jacked up on the axle.

Suggestions appreciated.

  • Any time you jack up an axle, make sure you chock the opposite wheel good both front and back
  • Rear axle at the spring mount. This works for pretty much any medium duty or heavy duty truck. If you want to lift the weight off the springs, you would lift the chassis frame rail, preferably close to a spring mount.

    Front swing arms, on my 2003 chassis there is a round boss on arm near the wheel, but there is a specific jack (we don't get with a motorhome) that cradles the boss. For a bottle jack with a flat top I would lift the bottom surface of the arm close to the location of the boss. Yours is the previous generation, but I think the front suspension was essentially unchanged.
  • I had the same coach, too except full corner rear bed instead of bunks. So yeah, ditto above. On the original chassis frame or the axle under the spring perch.
  • At one time I owned the same coach on a Chevy chassis. Rear axle only with a floor or bottle jack. Definitely not on anything that Fleetwood added.
  • Typically it's the rear axle, at the spring/shock mount area. In the front, at least on the '98 E series, there are a couple of studs on the lower suspension I beams near the wheels that are for jacking. I usually use the beam itself with my bottle jack because the jack head is more secure on the flat beam than on the round stud (which is really intended for the saddle style of jack head that the Ford jack would have had if it came with one).

    The full weight on that side of the axle is always there on the spring mount, so the axle is obviously strong enough at that location to take force. If it were not, it would have failed long ago.
  • I would look at the axle either front or rear depending.
  • With a bottle jack, most likely right under the rear axel or spring area. By the way, nice looking class C!