Landing Pads

[Tony_B]

What do you guys do for landing pads for your landing gear?

2 X 10's or 2 x12's or whatever?

GVW is around 12000 lbs on a 5th wheel.

[JaxDad]

GoPackGo wrote:
I don't use wood. Wood is heavy, supports rot, mold and mildew, absorbs water, dirt, etc. But it does make great camp fires.

I don't know about where you live, but around here the electricity runs through lines along the road, those lines are supported by wooden poles sunk a few feet in the ground.

The fences around here are strung along a series of wooden poles sunk a few feet in the ground too.

Both of those types of posts seem to last a good long number of years, even being buried in the earth 24/7, 365 days a year.

I couldn't imagine using jack pads long enough to equal that durability, even though my jack pads sit up on the surface, not buried down in the earth.

As for heavy, my coach weighs about 20k pounds, the jack pads weigh less than 10 pounds each, I have 6 of them so I can double up when needed on 2 low points. So maybe 50 or 60 pounds.

Gas weighs about 6.3 pounds per gallon. Water weighs about 8.3 pounds per gallon.

I'm pretty sure in the grander scheme of things, my jack pads, 9.5 gallons of gas, or 7.2 gallons of water isn't going to be noticeable regardless.

But to each their own.

[djgodden]

Plastic pads, work great and don't weigh much.

[GoPackGo]

I don't use wood. Wood is heavy, supports rot, mold and mildew, absorbs water, dirt, etc. But it does make great camp fires.

I have a set of large plastic pads - I think they are over 12 inches wide. I also have 2 sets of Lynx pads. The idea is to spread the load over a wide area and also to not extend my landing gear or auto-levelers very much - Seems to make things more stable. When I pick up the pads I smack them against a tire and any dirt just shakes off. And they are lighter and take up less room then wood.

[Goostoff]

Mine are 6X8 X18" long guard rail treated posts. A few years ago they resurfaced the highway past where I work and added a bunch of new guard Rails. When they drove all the posts they had to cut the tops off all of them to get the right height and just left them lay there for anyone to claim. We had firewood fore the whole summer and I saved a bunch for blocks like these.

[Hammerboy]

Trackrig wrote:

Fizz wrote:

K Charles wrote:
The jacks come with a pad on the bottom and are made to go on the ground.

Try that on soft wet turf where the jack digs in and still doesn't support.

Also try the factory pads on your hot asphalt driveway without larger pads..............

Bill

I'll use them on asphalt also not to mention many parks require them. Kind of reminds me many moons ago when I was a teenager with my first motorcycle, I quickly learned that putting the kickstand down on hot asphalt is not a good idea. Don't ask me how I know 😉

[lazyboy]

Poly cutting boards. They have served me well.

[Trackrig]

Fizz wrote:

K Charles wrote:
The jacks come with a pad on the bottom and are made to go on the ground.

Try that on soft wet turf where the jack digs in and still doesn't support.

Also try the factory pads on your hot asphalt driveway without larger pads..............

Bill

[Fizz]

K Charles wrote:
The jacks come with a pad on the bottom and are made to go on the ground.

Try that on soft wet turf where the jack digs in and still doesn't support.

[bikendan]

I use my Lynx Levelers with the caps on them.
Light and easy to clean.

[K_Charles]

The jacks come with a pad on the bottom and are made to go on the ground.

[ncrowley]

I use the Outdoors for Life jack pads. They have a nice case to store them in and come with handles that make it easy to put them in place and put them away. I have been using them for almost 5 years and they are still in great condition and have worked well for us.

[Fizz]

Same here, pressure treated plywood, 12x12.

[Trackrig]

For soft ground I made my own out of several layers of green 3/4" pressuretreated plywood glued together with Gorilla glue. They're 16" x 16". Have used them for five years and they're still fine.

Bill

[Second_Chance]

Either nothing or, if the site is very unlevel front-to-back, some of the orange "Legos" from Walmart. The large steel plates used at the bottom of the landing gear are made to interface with the ground.

Rob