Andersen Rapid Jack review

[Durb]

I bought this a year ago and just threw it in the front storage. My friend brought his small toy hauler over as we had to remove a tire and I brought out the Rapid Jack. His 15" tire rolled up the jack fine but even at the highest setting it would not lift the other tire off the ground. He did have a rather long center equalizer that probably helped prevent the lift.

I pulled the fifth wheel out today to ready it for a trip and decided to give the Rapid Jack a shot. I put it in front of the front wheel and it just skidded in front of tire grinding off the bottom of the jack and leaving a red skid mark on the level asphalt. I cut a sharper approach angle on the jack and was able to back up on it with the rear tire but it still skid when using on the front tire. Off to Home Depot where I bought some adhesive stair tread material which I installed on the Rapid Jack. This solved the problem and they now work forwards and backwards. My rig has independent suspension and half way up the jack lifts the other tire 1" off the ground. The 5er has 16" wheels.

I figured a company like Andersen would product test this item better before releasing it. I would not have been a happy camper having it skidding around on the shoulder of a freeway with a flat tire. They need to put a stickier material on the bottom of these than the slick plastic it is moulded from. When it worked it was a fast and easy way to raise a wheel.

[DWolfrom]

I don't have a need for a rapid jack, but I did just buy a set of Andersen levelers and they arrived the other day with thin rubber mats to place under the levelers.

[pianotuna]

Hi northmeck0255,

They are rated for 24,000 pounds. Mine broke under less than 1/7th of that number.

[northmeck0255]

It may only be a problem for heavier rigs. They work great on our Airstream.

[minnow]

I'm beginning to think that darn near all of Andersen's products are a work in progress and everyone that's bought something from them are de-facto members of the field product testing team.

[pianotuna]

WTP-GC,

Consider what might happen with the Anderson Jack if it had broken as my levelers did. I don't think that is off topic at all. I should have perhaps been clearer, and provided more information in my original post to the thread.

Initially I thought the levelers were the cat's meow, but being cautious I kept my boards in storage.

I was inside when the RV when the first one failed--It make a heck of a noise. Because the one that failed was on the inside dual I did not find out until I moved the RV. The second failure happened when I was asleep--and it woke me up.

The levelers were narrower than the width of my tires and when at their height limit pressed sharply into the tires. They tend to slide if the ground is wet.

I know of 3 other rv'ers who have had leveler failures. The product looks great but doesn't perform flawlessly. In one case the user has had several replacements and even some replacements for those replacements.

I was in one situation where I had to add boards beneath the Anderson Levelers, because they did not raise the RV enough.

The bottom line is I would not trust the Anderson Jack to not fail.

[WTP-GC]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

I had anderson levelers. I abandoned them rather quickly and went back to using 2 x 8 boards.

And within one page, this thread is totally off track.

[pianotuna]

tvman44,

two of mine broke within the first month.

[tvman44]

I like my Anderson levelers.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

I had anderson levelers. I abandoned them rather quickly and went back to using 2 x 8 boards.

[Cummins12V98]

THIS works great even on a HEAVY RV.

[NMDriver]

Most of my tire changes have been on two lane no shoulder roads. I do not have a Rapid Jack but it sounds like it would be almost useless and not very rapid if your tire was off the shoulder in soft ground. I will stick with my bottle jack and a 2x6 or two.

[Durb]

SoundGuy wrote:

Durb wrote:
I figured a company like Andersen would product test this item better before releasing it. I would not have been a happy camper having it skidding around on the shoulder of a freeway with a flat tire. They need to put a stickier material on the bottom of these than the slick plastic it is moulded from. When it worked it was a fast and easy way to raise a wheel.

IIRC the Rapid Jack comes with a rubber pad ... spare pads can also be purchased separately, Part #3674.

Thanks. Good to see Andersen reacted. I wish mine had come with one. The odd thing is I use the Andersen levelers and they don't slide around at all.

[SoundGuy]

Durb wrote:
I figured a company like Andersen would product test this item better before releasing it. I would not have been a happy camper having it skidding around on the shoulder of a freeway with a flat tire. They need to put a stickier material on the bottom of these than the slick plastic it is moulded from. When it worked it was a fast and easy way to raise a wheel.

IIRC the Rapid Jack comes with a rubber pad ... spare pads can also be purchased separately, Part #3674.