jack pads

[down_home]

We are here in the Mohave. It almost sees the sand is quick sand.
I have some large sections of 2"x12" for jacl pads but haven't put them under the jacks. Figured the sand etc was good enough.
We hada lot of rain last night and the jacks sunk more than usual.
Several RV Dealers around but all they have are those orange waffle like pads with solid on one side. Totally inadequate and have destroyed a couple sets of them over the years. Still have four in the compartment, for some reason.
I don't feel like driving hundreds of miles knowing I'm not going to find any better.
Cutting boards seems reasonable idea if I can find some thick enough.
38,000 lbs. Anyone found some really substantial tough not brittle plastic cutting boars at a Dollar store, Wal Mart or some place like that or any optionsat home Depot etc???

[Cummins12V98]

1-1/8" thick plywood will do the job!!!

[jplante4]

I used some composite fascia board left over from a deck project. Cut them to 12X12 and tripled them up.

At Ho D

[dave54]

We have 4 sets of plastic blocks. Never bought one of them. 2 were freebies from the dealer when we bought new rigs. One was a door prize at a RV show, and one was a gift.
I stopped carrying wooden blocks and now just use the plastic, with 12x18 plywood on the bottom in soft soil. The wooden blocks soak up water and get heavier.
If the plastic gets muddy, it's easy to wash them off and they don't get heavier. Plus being interlocking they are more secure.

[cummins2014]

time2roll wrote:

down home wrote:
The 2x12s will break on this soil. Work fine on hard surface though. The plastic orange ones will simply bend and sink,which won't help any. Found some made by dica. 18 inch 11/2 inch thick unbreakable, 70.00 each anywhere so far on the internet. Really don't want to spend that much but....
AND no this is not a commercial for them. No experience with them.

Can they be doubled up with second layer rotated 90 degrees? Tripled?

Only way to go, , although I used four 2x6's pressure treated , two side by side slight gap, then two rotated 90 degrees screwed together , with a strap connected to them to carry etc. Best pads so far . I found anything much bigger then 2x6 single layer will break unless on a hard flat surface.

[down_home]

time2roll wrote:

down home wrote:
The 2x12s will break on this soil. Work fine on hard surface though. The plastic orange ones will simply bend and sink,which won't help any. Found some made by dica. 18 inch 11/2 inch thick unbreakable, 70.00 each anywhere so far on the internet. Really don't want to spend that much but....
AND no this is not a commercial for them. No experience with them.

Can they be doubled up with second layer rotated 90 degrees? Tripled?

Probably could but I'm not at home. Cutting multiple pieces of treated 1" plywood and gluing and screwing three pieces together I'm pretty sure would work especially if I could find plywood laminated out of oak not jut the last venner. I haven't seen any in years but understand it would break the bank. If the handle factory is still running I might be able to talk them out of some hickory pieces to put between the plywood. That stuff is so hard it ruins bits and blades.

[mikestock]

I have used the same blocks for years. They are made up of 2 4x4's sandwiched between 3/4" plywood squares. Remember that plywood is stronger with the grain turned 90 degrees from the 4x4's. I have been in situations where the ground is unstable and the blocks press into the soil, to a certain degree. The jacks may have to be adjusted to compensate after a day or two.

[Gjac]

I made mine from a nylon bathroom divider that my local YMCA was throwing out when they remodeled the men's room. They were about 1.25 in thick so I cut 12"x 12" for the jacks and 12"x 24" to go under the tires. Still use them 15 years later. Also made some for home use from 2 layers of 3/4 in oak pallet wood where the second layer was 90 Degrees to the first. The pad is much stronger when the fibers of the wood are 0-90 to each other and won't crack. Screwed together and painted to keep them from rotting too quickly.

[time2roll]

down home wrote:
The 2x12s will break on this soil. Work fine on hard surface though. The plastic orange ones will simply bend and sink,which won't help any. Found some made by dica. 18 inch 11/2 inch thick unbreakable, 70.00 each anywhere so far on the internet. Really don't want to spend that much but....
AND no this is not a commercial for them. No experience with them.

Can they be doubled up with second layer rotated 90 degrees? Tripled?

[STBRetired]

I took a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4 CDX plywood and cut it into 18 16" x 16" squares. Glued ans stapled them together in pairs with a piece of old ratchet strap sandwiched in between to make a handle. Gave me 9 16" x 16" X 1.5" pads. My rig is only 22K so no issue at all. I loaned some to a friend whose rig weight out at about 34 and he had no issue with them either. Had them sink in a field when we got 2 days of rain but handle made them easy to pull out. Painted then with Rustoleum paint.

[CFerguson]

I use the engineered composite plastic decking boards- thickest ones I can find. If you need the wider than you can find, place them side by side and then stack the next layer 90degrees to the previous one.

[Hammerboy]

Veebyes wrote:

Hammerboy wrote:
I use these for our fifth and come in many sizes
Footing Pads

Dan

I don't doubt the effectiveness of those things but one can buy a whole pile of damaged but perfectly suitable wood for the price of those.

That may be but they are a lot cheaper than Snap Pads. I have mine permanently fixed.

Dan

[Grit_dog]

Then use plywood if 2x12s won't work for you. Not rocket surgery.

[Veebyes]

Hammerboy wrote:
I use these for our fifth and come in many sizes
Footing Pads

Dan

I don't doubt the effectiveness of those things but one can buy a whole pile of damaged but perfectly suitable wood for the price of those.

[Hammerboy]

I use these for our fifth and come in many sizes
Footing Pads

Dan