Forum Discussion

Draggo's avatar
Draggo
Explorer
Jun 25, 2018

Adding a 3rd Set of Jacks

Hello,

We recently bought a new travel trailer and I have been thinking about adding a 3rd set of jacks somewhere in the middle of it to help take some of the spring and movement out of it when we are set up.

For anyone that has previously done this, how well did it work? Am I wasting my time and money adding them? Any suggestions or advice?

Thanks,
Mike
  • Huntindog's avatar
    Huntindog
    Explorer
    Jun 26, 2018
    Lakeland Bob wrote:
    What I have found, bearing in mind that I do not have the original jacks, but the higher capacity jacks installed, is I have near "O" flex and bounce.

    My set up procedure is to level the TT front to back using my remote control tongue jack, then following up using the frame jacks to level side to side, starting in the middle on the low side.

    I have found that the jacks tend to settle in the soft ground over time, requiring readjustment.

    Maybe my expectations are different from others. I don't expect rock solid setup, it is a trailer after all.

    I think that the fact that the center jacks are next to the spring hangers, they are lifting the trailer at their optimum location to both lift the trailer for tire changing, which I have had to do on 3 separate occasions, and for leveling w/o causing any more stress than the spring hangers. Then deploying the corner jacks helps to relieve
    the bounce of the overhanging ends.

    After all, the trailer is hanging off the spring hangers when parked and when traveling down the road.
    You are right on the money with what I have done with great success.
    I only installed a pair just forward of the wheels. That worked so well, that I stopped there. On my TT, installing a set behind the axles would be more difficult, and once they were installed, one side would require crawling around on my knees to deploy it. (which is one reason why I don't like Larrys system) The only downside to not having them there for me, is I probably should not use them to change a tire.
    I DO use them pretty aggressively to level the TT side to side. I also did the pressure treated wood on them to make them contact the ground sooner, and to give them a larger footprint for soft ground.

    I think your setup is perfect.
  • myredracer's avatar
    myredracer
    Explorer II
    Jun 26, 2018
    LarryJM wrote:


    The factory installed stabilizer jacks are simply in the wrong locations.
    Larry
    I have to concur with that. From an engineering perspective and ignoring the effect of the tires/suspension and the tongue jack, the optimal location of jack points would be 1/4 of the overall length of the I-beams in from each end. Who knows why they put them where they do???

    The tongue jack should also provide "some" reduction in vertical motion at the front which is even more of a reason not to have stab. jacks so close to the front.

    A person could experiment by using some bottle jacks or stacker jacks at the quarter points and see if you find much of a difference. For heavy duty frames (which most aren't) you may not see much of a difference.

    The big fallacy is calling them "stabilizer" jacks, haha.... :R
  • LarryJM's avatar
    LarryJM
    Explorer II
    Jun 26, 2018
    Lakeland Bob wrote:
    I have gone 1 step further by adding 4 extra jacks to our 31' TT. By placing the jacks as close as possible to the front and rear of the axles we have achieved significant improvement in the stability of the trailer.

    I have found that by tightening up the jack one or two turns past the 1st contact of the jack, and starting in the middle on the slide side, the TT is very firm.

    Additionally, as I installed four 6500 LB jacks on all 8 locations, I can use the middle jacks to lift the trailer to change tires. That's more lifting capacity (13000 lb) than my floor jack that I carry in the truck, and more than the jack furnished to be used to lift my truck for a tire change.

    And as I have already gone this far, I might as well confess that I use my jacks to level the trailer, w/o raising the wheels.

    Here in Florida, we usually only have to take up the flex in the suspension to level the TT. However, on a rare occasion I have lifted the trailer to level it with no apparent ill effects.

    I also have permanently attached 4 x 6 PT wood blocks to the bases of the jacks to speed up the process of setting up.

    Please note that the jacks are heavier capacity than the originals, giving me 26000 lbs of lifting capacity (yes they are lifting jacks) per side, more than enough for my 10000 lb TT.

    And just so as to get it all out in the open, I use an 18v "Ridgid" impact driver to operate the jacks. We never arrive at night, nor leave early in the morning.

    Let the flaming begin.


    You're getting close to what I have found, however, one suggestion is that if you move those 4 extra jacks to about 6' or so away from each axle and use the tongue jack to set them you will get enough support off the suspension to ready make things "ROCK STEADY". The current positions so close to the axles don't allow that and IMO you will never get enought "UPWARD" force with just the jack to achieve the best results. You can then use the factory jacks to keep the frame flex under control and with the tongue jack you will probably find the front factory jacks are providing close to zero support.

    Larry
  • GrandpaKip's avatar
    GrandpaKip
    Explorer II
    Jun 26, 2018
    On a previous camper, I would put a BAL stabilizer between the wheels under the equalizer after leveling and snugging the corner stabilizers. I would then snug up to the suspension and it took every bit of bounce out of the camper. A wood block took care of metal to metal contact.
    The tires on our present camper are closer together, making it very difficult to get it in there.
  • Lakeland_Bob's avatar
    Lakeland_Bob
    Explorer
    Jun 26, 2018
    What I have found, bearing in mind that I do not have the original jacks, but the higher capacity jacks installed, is I have near "O" flex and bounce.

    My set up procedure is to level the TT front to back using my remote control tongue jack, then following up using the frame jacks to level side to side, starting in the middle on the low side.

    I have found that the jacks tend to settle in the soft ground over time, requiring readjustment.

    Maybe my expectations are different from others. I don't expect rock solid setup, it is a trailer after all.

    I think that the fact that the center jacks are next to the spring hangers, they are lifting the trailer at their optimum location to both lift the trailer for tire changing, which I have had to do on 3 separate occasions, and for leveling w/o causing any more stress than the spring hangers. Then deploying the corner jacks helps to relieve
    the bounce of the overhanging ends.

    After all, the trailer is hanging off the spring hangers when parked and when traveling down the road.
  • LarryJM's avatar
    LarryJM
    Explorer II
    Jun 26, 2018
    Lakeland Bob wrote:
    I have gone 1 step further by adding 4 extra jacks to our 31' TT. By placing the jacks as close as possible to the front and rear of the axles we have achieved significant improvement in the stability of the trailer.

    I have found that by tightening up the jack one or two turns past the 1st contact of the jack, and starting in the middle on the slide side, the TT is very firm.

    Additionally, as I installed four 6500 LB jacks on all 8 locations, I can use the middle jacks to lift the trailer to change tires. That's more lifting capacity (13000 lb) than my floor jack that I carry in the truck, and more than the jack furnished to be used to lift my truck for a tire change.

    And as I have already gone this far, I might as well confess that I use my jacks to level the trailer, w/o raising the wheels.

    Here in Florida, we usually only have to take up the flex in the suspension to level the TT. However, on a rare occasion I have lifted the trailer to level it with no apparent ill effects.

    I also have permanently attached 4 x 6 PT wood blocks to the bases of the jacks to speed up the process of setting up.

    Please note that the jacks are heavier capacity than the originals, giving me 26000 lbs of lifting capacity (yes they are lifting jacks) per side, more than enough for my 10000 lb TT.

    And just so as to get it all out in the open, I use an 18v "Ridgid" impact driver to operate the jacks. We never arrive at night, nor leave early in the morning.

    Let the flaming begin.


    You're getting close to what I have found, however, one suggestion is that if you move those 4 extra jacks to about 6' or so away from each axle and use the tongue jack to set them you will get enough support off the suspension to ready make things "ROCK STEADY". The current positions so close to the axles don't allow that and IMO you will never get enought "UPWARD" force with just the jack to achieve the best results. You can then use the factory jacks to keep the frame flex under control and with the tongue jack you will probably find the front factory jacks are providing close to zero support.

    Larry
  • Lakeland_Bob's avatar
    Lakeland_Bob
    Explorer
    Jun 26, 2018
    I have gone 1 step further by adding 4 extra jacks to our 31' TT. By placing the jacks as close as possible to the front and rear of the axles we have achieved significant improvement in the stability of the trailer.

    I have found that by tightening up the jack one or two turns past the 1st contact of the jack, and starting in the middle on the slide side, the TT is very firm.

    Additionally, as I installed four 6500 LB jacks on all 8 locations, I can use the middle jacks to lift the trailer to change tires. That's more lifting capacity (13000 lb) than my floor jack that I carry in the truck, and more than the jack furnished to be used to lift my truck for a tire change.

    And as I have already gone this far, I might as well confess that I use my jacks to level the trailer, w/o raising the wheels.

    Here in Florida, we usually only have to take up the flex in the suspension to level the TT. However, on a rare occasion I have lifted the trailer to level it with no apparent ill effects.

    I also have permanently attached 4 x 6 PT wood blocks to the bases of the jacks to speed up the process of setting up.

    Please note that the jacks are heavier capacity than the originals, giving me 26000 lbs of lifting capacity (yes they are lifting jacks) per side, more than enough for my 10000 lb TT.

    And just so as to get it all out in the open, I use an 18v "Ridgid" impact driver to operate the jacks. We never arrive at night, nor leave early in the morning.

    Let the flaming begin.
  • drsteve's avatar
    drsteve
    Explorer
    Jun 25, 2018
    Using extra blocking under the stabs will make a big difference. The farther they are extended, the more unstable they become.
  • LarryJM's avatar
    LarryJM
    Explorer II
    Jun 25, 2018
    ScottG wrote:
    I don't think the scissor type jacks used on trailers will ever do much for movement no matter if you have 4 or 6. They just don't have any lateral stiffness.
    I wonder if those who have gone to a MH with hyd. levelers have as much movement? I wouldn't think so.


    The factory installed stabilizer jacks are simply in the wrong locations. I had four of the aluminum stack jacks that I kept from my last trailer and with some experimenting I found that if I put them about 6' in front and in back of the axles I didn't even need the factory ones which I removed and don't even have them on my trailer anymore. Now if you have a long trailer say 30' and have a major living area at the rear you might need something at that end, but all I have is a bedroom that is only used to sleep in so there is almost no walking around in the last 8' or so of my trailer.

    I had used these jacks on my previous 26' TT for over 25 years for a rock solid setup so I just felt their use had to help the poor stabilization with what came on our new trailer. As far as the forward/back movement I've never had that since I make sure my little cheapo wheel chocks and well planted against both sides of the wheels on both sides of the trailer (4 chocks total).

    IMHO the secret to stabilizing a trailer is the proper support locations and getting a good pressure on the jacks ... not lifting the trailer, but doing a similiar procedure that even things like the Strong Arm site recommends with their product.

    Those adding a third pair of jacks close to the wheels are 1/2 way to what I consider "THE BEST" solution, but stop short because of the large improvement over what they had is seen. IMO they just don't know how good it can be if they do it all the way.

    Larry
  • myredracer's avatar
    myredracer
    Explorer II
    Jun 25, 2018
    On a 31' TT, they should help.

    You might also consider struts for the stabilizer jacks like BAL Lockarms or JT Strongarms. Some motion you feel can also be side to side. I added the Lockarms on the rear only and they made quite a difference.

    I tried a pair of stacker jacks ahead of the axles and they didn't help at all. As mentioned above, keeping all 6 points tightened sufficiently can be a problem. Ended up getting rid of them on CL.

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