Are stabilizers advised while the TT is just sitting?

[ECones]

We pulled our 24' travel trailer in this morning and did not bother to level. Nothing will be turned on until we leave again in a couple of weeks. I just parked and chocked the trailer and unhitched from the truck.

The slide is not extended.

The ground it's sitting on is not particularly level. Would it be advisable to lower the stabilizers for it just to sit there for a couple of weeks?

Thx

[elidodge1]

I put mine down,the springs will hold their arch much longer

[AH64ID]

I always store with the jacks down.

The more places that support the frame overtime the better. The frames are a solid I-beam frame, they can take the load anywhere.

The stabilizer jacks I have, current and previous TT, are rated to support 5,000lbs which is more than that corner will have. They are not designed to lift, but if a load is lowered onto them then they are fine.

With one flat the axle will rotate and the side won't drop on a tandem axle trailer. If there are two flats then you could change the weight on the frame but it shouldn't hurt anything. I check on my trailer often enough, every few weeks at most, to know if there is a slow leak.

To each their own.

[Nvr2loud]

BossCamper wrote:

ashnic wrote:
I put ours in storage about 1/2 hr. away inside a large barn. I have been told never to store with the jacks extended. If a tire happens to go down during the winter the stablizer jack will be forced to hold the weight which they are not made to do..just my 2 cents..

I'll add 2 cents to that!

And depending on the placement of the jacks.... the frame could see tremendous force applied in the wrong places.

[BossCamper]

ashnic wrote:
I put ours in storage about 1/2 hr. away inside a large barn. I have been told never to store with the jacks extended. If a tire happens to go down during the winter the stablizer jack will be forced to hold the weight which they are not made to do..just my 2 cents..

I'll add 2 cents to that!

[Ron3rd]

Never bother dropping the stabs when the TT is parked next to the house.

[rbpru]

When the trailer is sitting empty we do not need the jacks.

However we do use the jacks even if we are hitched up over night for an early start. We use them when it is sitting ar home and we are in and out of it. Since it seems I am always tinkering with it the jacks are down most of the time.

For winter storage there is no reason the have the jacks down on a well chocked trailer, but I do anyway. It is like chicken soup, it does not hurt anything.:)

[brownieab]

Do your tire lose air ?? If they do and your jacks are down, your frame will slowly take more of the weight on the 4 corners. That's not where it's designed to be weight bearing. Leave the jack in the retracted position and let the wheels support the load as designed.

[pappcam]

DutchmenSport wrote:
We park our TT at home in the driveway. My jacks are down all the time. The drive is pretty level, slight down hill slope. Why do I keep the jacks down all the time when parked at home?

Wind. I have the camper parked facing West (front) to East (rear). We get very strong winds from the West to East, so the trailer is parked facing the wind 99% of the time. With the jacks down, it makes it even more difficult for movement. The strongest wind we've had in the last couple years has been 45 mph. That might not be enough to move the camper head on, but the previous house we lived in, the trailer did move in the wind because I did not have the jacks down. Tongue jack almost slipped off the block. If it would have fallen, it would have sunk the tongue jack into the gravel, probably all the way to the A-frame. So, with extra contact points on the ground (5 of them that do not roll), the odds of wind moving the camper are minimized.

Second, we use the camper a lot in the drive way. It's another bed room, a get-away, a home office (as my router wifi from the house reaches outside just fine and I do a lot of work from home), and it's just a nice get away sometimes to watch the television or listen to music.

Third, as I live in the country and am gone a lot, it gives me a little more comfort knowing if the jacks are down, it makes it a little more difficult for someone to just drive in, hitch up and take off with the camper. (Theft). With jacks down, they'd have to take an extra minute to get them raised up to hitch. That extra minute might be just the deterrent to prevent theft.

Fourth, it just makes me feel better.

FYI, when the weather predicts those high winds, I'll often lower the nose facing the West.





I also always put the jacks down with my previous trailer too:

You don't chock the wheels?? :h

[Nvr2loud]

I don't use them when the trailer is long-term stored, but for a different reason then other people have listed...

We get A LOT of carpenter ants in our area, always looking for a good place to build a nest. I spray the wheels once per week and the tongue jack once per week to kill any ants that travel up / down those access points. If I lowered all my stabilizers (9 total) I would have a lot more spraying to do. I even spray the electrical cord when it is connected, it acts just like an ant highway right to the trailer.

I might be paranoid, but my pristine 1970 TravelAire 18 foot TT, developed an ant problem between October 2011 and when I opened it again in April 2012... that trailer was Destroyed by the ants. Now it is simply a flat bed trailer for my ATV's.

[ashnic]

I put ours in storage about 1/2 hr. away inside a large barn. I have been told never to store with the jacks extended. If a tire happens to go down during the winter the stablizer jack will be forced to hold the weight which they are not made to do..just my 2 cents..

[jaycocreek]

I'm always level with jacks down. Taking the weight off the front tongue jack is never a bad thing. I'm always using my trailer for something when at home so I set it up accordingly.

It makes a great reloading or getaway room with all the amnesties.

[fallsrider]

Right or wrong, I do not put the stabs down and I don't worry about being level as long as the frig is not on. I park nose down.

[ChooChooMan74]

Many years ago, an old time RV shop owner once told me to try and keep it level as much as possible. His reasoning is that everything is built to level, and when unlevel, gravity will be working against you. (Something like that, it was 20+ years ago) Not sure about the accuracy of what he said, but I respected the man and still try and keep the unit pretty level while parked.

[spoon059]

DutchmenSport wrote:

Wind. I have the camper parked facing West (front) to East (rear). We get very strong winds from the West to East, so the trailer is parked facing the wind 99% of the time. With the jacks down, it makes it even more difficult for movement.

If you chock the wheels correctly, it shouldn't allow them to roll, which would prevent your camper from twisting, which would prevent your tongue jack from slipping off the blocking. Without chocking your wheels to prevent rolling, you are potentially transferring that lateral movement to your stab jacks. Your stab jacks aren't really meant to handle lateral movement... which is why you chock your wheels when you get to your campground.