I have a 2012 Wildwood 26tbss. It came with Lippert Electic Stabilizers. I an wondering is it better to extend them down as far as possible or block them up and keep them as close to the frame as possible for better stabilization of the trailer

I would block to make the stabilizer a bit shorter.

bigbird337 wrote:I have a 2012 Wildwood 26tbss. It came with Lippert Electic Stabilizers. I an wondering is it better to extend them down as far as possible or block them up and keep them as close to the frame as possible for better stabilization of the trailerI have the same stabilizers - looks like a big arm. It is best to extend them as far as possible because the closer to vertical they are the more effective the vertical support.

I don't think it makes a big difference. I do put some boards down, but mainly just to spread the load in soft ground. Now the other style jacks definantly need to be kept as short as possible.

I have the same ones. I have found that they provide better stabilizing with less number of blocks under them. I only use one piece of 2x6 under each. The more blocks, the more longitudinal dynamic stress (or bending) that can lead to more movement; at least that's my theory from an engineering perspective. :E

Electric stabilizers | Good Sam Community

Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 07, 2014
facory wrote:
Really? How often does one run into all of the variables you have just described? Would be a very strange site to have mud, rocky soil, sand and dirt all crammed into one site. Would be a place on earth yet to be explored. But hey, if it works for you, great.

You need to get out more.:)
facory
Explorer
Jul 07, 2014
Really? How often does one run into all of the variables you have just described? Would be a very strange site to have mud, rocky soil, sand and dirt all crammed into one site. Would be a place on earth yet to be explored. But hey, if it works for you, great.
Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 07, 2014
facory wrote:
If you're racking the frame you don't know how to use them.
You are wrong.
Boondocking brings a different set of problems to a process that is problematic at best...

Did you even read, or better yet comprehend the problem of ground settling?

Here is the first problem. One jack may be on rocky soil, another on sand, one on dirt, and another on mud. You get that all worked out then the weather changes. It could rain, causing the dirt to become mud. Or maybe setup was done when the ground was frozen, then it warms up. The side with the most sun will get soft first.

Then there is the lack of levelness of the site. This will cause the stabilizers to have different lengths... Blocks of wood MAY help in this situation to a degree. But the different lengths will mean that the shorter stabilizer has a higher effective gear ratio than the taller ones. This means that just giving each one a single turn or half turn etc. WILL result in uneven pressure. So will using a torque measuring device such as the clutch on a cordless drill, or even a torque wrench... It boils down to trial and error.
Some TTs depending on the design may not show any visible signs of the frame racking such as sticking doors,,, but the frame is STILL racked. Others such as the one I had will let you know imediatly if it is racked even the smallest amount.

People who camp in campgrounds will have a much easier time with this. Many times they have a pad. Concrete, asphalt, gravel or packed dirt that has been compacted by hundreds of campers over many years.. They also tend to be fair weather campers, which makes it even less of a problem for them.
facory
Explorer
Jul 06, 2014
If you're racking the frame you don't know how to use them.
Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 06, 2014
facory wrote:
The only thing good about these is that you can just stand there and push a button. HOWEVER, as far as I'm concerned they are only that - convenient. They don't provide much stabilization. The only good stabilizer jacks are the scissor type. You can get add on power units for these or use an electric drill w/ 3/4" socket to make the job easy. They provide excellent support.

Just my .02.
I had those on my last TT. Had to adjust hem perfectly to keep the frame from racking and making either the bathroom door not latch, or the entry door stick.. Once done, it wouldn't stay that way. as the grounds settled I had to repeat the process every few days. What a pain.

With these new jacks, it is impossible to rack the frame. When the ground settles, the whole TT gets loose. A quick touch of the buttons tightens it right up... I got these on this TT by pure chance... They are now something I won't be without.
myredracer
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2014
Having slept on it, I have a solution - dual elec. stab jacks front and rear. After all, trailers have dual axles! Watch for it in the mods. forum.... :B
facory
Explorer
Jul 06, 2014
The only thing good about these is that you can just stand there and push a button. HOWEVER, as far as I'm concerned they are only that - convenient. They don't provide much stabilization. The only good stabilizer jacks are the scissor type. You can get add on power units for these or use an electric drill w/ 3/4" socket to make the job easy. They provide excellent support.

Just my .02.
Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 06, 2014
I just had a thought of another possibility. I have always assumed that when my jacks stalled, that is exactly what happened... I have never checked into this, but I suppose that it could be the circuit breaker tripping as load increases and the amp draw goes up. They are automatic resetting breakers. My thought is that if oversized breakers were installed, that possibly the motor could make enough power to do some harm... But if this theory is correct, them it is a faulty installation, not the jacks fault
I will look into this when I get a chance. It may be awhile though as the TT is parked in a non testable position right now, and it is to hot here now to do anything that isn't necessary outside.
jaycocreek
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2014
I'm quite sure there was no shift in support from the tongue jack when my fronts kinked. There was a loud bang as I was lowering the arms, and sure enough, there was a ripple in the side walls of the arms right where the angle support come in.

Same happened here but to everyone that it has not happened to, we over loaded it and were at fault being new to rv's and such.

Corner jacks are far better than these so called stabilizers.
Huntindog
Explorer
Jul 06, 2014
brulaz wrote:
myredracer wrote:

...
If you look closely at how the electric stabilizers flex and move around, if they wanted to, they could use thicker steel and stonger pivot bolts, but they build them the lightest and cheapest possible. It's surprising to see how much movement there is at the pivot bolt where the angle braces connect to the leg.
...

When they crumple permanently, it's right there "where the angle braces connect to the leg". The pivot bolts are fine. I'm thinking of bolting on a piece of 2"x2"x1/8" steel box along the whole outside length of each leg.

If you really overload them, for example overloading the rears by lifting the front with the tongue jack :), you will also bend the main casing (the U piece running from side to side with the screw in it) in the middle. Presumably you could strengthen that as well with another piece of U overlaying it.

But I'm hoping that just strengthening the arms will be good enough, if I'm careful. Haven't done this yet, just looking around for the steel box pieces right now. Have a new one coming from Outdoors RV under warranty to replace the badly crumpled one with the frozen motor.
As I said before. Take one apart and study it. That U beam is actually two beams. The outside one, and a slightly smaller one that nests inside of it and slides back and forth providing the equal pressure function.

With the comments you are making, you really don't have a full understanding of how it works.
Nor did I until I took mine apart to repair them after forgetting to retract them.

You need to understand it before starting to modify individual parts of it.

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