Jack Failure Disaster

[DanLevitan]

I had a terrible experience yesterday when I tried to unload my camper which resulted in my camper falling over on its side in my front yard. It happened so fast I'm not exactly sure where it went wrong. I'm new to truck camper loading and unloading and have only done it three times before so my experience level is likely a contributing factor but hope to get input so I can never have another jack disaster.

Shortly after I drove my truck out from under my camper and began lowering it things start going literally sideways. I have manual crank corner mounted jacks and use my cordless to lower in about two inch increments rotating to each jack. I think I was on my second rotation around the camper when I noticed the camper was twisting on the jacks. When the right rear foot was behind the camper rather than beside it I new things were different than my previous attempts. I was able to kick the foot back towards the side but that only amplified the twist on the other jacks. I went back to the previous jack and went up some thinking I could undo whatever influence I was causing but I saw the mount beginning to peel off the camper. At this point I knew it was a lost cause and had to bail out as the jacks on the other side folded under and the camper dropped. It took a visit from a recovery company to upright it to it's current legless resting spot in my front lawn. Thank goodness I don't have an HOA because it's not going anywhere fast. The damage was actually less than expected but still several weekends worth. I have spent the last year and a half going through this camper from top to bottom including removing most of the skin and replacing lots and lots of rotten wood. It made my heart ache to see it on the ground.

A little background. This camper originally used three wing mounted tripod jacks to do the heavy lifting. Some models had a fancy Safe-T-Jack system but this one didn't. Only two of the original rusty jacks and one mounting bracket remained when I took possession. The others had rotted away and were lost. During the rebuild of structure I decided to beef up the corners to accommodate four Reico Titan manual corner jacks. I remember being reluctant when the new jack mounts came with wood screws but I decided to trust the process and that's what I used. No though bolts. Possibly corners mounts were not as strong as they should have been.

Other possible factors. Last week I upgraded the water tank from a 10 gallon to a 27 gallon. I had filled it up for a leak check. I didn't think to empty the tank prior to unloading the camper so it weighed a good 230 pounds heavier than prior attempts. I haven't yet weighed this camper but I guess its 3000ish.

The hard pack ground where I was unloading the camper was nearly level, but not exactly level. It was not windy.

Maybe this was a combination of factors but I'm reaching out so I can try and learn as much as possible for next time.

[DanLevitan]

I used black duct tape to seal up the skin until I can repair. It didn't even break any glass! It did snap off my sewer line so I'll have to redo Black and Gray manifold again which was a bear last time. The left rear jack folded under and crunched up my LP box pretty good. I got off very lucky.



This is shortly before the mishap. I was getting it ready for a professional paint job and had been trying out paint ideas with rattle cans. You can see the jacks still on here.

[JimK-NY]

I am confused. Was the camper being lifted off those blue pallets when it fell over? In any case the ground seems to be very uneven. The ground seems to have a considerable drop from left to right and also from front to back of the camper. I have been able to load and unload with a front to back slope but I would not want to deal with a sideways slope.

[DanLevitan]

Yeah I think I was lucky for the round roof. When she fell, she rolled until it bumped the A/C unit and rebounded to the side again.

[notsobigjoe]

Boy from the pic you can't get any cleaner of a tip than that. She's all in one piece. That's great.

[DanLevitan]

Thanks for the replies and the link to post pictures.



I can say the wood frame is 100% free from rot. I removed all the skin up above the windows and replaced all the bad wood last year. During my retrofit I learned a lot from reading the posts on this site from another Travel Queen restoration and know he successfully used corner jacks after beefing up the mount points which I also did. I do wish I had through bolted the brackets in hind sight. Regardless of the mounts though I know it was the twist that yanked the brackets out and preventing twist is most interesting to me. My 1968 Travel Queen is similar to an Avion in looks and age however I know little else about Avions. I don't know which end was higher when I began, although I will keep that in mind going forward. I did start lowering from the rear first which may have been a factor. In the past it seemed unavoidable to keep all four legs on the ground. There was always one leg unseated as I worked my way around. Sometimes by an inch or more. Maybe I have been retracting too much at once with an estimated two inches. I'm sure the feet didn't sink, but I didn't use anything under the feet, just dirt. I'm sure the original system was three wing mounted brackets using tripods and I am thinking about going back to it. I've jacked many aircraft with 3 points and it makes sense to me, but I have wondered if it's more stable why modern camper use 4. I saw the Stable-Lift system and thought that would be a solution till I saw the price tag. Maybe I'll weld my own system up to mimic it. Thanks again for everyone's input and I agree the most important thing is no one got hurt.

[JRscooby]

BurbMan wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Unless on level surface, 3 legs is more stable than 4.

Re-read what he said. Hence the reason cameras use tripods, milking stools have 3 legs, etc. Obviously more legs provide more support, but the more legs you have the harder it is to load them all equally. Three legs means each has to carry more weight, but they distribute that weight much easier.

Thank you

Seminoe Joe wrote:
More points of contact means more stability, especially on uneven ground.

It takes at least 3 to have any stability at all. But any more than that, must adjust the length of legs to get more than 3 points of contact. Take a 4 legged table, cut a little off 1 leg. That table will rock, depending on where you set the pitcher of beer. Now cut a little of 1 leg of a 3 legged stool. Cut enough, you can make it fall, but you will never make it rock.
3000 lb camper on 4 legs, means 750 lbs on each leg if even. On dirt, even with a 1 inch stroke, bell of hammer knocking a hole in ground. If the OP had a jack on each side, near front, a 3rd center rear, unless ground suddenly gave, very unlikely to get leaning enough to fall without real recital cranial inversion

[notsobigjoe]

OK op, now that we've impressed you with our wisdom. Please post some pics.....

[jimh406]

This is really going into the weeds. I'm wondering why they bother to put 4 legs on tables of all kinds and why most campers have 4 jacks. It must be because they've never seen a tripod. 😉

[Seminoe_Joe]

More points of contact means more stability, especially on uneven ground.

[Grit_dog]

nickthehunter wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Unless on level surface, 3 legs is more stable than 4.

I am left speechless.

Because you don't understand the concept presumably...
Now, this'll really blow your mind. A symmetrical 4 legged (whatever) needs to be able to support all the weight on 2 legs....
(PS you'll understand the 3 legged concept before you understand mine, so work on that one first...)

[BurbMan]

JRscooby wrote:
Unless on level surface, 3 legs is more stable than 4.

Re-read what he said. Hence the reason cameras use tripods, milking stools have 3 legs, etc. Obviously more legs provide more support, but the more legs you have the harder it is to load them all equally. Three legs means each has to carry more weight, but they distribute that weight much easier.

[Seminoe_Joe]

So a 3-wheeler is more stable than a 4-wheeler?
I’m gonna disagree with that based on experience and physics.

[nickthehunter]

JRscooby wrote:
Unless on level surface, 3 legs is more stable than 4.

I am left speechless.

[JRscooby]

Unless on level surface, 3 legs is more stable than 4.

[mkirsch]

The camper was originally designed for the old 3-jack system, so it most likely did not have adequate structure for the four corner jacks.

The 3-jack system went out of style in the 80's or early 90's so any camper that came with it has to be at least 30 years old, and won't be in the best of shape structurally, either.

Worst case, it was lowering single jacks 2" that ultimately caused the failure. On my camper, 10 cranks is about all I can lower a single jack working alone. 2" would have the jack foot completely off the ground on my camper.