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scrapnread's avatar
scrapnread
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014

Stabilizer question UPDATE

We just bought our 2014 Forest River Salem 24rkss about 3 weeks ago. Our first overnight trip went fine. However, when we brought it home and parked it in our driveway, we had some problems with the stabilizers. My husband was leveling our trailer and the stabilizers kept collapsing. One of them is missing a pin and the dealer said he ordered a part for it. Has anyone else had any problems like this? Of course, everything is under warranty, but just curious if anyone else has experienced anything similar. Thanks for any input. I have been lurking here for months and learned a lot, but just joined a month ago.
  • Good luck on this one. I can't believe he actually told you that. I had problems with the dealer I bought mine from. A call to Keystone and within a couple of hours they had adjusted his attitude.
  • Thank you all for the responses. My husband called the nearest Forest River dealer and was told to contact the dealer we purchased from, and that dealer said to bring our trailer back and they will order the right parts as soon as they can figure out what is wrong. We are still waiting for the original stabilizer jack that was broken when we bought it, so I am not sure how long this is going to take. The dealer told us when we bought it that he hated to order parts and do warranty work because FR will only allow him to order parts from their inventory and he has to pay up front first and it is always more expensive than if he just bought parts in his town. As you might can tell, I am not sure how this is going work.
    Anyways, thank you.
  • I have the same problem on one of my stabiliziers where the roll pin fell out and the stabilizer kept collapsing. I just got a cotter pin from my local hardware store, put it in the roll pin hole and the problem was solved.


    Kevin & Crew
  • I've only had my trailer for a month and I may have a similiar problem. Right after I got the trailer I greased the lead screw on the 4 leveler jacks. I think this was the wrong thing to do. When I get a little load on one and remove the crank it will start slowly and smoothly rolling back. I think I may need to try removing the lubrication. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
  • Dick B, I am not sure of the manufacturer of the stabilizers. I will check as soon as I am able.
    Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
  • Try placing blocks of 6x6 wood underneath the jacks. This will allow you to stabilize without over extending the jacks. Be sure all bolts and screws are tight. Pressure on the stabilizers should be only enough to 'slightly' raise the corner of the trailer. Refer to Old Biscuit's post on leveling side-side and front to back.
  • Unless they are literally collapsing I'm wondering if the screw pitch is so high (low?) that they are unscrewing under load.
    What is the manufacturer of the stabilizers?
  • scrapnread wrote:
    I read him your response, Old-Biscuit, and he said that is what he was doing. He said any pressure on the stabilizer jacks at all caused them to fold up. I wasn't very clear in my post I guess. Husband has been towing boats and trailers for more than 30 years, I just let him do all the work and I read the forums and ask questions. lol.



    Pressure on the stabilizers should not cause them to "fold up".
    they are made to stabilize and there should be enough pressure on each to do just that without folding up. Something must be wrong with them

    Jack L
  • I read him your response, Old-Biscuit, and he said that is what he was doing. He said any pressure on the stabilizer jacks at all caused them to fold up. I wasn't very clear in my post I guess. Husband has been towing boats and trailers for more than 30 years, I just let him do all the work and I read the forums and ask questions. lol.
  • Hope husband was using blocks under tires to level side to side and using trailer tongue jack to level front to rear


    AND then setting 'stabilizers' snug to stabilize. They are NOT for leveling.