Bouncy trailer

Biker_Ron · 05-26-2008, 01:21 PM

We just got back from an extended camping trip with our 2701SS TT and I have a question. Are the trailers always so bouncy and you just have to live with it? At first I was going to accuse my wife of being "heavy footed," but I didn't go there for marital harmony. 8-) But then I noticed that you could feel our 15 pound dog walking from one end of the trailer to the other. 8-(

We had the stabilizers down, rears extended and the fronts not so much because we were on the crest of a small hill. I only cranked about one turn into the stabilizers because I've heard you can twist the frame of the trailer if you crank up the stabilizers too much. I used the orange plastic leveler pads under each stabilizer jack and under the front tongue jack. I had a 2x12 board under one set of wheels to level the trailer side-to-side.

Has anyone experimented with jacking up the trailer near the wheels to take some weight off the suspension when you are in one place for a long time?

Ron

MRimmer · 05-26-2008, 08:01 PM

Never jacked up near the wheel's but I do put a bit more into the stabs when the wife notices the "bounce".

Mine about 1 turn after I think is enough usually does the trick every time and I have seen no damage of any type. I also have put much more than that and did bend the right front one time so I think the stabs would fail before the frame would bend.

just my 2 cents as I am no expert.

I should also say my old playmor I was in a BAD unlevel spot and cranked up so hard I had the wheelss off the ground on the right and the stab failed quickly (it had shear bolts) and no frame damage.

Mike

08flagvlite · 05-26-2008, 09:06 PM

I know the feeling! We can feel our 7 lb. toy Dachshound, She makes our camper move a little! I have BAL stabilizers- 2 at each end, and I found support braces that I can add to the existing stabilizers for 49.00 per set. I'm going to try that, mine has 2 rocking chairs at the back of the camper, and it really rocks a lot front to rear. I feel I'm going to get seasick! You would think they would have better support than they do. Randy

aharrison · 05-27-2008, 10:04 AM

We had the same problem. We asked our dealer what all the movement was from since we had the stabilizer jacks down and they said it was the back and forth motion not the side to side motion. We just purchased the Lock N' Chock wheel chocks (the ones that lock in between the tires themselves as opposed to wheel chocks that are placed under the wheels), one for each set of tires and it made a world of difference. We used them for the first time this weekend and it was well worth the money spent. If you choose to go that route, I would recommend the metal ones, more expensive than the plastic but I don't think the plastic work as well. We can't even feel the kids or the dog walking around now. DH is another story but that is even better than what it was.

Andrea

rockwood06 · 05-28-2008, 06:21 PM

I have the same problem with mine, no matter how much you adjust you and up with the same problem. My camper becomes a RockinWood. If you have what I call fold down jacks, not (sessor jacks) they are in poor design for the way they are installed. I did some investigating and found out why it rocks so much. Pic would be great but my camper is in storage at this time. Put your jacks down in the rear, then stand back and look at it, you will notice that the top of the jacks (the stationary part) are located more to the center of the camper. This creates a fulcrum effect like a see-saw. When you walk from left to right the camper will rock. The other thing you will notice if you look under the bumper, right where the stationary part is you will notice that there is a piece of angle iron that runs from one end of the bumper to the other and it is attached on each end of the frame. the stationary part of the jacks are attached to the angle iron in the middle but there is NO support in that area so when the jacks are down it puts pressure on the angle iron and the angle iron pushes upward and now with pressure on it the camper will bounce. The front jacks are the same way, nowerver I noticed that on the 2009 RockWoods forest River made a change, they moved the front jacks off of the tongue and back farther under the front. This change I believe has made the problem worse. I have made changes on my problem which has helped alot, but I think I am going to change out the jack all together to sessor. I posted this issue a while ago. You know it's funny, this is the first thread I have seen about a bouncing camper, so up until now, I thought I was crazy!!!!!!

Biker_Ron · 06-02-2008, 06:16 PM

Has anyone tried some of the stabilizer bars like the BAL lock-arm, or the Eliminator or the STEADYfast to reduce or eliminate movement. Steadyfast has a pretty good video on their website at steadyfast.com.

aintgotnun · 06-02-2008, 07:34 PM

Plugitright stabilizers is what I have on my 5'er. They also work with tagalongs as well.

Here's where I documented my install.
http://forestriverforums.com/forums/...ht=plugitright

they work pretty well for me

**huntr70** · 06-02-2008, 08:06 PM

I have the JT's Strongarms and they work really well to eliminate all movement.

spepi · 06-03-2008, 07:14 AM

I have a 2008 2701SS, and last year, on our trips, I noticed the bounce, and it drove me nuts....so before the season started this year, I added 2 BAL scissor jacks to the front of the tires, which is almost the center....I dont use any of my jacks to lift the trailer...just to stabilize...it makes a huge difference. I use the lego blocks under each jack, but they may give some bounce, so I will me cutting some pressure treated 2x6 for the jacks....

acerbrian · 06-03-2008, 07:42 PM

OK, I'm new to this 5th wheel business, I've had my Flagstaff 8524RLS for about a month here in Canada. In Australia I have a Jayco Dove camper, a little canvas sided job and it has a hand brake that you engage when you park it. Once that is cranked up, there is no forward and back movement. I was surprised to see the big guys don't have something similar, which got me to thinking, what if you pull the safety stop cable out at the hitch. That will supposedly engage the brakes as long as you have battery, but would it cause any problems if you left it that way for several days? Of course this would drain your batteries if you weren't on power, but if you were, any other problems???

That would at least nail any forward and back movement.

**huntr70** · 06-04-2008, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acerbrian

OK, I'm new to this 5th wheel business, I've had my Flagstaff 8524RLS for about a month here in Canada. In Australia I have a Jayco Dove camper, a little canvas sided job and it has a hand brake that you engage when you park it. Once that is cranked up, there is no forward and back movement. I was surprised to see the big guys don't have something similar, which got me to thinking, what if you pull the safety stop cable out at the hitch. That will supposedly engage the brakes as long as you have battery, but would it cause any problems if you left it that way for several days? Of course this would drain your batteries if you weren't on power, but if you were, any other problems???

That would at least nail any forward and back movement.

You will eventually burn out the electric brakes...........the magnets in the brakes aren't made for constant activation like that.

MRimmer · 08-30-2008, 06:43 PM

Maybe our new site sponsor can add some input to the problem.

Steadyfast you out there?

Mike

SteadyFast · 08-31-2008, 01:39 AM

Bounce and Shake Discussion

Bounce and Shake work together on a parked RV to create a movement that is very annoying to some people and intolerable to those who get motion sickness. Others accept it as just part of the experience. For those of you that it annoys and/or is intolerable I am posting the following for your use and comments:

Bounce or Up and Down Motion:

Picture your trailer frame like a plank sitting on a couple of sawhorses. The sawhorses represent the stabilizing jacks and assume two or more of you are walking back and forth on the plank. Assume the saw horses are very near the ends of the plank. Then as you walk back and forth the plank has a lot of flex and bounce. The biggest movement is when you are halfway between the sawhorses. So if you move the sawhorses closer to the center then the bounce is reduced. The tires and springs on the trailer will dampen this movement, but still allow it. For this reason it is best if stabilizing jacks are place several feet in from the ends of the trailer. Approximately four feet in seems to work well on most trailers.

Now if you take and move one of the sawhorses in too far and one of you walks out on the end of the plank, you have a diving board effect. Not only does the end of the plank move up and down but so does the center of the plank. Again, the tires and springs on the trailer will dampen this movement, but still allow it. This can also happen on a fifth wheel where the front of the trailer can be 6-10 feet past the front drop legs.
Another cause of bounce is stabilizing jacks that flex and act like stiff springs. They support the frame, but allow up and down movement. Unfortunately, there are many “stabilizing jacks” on trailers that behave this way. The basic scissor jack is extremely good at eliminating up and down motion at the point it is installed. Based on the frame design and length, two or three pair of scissor jacks will reduce the bounce to a very acceptable level.

Shake or Side to Side Motion:

Shake is basically caused by the side to side play in almost all the “stabilizing jacks” used in the RV industry today. Basically it is like sitting on an old stool where all the legs are loose. Since it is very difficult to modify existing jacks so they do not have any side to side play, some sort of lateral support needs to be applied to the frame to reduce this movement.

The tripod (fifth wheels) and wheel chocks are the most common application to reduce this movement. They reduce the movement, but normally not to the level the trailer feels firm or stable. The reasons vary, but are generally caused by the difficulty in setting up the tripod due to varying king pin heights and uneven ground, poor tripod design, spring and tire movement between the chocks and the trailer, and poor lateral support near the rear of the trailer. Just for the sake of comparison let’s say that this method will remove 80-85% of the movement.

Several bracing systems have come on the market that brace the trailer frame to the ground or a jack, greatly reducing the side to side motion and some of the up and down motion. They may utilize two to six braces depending on the manufacturer. Some of the systems mount permanently on the trailers and are deployed when the jacks are extended. These systems may provide from 80-95% plus reduction of movement. From and engineering standpoint only 3 properly designed and installed braces are required to reduce the side to side movement to the minimum level a parked trailer frame.

I hope this information is helpful and would be happy to answer questions.

Paul Hanscom
www.steadyfast.com

Copyright Hanscom Enterprises, LLC , 2008

froale · 10-14-2008, 04:32 PM

I purchased a Wayne's Stabilizer for our 23' TT and I think I may purchase another for the rear. The wife and I both are really impressed with how rock solid it makes things. We just place it on the front end of the TT, and throw down the stab jacks in the rear.

http://www.waynesrvstabilizer.com

Jeff

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