Grease and zerk fittings - learning the hard way

[B47]

Originally Posted by SailorSam20500

I'm betting your long johns are blue with a red and yellow emblem???

And don't forget the cape.

[B47]

Originally Posted by Wobbles

Mr. H,
I do not think bragging about your skills with rotating a trailer around your zerk fitting helps the the rest of us lowly mortals.

Can you provide pictures of how you do this task? Your sir may be my hero, if you can validate that your can rotate a TT. I am now sitting here looking at my fitting thinking that I am not worthy.

Perhaps his TT is a Lite Weight model?

[SailorSam20500]

Originally Posted by wowzer

I'm in the process of greasing the axles on my 34reqs Sabre. This thread and others have offered a ton of help. But what I can't seem to find is the proper way to get the wheel off the ground. I have read to not put the jack on the axle. I tried it on the frame but could not get it high enough to be able to spin the tire. Had roadside service change a tire for me and from watching he jacked it up by using the axel. I need some direction.

From what I've read, my owners manuals, and depending on what axle is on your rig, the roadside service guy may have bent your axle.

Get a couple of 2x6's or a 4x6 for under the jack. Ideally, if it fits and you have the right saw, 2 pieces of 4x6 with a dado cuts halfway thru the thickness so you can put them together in an X shape... Make sure you have chocked the the opposite side wheels and don't get under the trailer!

[SilhouettePenny]

Originally Posted by wowzer

I'm in the process of greasing the axles on my 34reqs Sabre. This thread and others have offered a ton of help. But what I can't seem to find is the proper way to get the wheel off the ground. I have read to not put the jack on the axle. I tried it on the frame but could not get it high enough to be able to spin the tire. Had roadside service change a tire for me and from watching he jacked it up by using the axel. I need some direction.

Do you have two jacks? Put one under the frame as you did the first time and get as much extension as possible. Most of the weight will be on this jack. Then using the second jack, preferably with a long handle (like a floor jack) and as close to the u-bolts as possible, jack up the axle enough to rotate the tire/wheel for greasing. Hook it up to the truck for added safety.

Or jack stands under the frame and a single floor jack under the axle will do. I've been servicing tandem axles this way every month since 1996 with no adverse axle tube issues. Of course you can damage the tube if you try jacking up the full weight of the trailer under one end of an axle. Just use a little common sense and spread the weight out by notching a 4x6 block of wood to fit the curvature of the axle. With this method you won't even scratch the paint on the axle.

[Davidg]

Okay, lets think about how our trailers are normally supported;...on a tire/wheel which is bolted to a hub, which is supported by bearings at the very end of the axle which is attached to the frame at two locations equal distance from said axle. Logic would suggest that using a jack placed underneath the spring hanger is equivalent to a tire/wheel/hub The manufacturer places the "don't jack under the axle" restriction because some guy sticks a bottle jack 3' inboard of the hub and attempts to jack the trailer up. Any first year engineering student, (and a lot of 8th graders) can deduce that this is an unwise decision, which will probably end with a bent axle. As long as the jack is placed at the location of the axle hanger U bolts, there is no difference than an axle being held up by a tire/wheel. I do use an appropriately sized block of wood between the jack and axle. If, for whatever reason, I cannot jack at this location, then place a 2' length of 4x4 between the bottle jack and the frame. Sometimes we have to be a little creative, but always consider the range of possibilities before lifting 3000 lbs +/- with a bottle jack.