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Old 12-14-2019, 08:28 AM   #1
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Proper way to lift trailer completely off ground?

OK, So I have a 2018 Salem 27DBK that me and my wife & 2 boys have thoroughly enjoyed over the last 2 years. The tires are at half life but I would like to get rid of the cheap factory tires and get a set of Goodyear Endurance

I am hoping those are a good choice? I was looking for the highest quality, thickest sidewall & highest rated tire.

Anyhow I operate a small landscape business and wanted to take all 4 wheels off my camper at the same time and bring the wheels with me to the local tire shop to have them swap the old camper tires onto a landscape trailer and put new tires on my campers wheels (goodyear endurance unless you all convince me otherwise) .

The thing is my wife has me paranoid, I am not shy to DIY work, after all I have been servicing my own equipment for 15+ years. What I am nervous about is that she has read on many facebook pages of nightmare stories of people improperly lifting their campers and cracking sinks,back tubs & shattering wood inside the camper. I want to be as cautious as possible when doing this. Is there right and wrong ways to lift a camper completely off the ground? I was going to lift one side at a time by the frame and set two jack stands under the frame on each side. Please let me know if I am wrong in doing so? Trailer would still be attached to truck.
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Old 12-14-2019, 09:00 AM   #2
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I would block the axcel at the spring shackles. Just like having the tire on there. If you block the frame you will have to go much higher. Just like changing a car/truck tire.
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Old 12-14-2019, 09:03 AM   #3
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I don't think it would be wise to lift TT while connected to TV. When we had a bumper pull, I lifted it off all wheels with the Leveling jacks. READ CARFULLY, I SAID WITH THE LEVELING JACKS. NOT STABILIZERS. The leveling jacks, I believe are set in a position on the frame that allow them to support the frame of an TT. The 36 foot Rockwood we had, had a 4 point leveling system on it. When it did the auto level, it would bring the 2 front jacks down and then retract the tongue jack and then the back jacks would deploy. The front jacks were about 3 feet back from where cabin started in the front and back jacks were a little over a foot behind back wheels. I figured these lifting points are engineered. I hope so because I've been to CG's where leveling system lift a side of TT wheels off the ground. I did use them to do somewhat what you want to do. I lifted all 4 wheels to have TPMS put in wheels.
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Old 12-14-2019, 09:39 AM   #4
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Much ado over nothing.
Tell your wife that properly jacking up a trailer and placing it on jack stands puts no more stress on it than the load factors placed on it going down the road.
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Old 12-14-2019, 10:02 AM   #5
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Spring shackles if you have them, frame if you don't. Do it on a calm day. The Goodyears are a great choice.
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Old 12-14-2019, 10:04 AM   #6
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Exactly. We have all lifted our RVs off the ground to change tires, repack bearings, etc. I do mine one side at a time so the shackles won't flip like they tend to do if you have both sides of the axles off the ground by lifting at the frame.
Tell your wife that it's much safer for your RV if you do it, rather than some yahoo at a tire store that doesn't know what he is doing and doesn't care!!
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Much ado over nothing.
Tell your wife that properly jacking up a trailer and placing it on jack stands puts no more stress on it than the load factors placed on it going down the road.
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Old 12-14-2019, 02:17 PM   #7
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I believe you are the right track. Jack close to the shackles & I like to put a block (2x4) next to the frame to spread the weight a little, especially if using a bottle jack. Since you’re going so high, I like to use two jacks, front & rear of springs, just to help distribute stress. I would also leave attacked to truck, as you mentioned, to an extra point of stability.

I have ran the GY Endurance a couple years now, & am happy with them.
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Old 12-14-2019, 03:19 PM   #8
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Wives are funny that way. She will believe some random stranger way before she will believe anything I have to say. Even tho I'm proven to be right most of the time.
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Old 12-14-2019, 05:13 PM   #9
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If you have a regular spring suspension, I put the jack stand under the axle directly under the spring. 4 jack stands and you could stabilize the trailer with your corner stabilizers ( just stabilize not lift weight). If your hooked up no concerns about it moving. The Goodyear’s are great choice.
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Old 12-14-2019, 07:37 PM   #10
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I’ve used a four ton jack stand at each shackle mount position. Had this in place for a couple of days with no problems during disc conversion.

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Old 12-14-2019, 07:42 PM   #11
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If I was doing this I would hook up to the tt and take it to tire shop and take the tires off the other trailer even if I had to make two trips .
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Old 12-15-2019, 05:01 AM   #12
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Wives are funny that way. She will believe some random stranger way before she will believe anything I have to say. Even tho I'm proven to be right most of the time.
Amen x2!
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Old 12-15-2019, 07:51 AM   #13
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Wives are funny that way. She will believe some random stranger way before she will believe anything I have to say. Even tho I'm proven to be right most of the time.
And since you’re wrong she will remind you of it 20 years later.
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Old 12-15-2019, 08:16 AM   #14
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Jacks and blocks

I assume your jack stands will be on concrete. Anything else is unacceptable. Keeping it hitched will add stability.
Definitely jack the axle/spring area not on the tube and not the frame. Just be sure your not jacking where you want the jack stand.
Goodyears are best
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Old 12-24-2019, 06:58 AM   #15
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using 3 points?

I saw a video of a repair place jacking a TT using 3 points. I've not tried this but am tempted to use this method when I repack my bearings next. What they did is remove the trailer from the TV. Then they lowered the tongue way down, put two jack stands under the rear of the TT at the frame, then raised the tongue. By raising the front, the rear of the TT dropped onto those jack stands and the entire TT was lifted off of the ground. This was on a video from some Full Timer Youtube channel folks at a legit repair facility.

But reading so much disagreement on whether I can jack on the frame vs. the axle makes me worried about trying this. Particularly because I have a cheap Wildwood TT.
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Old 12-24-2019, 08:19 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by ConWood Farms View Post
I saw a video of a repair place jacking a TT using 3 points. I've not tried this but am tempted to use this method when I repack my bearings next. What they did is remove the trailer from the TV. Then they lowered the tongue way down, put two jack stands under the rear of the TT at the frame, then raised the tongue. By raising the front, the rear of the TT dropped onto those jack stands and the entire TT was lifted off of the ground. This was on a video from some Full Timer Youtube channel folks at a legit repair facility.

But reading so much disagreement on whether I can jack on the frame vs. the axle makes me worried about trying this. Particularly because I have a cheap Wildwood TT.

That's a great idea. You need to look at the frame of the TT and A frame connection. For me the frame, tongue connection, and front stabilizing jacks are all in the same vertical plane so no worries about lifting from the tongue jack and doing a "teeter tatter" to get the trailer up. No different then when you use the jack to connect the WDH.
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Old 12-24-2019, 09:14 AM   #17
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I have Goodyears and are very happy with them.

Also, my preference for jacking is to use two floor jacks on shackle side of springs (as close to axle as possible) with trailer hooked to tow vehicle. My axles are above the springs and the threaded portion of the ubolts hang down ready for a jack to bend them. I will put jackstands under the frame at fixed end of the springs. This keeps the loading as close to the design location as possible.

I have also put a bottle jack under the plate the ubolts pass thru, centering the load on the spring.
I would not put jacks at the rear of the frame and then lift tongue. The “span” is then much longer than the design calls for. A “beam” supported at each end is in its weakest condition.

Also, I would not jack directly on the axles as they are a fairly thin tube (think eggshell) and there has been more than one report of bending axle tubes when jacking directly on them.
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Old 12-24-2019, 10:35 AM   #18
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Wives are funny that way. She will believe some random stranger way before she will believe anything I have to say. Even tho I'm proven to be right most of the time.
X2
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Old 12-24-2019, 10:52 AM   #19
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With bling wheels why not just make an appointment and have the tire place do this all while in their parking lot?

I don't have bling wheels so I replaced all 5 tires and wheels at the same time two years ago after one of my aged tires had a blow out. Tires came mounted on wheels and were on my front porch a few days after ordering.

Floor jack on the frame between the axles to lift the tires barely off the ground. Spun the bolts off with a rattle gun, wheel off, new wheel on, hand torqued, and the job was done in half an hour. Took as long with the spare as the other wheels. Trailer connected to the truck to secure it. Never went under the trailer and there were always 3 wheels on the trailer should the jack slip. No more difficult than changing a wheel just x 4.

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Old 12-24-2019, 11:12 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ConWood Farms View Post
I saw a video of a repair place jacking a TT using 3 points. I've not tried this but am tempted to use this method when I repack my bearings next. What they did is remove the trailer from the TV. Then they lowered the tongue way down, put two jack stands under the rear of the TT at the frame, then raised the tongue. By raising the front, the rear of the TT dropped onto those jack stands and the entire TT was lifted off of the ground. This was on a video from some Full Timer Youtube channel folks at a legit repair facility.

But reading so much disagreement on whether I can jack on the frame vs. the axle makes me worried about trying this. Particularly because I have a cheap Wildwood TT.
You don't want to do it this way. You will bend the frame on many trailers especially a lite trailer. Its the same reason you don't use the stabilizers to lift the trailer.
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