How do you jack up a fifth wheel

[mwdilday]

I have a 18,000 lb fifth wheel trailer with the Dexter axle. The Forest River manual says to jack on the trailer frame, not the axle. I jacked mine up the other day and it really took a lot of lifting to get the tires off the ground. The springs extended and the shackles looked like they were going to flip completely over. I finally, after jacking the trailer a lot, took a second jack and lifted the axle. There was no weight on the axle at the time I could tell by the position and angle of the shackles. Do I just keep jacking until the tire is off the ground?

[Bama Rambler]

The idea is to keep from bending the axle tube or trying to jack on the equalizer and having it move and dropping the unit. You did what I would do in your situation.

You may want to get a tall bottle jack so it'll lift the unit with just one jack.

There are people that jack under the spring perch so that it takes all the pressure and there's no danger of bending the axle tube. Doing that is something that you'll have to decide whether you're comfortable with or not.

[JohnD10]

Roadside assistance...

[katkt]

Do you just want to change a tire, or get all the tires on one side off the ground?
If you just want to change a tire, roll the good tire up on one of the roll on type of roadside jacks or roll the good tire up on blocks high enough to get the one you need to remove, off the ground.
Otherwise, as mentioned get a heavy enough bottle jack, and crib it high enough to lift the trailer frame.

[valleyduo]

If you have level up, you can use it to support the frame and then bottle jack under the leaf spring. That's my preferred method.

[LegacyFB38]

Originally Posted by valleyduo

If you have level up, you can use it to support the frame and then bottle jack under the leaf spring. That's my preferred method.

Why not use the Level-Up to raise the tires completely off the ground?

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by LegacyFB38

Why not use the Level-Up to raise the tires completely off the ground?

Yep. I've done this several times for various reasons. Works great. Just need to put something like lynx blocks under the lifting jacks so you don't run out of stroke.

[valleyduo]

Originally Posted by LegacyFB38

Why not use the Level-Up to raise the tires completely off the ground?

I'm sure you can, I don't like stroking out the jacks that far. I keep my handy dandy bottle jack in the camper anyway.