Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-29-2010, 07:46 AM   #1
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Chesapeake, VA
Posts: 38
What jack to use?

Hi, newby here. Just bought a used Surveyor SP-186, and realize that I may not have a suitable jack to change a tire if needed. Do y'all just use your car jack with maybe appropriate height spacers? Jack upon the axle? No info was provided with the trailer and the owner knew nothing. Thanks.
richdonn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 08:01 AM   #2
Site Team - Lou
 
Herk7769's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: South Eastern PA
Posts: 23,268
Quote:
Originally Posted by richdonn View Post
Hi, newby here. Just bought a used Surveyor SP-186, and realize that I may not have a suitable jack to change a tire if needed. Do y'all just use your car jack with maybe appropriate height spacers? Jack upon the axle? No info was provided with the trailer and the owner knew nothing. Thanks.
You are right about this. I got a spare tire with no way to change it also.

You have three choices IMO:

1) Sit on the side of the road and wait for AAA.

2) Use a device like Trailer-Aid Black Jack by Camco - RVWholesalers.com RV Parts

3) Buy a bottle jack large enough to hold a MINIMUM of 50% of the total camper weight (8000 pound camper 5 ton bottle jack) because to jack that axle up high enough to get the flat one off and the inflated one on you will be lifting BOTH wheels off the ground on that side. If you don't disconnect from the TV (recommended by most tire changing sites as the most safe) you most likely will be lifting some truck-borne weight too. So go much bigger than you think you might need.
__________________
Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Herk7769 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 08:16 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 855
10 ton hydraulic jack from places like harbor freight are cheap and work.
donn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 08:27 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Jacksonville Florida
Posts: 1,264
Or, you can do choice#4 as I do, use your existing wheel chocks to lift the front or rear tire up, just roll the camper onto the chock blocks, and the other tire will be off the ground. The odds of 2 flats on the same side are rare; possible, I suppose, but rare. Randy
__________________
/SIGPIC]'08 V-lite Flagstaff 30WRLS
'06 Ram 1500 QC hemi Reese dual cam sway control,
K&N series 77 intake, Hellwig helper spgs. LT tires,
Flowmaster "true duals", 380 h.p., Bilstein shocks
08flagvlite is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 08:39 AM   #5
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: CT
Posts: 65
Ditto for me. Chock Blocks are more stable than a jack any day. One of the benefits of dual axles. I have the same rig. Welcome!
__________________
2010 Nissan Titan
2019 Flagstaff MicroLite 25FBLS
KegStealer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 09:28 AM   #6
Site Team
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Southwest Alabama
Posts: 9,850
I carry 2 bags of "Lego" blocks that would work and I also carry a 12ton short bottle jack "just in case".

I use the "lego" blocks when working on the brakes/bearings and they work great for lifting one tire at a time. Be aware however, that by doing that you ARE overloading one tire. Probably not as much as running over a curb, etc but overloading it none the less.
__________________
Salem 29RKSS Pushing a GMC Sierra 2500HD!
Gotta go campin!
Bama Rambler is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 09:36 AM   #7
Site Team - Lou
 
Herk7769's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: South Eastern PA
Posts: 23,268
Well, after a blow out you are actually running the other tire at 55-65 MPH with double its rated load for a short period of time while recognizing (if you are lucky) that you have had a blowout, and pulling to the side of the road.

If you fail to recognize you had a blow out, you most likely will have a double failure before long.

You will also have double its rated load for short periods throughout the tire's life while performing driveway-side maintenance.

I think this short time (non-rotational) overload will not hurt the tire or shorten its life by much, if at all. Overloading for any significant time or at high speed will.
__________________
Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Herk7769 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 01:39 PM   #8
Wanna Be Camper
 
SaskCampers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Posts: 2,420
I have a 20ton bottle jack ( they are only like 10 bux more than an 8 or 10 ton when you get them on sale) and use X-Chocks, however I have CAA Premimum RV coverage and they will come to change my tire if I am patient enough to wait.
__________________

John & Deb
2011 F250 Lariat FX4 Crew Cab 6.2
2011 Flagstaff V-Lite 30WRLS
SaskCampers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 02:12 PM   #9
Senior Member
 
yvesm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Pilot Mountain NC
Posts: 558
I never get flats
__________________
2013 Prime Time 230 FBS
Days camped in 2013: April to November
Days camped in 2014...about 40
Days camped in 2015...more than 2014!!
yvesm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 02:37 PM   #10
MrT
Senior Member
 
MrT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Where We Hook Up
Posts: 220
Or, you could use Jack Daniel's, and let someone else do the heavy lifting!
__________________

2017 Cedar Creek 38CK Hathaway Edition
2015 Ford F-350 6.7 CC 4x4
B&W RVK3300
Full-timing since 5/2/2016. Roam Sweet Home.
FROG Int'l Rallies: 2012-2017
MrT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 05:07 PM   #11
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Chesapeake, VA
Posts: 38
That Camco Black Jack looks sweet, but it seems that the chock block idea should work fine also. And I just bought some. Thanks for the replies. Now I gotta make sure I have the right socket for the lug nuts; I'll carry my torque wrench.
richdonn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 06:33 PM   #12
Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 98
I have a device called a "Trailer Aid". I think I bought it at CW. It is a heavy duty plastic device which has a ramp and a depression which the good tire sits in and lifts the flat so you can remove it and install your spare. Used it once and it worked great.
bailer6334 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-29-2010, 07:45 PM   #13
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Jacksonville Florida
Posts: 1,264
If you DO wind up with a double flat, chances are you wont have double spares to replace them with, anyway. In which case, you'll need to wait for road assistance to come. Randy
__________________
/SIGPIC]'08 V-lite Flagstaff 30WRLS
'06 Ram 1500 QC hemi Reese dual cam sway control,
K&N series 77 intake, Hellwig helper spgs. LT tires,
Flowmaster "true duals", 380 h.p., Bilstein shocks
08flagvlite is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2010, 08:57 AM   #14
Jan Goldfield
 
pondlady's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Slidell, La
Posts: 534
We had a blowout near Pine Bluff Arkansas a few days ago. Geico arrived in 10 minutes. We bought all new tires in Pine Bluff and hope we are safe for next time. My days of changing tires are over.
__________________
Jan Goldfield and Donna Morse
Slidell LA

2009 Cherokee Grey Wolf 28BH
2009 Ford 150
pondlady is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-30-2010, 11:59 AM   #15
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 24
Go with the leveling blocks, Just build a ramp with them to take you high enough for tire clearance. And leave the trailer connected to the tow vehicle. It is by far the safest way to change it.
Draytondave is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2012, 09:22 PM   #16
Junior Member
 
softwarejoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Saskatchewan
Posts: 24
I haven't tried this and now I'm not sure I should. I have the SV-305 with power stabilizer jacks and a power tongue jack. I suppose I thought i would try to get as much lift as I could off of the rear stabilizer jacks and then lift the front with the tongue jack till i had enough height to remove the tire. Does this sound like a bad idea to anyone?
__________________
Moose Jaw Saskatchewan
2012 Surveyor 305 B-309
2010 F-150 4x4 supercrew Lariat 5.4 3.55 ratio
Power moon roof and back window
TV GVW without me 1/4 tank 5870 lbs
Days camping 20011-4 2012-26 2013-29
softwarejoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2012, 09:39 PM   #17
Moderator Emeritus
 
Triguy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Southeast Wisconsin
Posts: 6,949
softwarejoe, what is the weight limit for your stabs and for your power jack? We have a different system than you and I know my stabs won't bear enough weight to lift the trailer and my power jack is 3500lbs. YMMV so check your weight limits. Should be listed with your manuals although my paperwork just says not to try and lift the trailer.
__________________
Scott
DW, 3 Kids and our Goldens

2012 Shamrock 233S
2008 Toyota Sequoia 5.7L 4WD
Triguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-16-2012, 07:48 AM   #18
Senior Member
 
schrederman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Weatherford, TX
Posts: 977
I bought an aluminum floor jack from Harbour Freight a few months ago. It has a 3,000# limit. I figured it would be fine for changing a tire on my small Shadow Cruiser 185. I just bought a Surveyor with the independent, torsion-spring suspension. Now I wonder if that's going to be the right jack for my new situation.

And, by the way... If I'd taken DeeDee's name instead of her taking mine... I'd be... Jack Daniels...
__________________
J & D in Lovely Weatherford, TX
2016 Jayco White Hawk 28DSBH TT
2014 Ram 2500 Crew Cab 4X4 6.7L Cummins
schrederman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-20-2012, 05:32 PM   #19
Senior Member
 
bob213's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 1,472
I have two set of chock blocks and for Chistmas I got a "Trailer Aid". I should be ready for anything. I hope I never use any of them on the road, but they do come in handy at home when doing maint.
bob213 is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
surveyor

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:41 PM.