Wheel removal

Tentun

Member
I have a 2010 Sundance XLT 297RE and we did our shake down over the weekend (nice 5th wheel!). After arriving home I noticed a 4 inch nail in one of the rear tires entering on the outer tread band and exiting from the side wall. Usually this means the tire is toast. I have a 10 ton bottle jack and need to know where to position it to remove the wheel for repair. In 30 years I've never had to change a RV or trailer tire so I guess I'm due. Thanks.
 
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Dave Willis

Guest
I just spoke to the plant manager and he said that you could jack up the unit by putting the jacks on the I-beam. Our guys in the plant just pull the unit up on a wood block and change the tire. They don't use a jack at all but either way will work.

Thanks,
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Lippert recommends jacking up via the frame, not the axle tubes (you may hear differing opinions on this). If you go to the Tools tab at the top of the page, click on the owners manuals section. Then go to Frame, then Jacking. You'll get the "official" Lippert instruction sheet for doing this.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
The recomended procedure is to jack your rig up on the frame. You may need some extra blocks under your jack to get the height. Do this while hitched up to your truck. It is not recomended to jack up while using the front landing gear or rear stabilizers.

Peace
Dave
 

jnbhobe

Well-known member
I know this has to go through a moderator but I'll post anyway. Lippert says to jack the trailer up under the frame only, Not the axles. Jon
 

wdk450

Well-known member
The recomended procedure is to jack your rig up on the frame. You may need some extra blocks under your jack to get the height. Do this while hitched up to your truck. It is not recomended to jack up while using the front landing gear or rear stabilizers.

Peace
Dave

Voice of experience: My left front landing gear got screwed up when a tire service guy jacked up the right side to do a tire/nail job. I /he didn't know to have the rig hitched up first.
 

RollingHome

Well-known member
Tentum, I'd listen to Dave Willis... I mean no disrespect to the other forum members... but... I have been reading the forum for a while now... I have read what Lippert supposedly states, "jack up from the frame only or the world will end" Now I want you to visit the world of what if... what if you rode over a an obstacle, wouldn't one tire raise more than the one next to it ? What if, instead, you raised it the same amount with a jack... Shush, what if you changed tires now ??? Opps, so much for the God of NO "NO.... ya can't or shouldn't". I am going to jack my RV up by the axle just to see what happens... know what I think ? NOTHING will happen... again, I think Dave Willis and the guys in the shop been there done that.... JMO Tom I see no reason giving physics and stress why you can't just jack up one axle to change a tire... If Lippert or anyone else can give me an engineered explanation with stress loads and arm weight dynamics, then I see no reason WHY we can't raise our RV's using the axle JMO Tom

PS. Hey Lippert, ya up to my challenge ?
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
Before I had the Mor/Ryde IS installed I would put a jack under the U-Bolt area and raise the tire off the ground. Never had a problem. I even did it when in a campground and the TV was not connected. Now I raised the tire up just enough for it to come off the ground. If you want to raise it 6 or 8 inches off the ground or one side then you need to watch out what for what may happen.

FWIW
BC
 

jcarnevale

Well-known member
I agree with RollingHome. But if you're afraid of doing some damage to the axle housing, get a saddle block like the one Lippert uses to support the springs. Place it in between the jack and the axle. With that said, think of the lbf/in2 that saddle is exerting on the axle housing. Seems to me as long as you had a similar lbf/in2 there would be no problem jacking the axle.


I suspect Lippert won't respond for liability reasons. We must have an engineer or two in the house, "what say you"?


Jay
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
I really don't see why you could not jack up 1 wheel at a time at the spring saddle. My concern would not placing the jack at the saddle. All the axles have a bow in them. SO, if you where to jack the axle any farther inboard you could bent the axle. I think, JMHO, thats why Lippert wants the trailer jacked up by the frame. There could not be anymore of a load on the axle at the saddle point than going over a bump or a steep driveway. Rolling the other wheel on blocks sound like the easy to do it. You can buy ramps for that.
 

tmcran

Well-known member
I have used the E-Z Jack on different trailers and never had a problem. This of course requires the trailer to be hook to TV
 

jcarnevale

Well-known member
Why not this method? I bought the saddle at the local trailer store and used it underneath the axle to jack on. The wheel in the picture is off the ground!

555.jpg
 

Gaffer

Well-known member
jcarnevale: Thanks to your post, I just got back from picking up a saddle at my local RV dealer. Crawled under a Bighorn on their lot to check fit and the radius fits perfectly. Thanks for posting the picture. I think this is the way to go. Keeps the jack close to the ground so as to not be tippy and raises only the one wheel so no need to worry about twisting the frame if not connected to the TV. Best $5 I've spent so far.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
Have to agree with you folks. A few months ago we had quite a few folks that were going to jack the frame and found some tire stores that wouldn't jack the frame. Makes no sense to me to have jack the frame. The drive on jacks or the saddle make a lot more sense. A lot safer than having a coach up in the air sitting on a bottle jack with the tip on the H beam frame. Great post in my opinion as well. The drive on jacks are handy also and you could use both the saddle and the jack simultaneously as well.
 

traveler44

Well-known member
I have seen how some of the pros get your wheels off. The road service guys will pull one wheel up on a block, something like the "traileraid plus" that you can buy at a good rv store. This lifts the whole side of the unit and takes all of the weight off of the other axle and then they just jack the other axle up a little because it is just hanging down on the springs and then they pull your wheel with the blown out mission tire off and put your spare on. If you go to a real big rv shop to get something done that requires removing the wheels they will use 2 big jacks near the front and 2 near the back. I figure that they know the strongest place to jack probably at a cross support area. They will jack the 2 front ones at the same time and the 2 back ones at the same time. I would never just jack one place under a frame. I would think that would just be asking to damage your frame.
 

Delaine and Lindy

Well-known member
As others have posted always jack up the RV with jack under the frame. And those who have the 6 Hydraulic Level Up system will tell you that you want need a jack with the Level up System just lower the jacks on the side you need to raise, the jacks will raise tires off the ground. This answer about jacking up the 5er came from the Lippert personnel who was at our Rally here in Colorado. GBY...
 
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