patrick1945
Well-known member
I had one occasion with a previous FW in changing a flat tire and I used boards. I do not find instructions on how to raise the trailer with a "bottle" jack. Where might I find those instructions?
Place the jack behind the rear spring shackle on the frame rail and you can jack up both tires on that side
I would never lift by the frame to change a tire because it is very unsafe/unstable for the average person. A properly placed vee-grooved bottle jack placed under the axle near the leaf spring works easily with only an inch or two of lift.
Thanks for your concerns of my welding skills as everyone claims they can weld. I have a current X-ray welding Cert.# 0009979 from NITC Expires 10/31/11I have to respectfully disagree. I have jacked mine up several times from the frame, just behind the wheels. I did use 6x6 blocks under the jack. It was stable and safe.
Your angle iron jack is innovative. I hope you have good welding skills though. If that were to break it wouldn't be good.
I went overkill and bought a 12 ton jack. It provides a lot more stability.View attachment 10198
John
Thanks for your concerns of my welding skills as everyone claims they can weld. I have a current X-ray welding Cert.# 0009979 from NITC Expires 10/31/11
I also have 29 years of heavy rigging experiance so when I see something unsafe I feel I must speak up. Placing nearly half the weight of your unit on such a small area of the thin frame can be very unsafe. The axle lifting method spreads out the weight under the sch. 40 pipe/axle and only lifts a small amount of weight (just high enough to remove the wheel) and will not damage the axle.
The bottom of my frame is 26" off the ground so blocking a bottle jack up over 30" is unstable and makes no sense. I will free of charge weld a piece of angle iron on any Heartlandowners.org members jack.
After all the Lippert bashing here I see no reason to follow all their recommendations blindly.
Please be careful.
That's rule #1 when jacking anything. Never rely on a jack and always use jack stands, especially if you are working underneath.Its not safe unless jacks are installed under. Never leave it to long on hydraulic lines and valves that could fail.
I know an RV owner that had work done on the front end of his unit and the mechanics raised the unit using the leveling jacks and removed the 2 front tires and went for a break. They came back to work on the unit and the RV was on the floor with $10K damage to all the fiberglass skirts and storage compartments.