Landing gear on blocks....?

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Howdy, a friend of mine, not a member here, has a Cyclone. He took his boys out to the desert and set up his landing gear on 6x12 blocks, two a side. He didn't want to wait for the gear to fully extend. When hooking up the inevitable happened, he was too low and tried to force it, the rig rolled off the blocks and "sway backed" his bed. We use 1-1/8 osb pads under the gear and leave the wheels chocked until we are locked in place. The insurance paid him $7K for the bed, he found a take-off, same color for $700, some people just don't lose!
 

Niles

Well-known member
We have a friend that backed up to hook-up and the camper took off, however it was only sitting on 2x6's so no harm, just some tease moments as you see the camper rolling backwards down hill. It went about 10 feet seemed like a football field length though when your watching, he still had his chocks in the Bal ones that you rachet between the tires, only thing we could firgure is he just didn't have them tight enough. Moral to story "Don't try to force it"
 

Delaine and Lindy

Well-known member
I use the fiber glass squares from CW on the, and have 2x8's 12" in length four bolted together with handles for the rear gear. I use Roto Chocks and my 5er is very secure. Roto Chocks are first on and last thing to remove. Never force a 5th wheel hitch into the king pin, bad things happen. Only takes a second to raise the front.
 

cmart

Well-known member
Am I the only one who keeps the umbilical cord connected while hooking up and unhooking. This way you can put your trailer brake controller on max and push the little lever and the 5iver isn't going anywhere. And I don't use the big blocks under my front jacks either. I use a piece of 1/4" x 8" x 8" pergo flooring, works fantastic. I'm also a firm believer in wheel chocks and also use the between the wheel chock.
 

cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Am I the only one who keeps the umbilical cord connected while hooking up and unhooking. This way you can put your trailer brake controller on max and push the little lever and the 5iver isn't going anywhere.

The cord goes in as soon as mytruck is close enough to the pin. I also have wheel chocks in place before I back into the hitch.
 

nscaler2

Well-known member
Me Too

Am I the only one who keeps the umbilical cord connected while hooking up and unhooking. This way you can put your trailer brake controller on max and push the little lever and the 5iver isn't going anywhere. And I don't use the big blocks under my front jacks either. I use a piece of 1/4" x 8" x 8" pergo flooring, works fantastic. I'm also a firm believer in wheel chocks and also use the between the wheel chock.
I NEVER hook or unhook without the umbilical hooked up and controler set to max and brakes on trailer applied manually. Still have the rotochocks set and all both ways hook and unhook. Can't be too carefull. Costs too much!!;)
 

kognito

Well-known member
I NEVER hook or unhook without the umbilical hooked up and controler set to max and brakes on trailer applied manually. Still have the rotochocks set and all both ways hook and unhook. Can't be too carefull. Costs too much!!;)

this is our procedure too!
 

ChopperBill

Well-known member
I have 6 x 6 x 16 blocks that I put under the landing legs. The VERY first time we took it out I laid the blocks length ways to the width of the trailer and forgot the Bal-choks. The trailer rolled the blocks over about a foot when I unhooked. Put a little whoopie in the tail gate. Always use the length of the blocks going the length of the trailer now. They ain't going to do any rolling that way. Still I remember to do all the other stuff now.
 

BluegrassMan

Well-known member
Guys:
I took my GC to a RV dealer for a repair to my pump system. When I dropped it off I had the legs adjusted for MY truck, everything was fine. When I picked it up, "they" didn't extend the legs enough and just ran the legs down enough to get THEIR truck out from under it. When I tried to hook up my F450 up I couldn't get the trailer up high enough. So I tilted my hitch and gave it a quick back up, it worked! But the king pin was in a little bind to the side.and wouldn't lock, Not wanting to pull out and do all this over. I came up with a great idea.

Why not hold my foot on the brake, turn the wheels in a lock and "inch" out then turn the wheels the opposite way and "inch" back. I no sooner did that then BLAM!!! I looked in the mirror and saw what happened. That was definitely a OH S**T moment. The total damage is $3109...Fix the bed rails, new tailgate and hardware, re-linex tailgate etc. The body shop I go to does 100 point Concours Antique cars, so I think my 450 will come out as good as new. I still only have 3K+ miles on it.
 

theharveys

Active Member
I have not dropped my trailer onto my truck...yet. However, I did try to tow it away (my previous SOB trailer) from the dealers back lot (it had been in for repairs) without raising the front legs. I only pulled the trailer about 10 feet before I realized what I had done. But...too late. The trailer was in their gravel back lot and when I towed it away the legs caught on the edge of the concrete. I bent both front legs back and it cost me $700.00 for repairs. Nothing like having to go back into the dealer and confess when you've done something like that.
 

Uncle Rog

Well-known member
Wow, these posts have been a real eye opener!
Knock on wood that I have been this lucky so far, not to say that I havn't had a couple of close calls, I won't bore you with gory details......
After going through my pre-flight check list my procedure is to take a lap around the rig from 20-30 ft out and look the whole thing over and check that the pin is locked in tight one more time.
 

Netem

Well-known member
I give mine a good jerk with the landing gear an inch off the ground then if its still on the truck I raise the landing gear and hope I did everything else right.
 

slaytop

Well-known member
I discovered with a previous TT that wheel chucks in front of or behind the tires don't hold a tandem axle unit very well if there is a slope. The tandem axles will run over the chuck because the weight of the trailer is not fully applied to each axle. The suspension will allow a tire to run over a bump (or chuck) without adding any additional weight to prevent it from happening. There is not enough weight on the landing gear to hold the trailer in place. The only chucks I trust are the units that lock between the tires and prevent both tires from moving.

It is dangerous to chuck OR jack up only one side of the trailer without having the front of the trailer FULLY SECURED from moving, especially on a slope. Since a small percentage of the trailer weight is on the front landing gear, the unsecured wheels will allow the weight of the trailer to push the front to the side and off blocks or simply slide on the ground.
Larry
 

waccajs

Texian
As with above post, I'm very thankful for the above problems to NOT have happened to us YET! I rely on the DW to remove the chocks, on both sides, before I release any trailer breaks. I have a grim apprehension that I too may have bed rail damage in my future. Please send your good wishes for my forthcoming predicament and hopefully it will bypass my future.
 

Niles

Well-known member
I am wondering what wheel chocks you use? We have the 3670 and on our previous 5th wheel we used the Bal wheel chocks between the wheels which I really loved, but they won't fit between the wheels on our 3670. The wheel spacing on the 3670 is very close together. Right now I use the old wheel chocks forward and after the tires, but to be real honest don't have much faith in them. Anyone with the same problem?
 

Delaine and Lindy

Well-known member
We have used Roto Chocks on three different 5er. If you upgrade to another 5th wheel you can call Pearl at Roto Chock and give her your new measurements and then they will mail you the new size. I think for the money its one of the best investments you can make to help secure your 5th wheel. Good Luck on your choice. GBY......
 

fivernine

Active Member
Well, thanks a lot Jim and Delaine and Lindy. Never heard of Rotochoks before this so I looked them up. Pretty slick. And just as I was about to buy a set of expanding chocks. The steel expanding chocks are pretty heavy. Are these lighter? Looks like they might be since they are mostly plastic. How difficult are they to remove?

I thought these might be new technology, but they were patented in October of 1992. Must be pretty good if they are still selling them, but they are a bit pricey.
 
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