Leveling jacks

[Rgill]

I have always hated putting blocks and moving a trailer around trying to get it level. On the last TT I have owned I installed scissor jacks to level them and get the tires off the ground in case of a flat. This Edge M21 is heavier by at least 1000 lbs. I found some 6500 lb. jacks and to avoid drilling or welding on the frame, I designed clamps to fit each edge of the i-beam. They seem to work really well.
I am wondering if I may get into trouble doing this? Do any of you have opinions about this?
Ray

 

[JohnD]

My experience with scissor jacks is that they don't handle much weight and really don't steady the trailer that well.

Matter of fact, when I parked our trailer for the very first time in our side yard just after we bought it, I put a little too much weight on the back jacks and one of them bent in half.

I still have my old jacks from our old trailer (with the screw-up center column) and use them for stabilization when camping.

I also picked up a pair of slide-out jacks at Camping World . . . those really keep the camper from rocking when the slide is out.

 

[hoefler]

Those jacks are NOT designed to lift the trailer or take any load. The are to stabilize, you should only put enough load on them to keep the trailer from bouncing around. The tire must stay in firm contact with the ground and be prevented from rolling. They have no strength and are not designed to keep the rig from moving other than up and down.

 

[Rgill]

We have been using the scissor jacks now for over a year on our M-21 with no problems at all. They are rated at 6500lbs. each. I mounted the front ones to the metal plate where the single arm stabilizers from the factory were. The rear ones are clamped to the frame rail just in front of the rear factory stabilizers. I use a heavy duty battery powered drill to raise and lower them If I need to raise one side up higher perhaps to change a tire I then use a lug wrench to raise first one then the other perhaps 2 inches at a time. The two on front are oriented front to back and the two in the rear are oriented side to side. For normal stabilizing I don't raise the tires off the ground. Sure has made things easy. They make side to side 45 degree arms to stabilize the jacks but I haven't seen the need for them.
Ray