New to 5th wheel use

[ballhawk]

First, let me introduce myself. I am Robb Gaylord and just took delivery on a 2012 Heartland Elkridge 37 Ultimate. My question is, do I need to purchase a king pin tripod? Thanks in advance for your help

 

[danemayer]

Hi ballhawk,

Congratulations on the Elkridge and welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

A few people have reported good experience with king pin tripods. Many don't feel they do much. A lot of people prefer JT Strongarms to stabilize the RV.

 

[JWalker]

First, let me introduce myself. I am Robb Gaylord and just took delivery on a 2012 Heartland Elkridge 37 Ultimate. My question is, do I need to purchase a king pin tripod? Thanks in advance for your help

From another PAer and 37 ultimate owner, Hello and welcome to the forum. We love our Elkridge. We are still dealing with a little bit of movement, mainly when someone walks through. We just added a set of crank down stabilizers right in front of the front wheels. This has taken almost all of the "bounce" out of the trailer. We are going to look at a set of JT strong-arms shortly.

Enjoy and safe travels!!

 

[avvidclif]

First, let me introduce myself. I am Robb Gaylord and just took delivery on a 2012 Heartland Elkridge 37 Ultimate. My question is, do I need to purchase a king pin tripod? Thanks in advance for your help

Just my opinion but the best way I know of to throw money away. PITA to setup and didn't make a noticeable difference.

 

[Jim-Lynn]

Ballhawk; congrats on the new toy. I have a 4200 with 6 point leveling so I do not need anything more. BUT our last 5th wheel we did have the King Pin tri - pod. It did not correct the motion issues. We purchased the JT Strong arm and PROBLEM SOLVED. Jamie, you should get it, best way to stop the motion.

Jim

 

[Westwind]

We have a 2012 Bighorn 3070RL, I use wheel chocks that we used on our TT and they always worked well. With the 6 inch blocks under the rear stabilizer, the wheel chocks we seem to be fine but once we start the washer/dryer up the story changes. I added a tripod to the front of the FW and it really helped. I also feel that if you can make blocks to put under the legs and stabilizer it keeps them from being extended far and that seems to help also.

 

[Crumgater]

We find some stability support form the tripod, but not a bunch. It's not "required", by any means.
I liked the strongarms more from a "save the front jacks" issue... those things just seem like pencil sticks to me.... giving them support helped me sleep at night - with or without the wiggle in the RV.

The X-Chocks help a lot for stability.

And... going to a 4-point leveling system which takes the rig somewhat off the wheels removes 99% of the wiggle, with or without the tripod.

 

[justafordguy]

I also recommend the JT strong arms for the front landing gear, they make a huge difference. I also use a center stabilizer in front of the front axle to stop the bounce.

 

['Lil Guy']

Congrats on your purchase. I am using the Steadyfast system and it works great. You can see it on youtube.

 

[ballhawk]

Thanks for all the quick replies. Steadying this sure is different than my dads trailers in his trucking company lol. I have screw jacks i was gonna try first. Anyone have success with these? I am going to put them on cinder blks.

 

[MTPockets]

Screw jacks may do OK. We use a jack stand under the frame just forward of the wheels. With the front high, I place the stands, then lower the front til level.. That takes all the wheel flex away and it's solid.

 

[ballhawk]

What weight are your jack stands

 

[Westwind]

Just be careful with jacking you want to be sure it's level front to back and side to side.

 

[JohnD]

Screw jacks may do OK. We use a jack stand under the frame just forward of the wheels. With the front high, I place the stands, then lower the front til level.. That takes all the wheel flex away and it's solid.

I've been using the screw jacks for years, although I haven't used them with the new 5th-wheeler yet . . . although I plan to!

We'll be taking it out on it's maiden voyage in two weeks . . . so I'll let you know how they work out!

I don't like the scissor jacks as they really can't handle a lot of weight . . . I may just take them off after I see how well the screw jacks work!

Here are some shots of them under our previous trailer . . .