Stabilizer Jacks on NorthTrail 28BRS

[JeremyN]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forum here, but I have a question about my NorthTrail rv that I just bought. We have the electric stabilizer jacks on my trailer and they work great. Only problem is that I keep on bending the back ones going down driveways. I now bent my 2nd set of jacks and I only had the trailer for 5 months. My problem come when I drive out of a gas station or back into a campsite. The back stabilizer jacks and the back bumper continue to hit/scrape on the pavement. I have actually passed up pulling into certain gas stations on my trips because I thought the entrance was too steep for me to pull up and I didn't want the jacks or the bumper to hit the ground.

Does anyone have any ways to resolve this? This is getting really annoying considering that I have to pay almost $500 each time to get a new set.

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give.

Jeremy

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Jeremy, I've heard this problem before with the longer travel trailers. The best thing I can suggest is to try to approach the entrance on as much of an angle as you safely can. This will reduce the rear end drag. You may be able to relocate the jacks a few inches forward too. It won't affect the stability that much but it will give you a little more room back there for approach angle. There are devices available that can be added to the rear of the frame that are intended to hit the pavement before anything else does. Some are small steel wheels and some are just steel bolt on pieces.

 

[jimtoo]

Jeremy, when your hooked up to your tow vehicle is your North Trail setting level or the hitch higher than the rear?

Jim M

 

[JeremyN]

Jeremy, when your hooked up to your tow vehicle is your North Trail setting level or the hitch higher than the rear?

Jim M

Jim,

The trailer is slightly nose heavy while towing. The nose is a hair under level. I have tried everything I can to make a good attack angle, but I just always seem to just hit. Now I have to go out there tonight and try to bend the steel back straight again. I have a call and email into my dealer to see what their opinion is as well. I hope to solve this soon.

Ray, are the devices you can add on just casters? Or are they steel wheels with bearings?

 

[irvin56]

All the North trails are low, even mine, basically you need truck stops or big service stations to fuel at as they have low in/out entrances. I fuel as much as I can before hooking up. When travelling you have to look at service stations and parking lots with very low entrances. I have even unhooked to fuel in a pinch(in a pull out area). I have seen some people fuel and back out the same entrance because of entrances. Just have to pick and choose places. Cheaper than damaging trailer constantly.

As for the back. I had industrial dolly wheels welded onto the back of my old Prower Trailer and they saved me. But it had a stronger cross member right at back of frame.
Also My dad had steel plate welded on the back of his unit to take the weight when bottomed out.

 

[CanadianAV]

I have the same trailer and they are very low to the ground. I have shaved the dirt a couple times when backing into some campsites. Have you ever thought about flipping the axles to underneath the springs. That would give you more clearance. I am very careful when I go into and out of parking lots.

 

[RanCarr]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the forum here, but I have a question about my NorthTrail rv that I just bought. We have the electric stabilizer jacks on my trailer and they work great. Only problem is that I keep on bending the back ones going down driveways. I now bent my 2nd set of jacks and I only had the trailer for 5 months. My problem come when I drive out of a gas station or back into a campsite. The back stabilizer jacks and the back bumper continue to hit/scrape on the pavement. I have actually passed up pulling into certain gas stations on my trips because I thought the entrance was too steep for me to pull up and I didn't want the jacks or the bumper to hit the ground.

We also have the BRS28 and both rear jacks were destroyed by scraping. They're much too low to the ground. There isn't enough clearance. We had to replace them with manual jacks at our own expense. It appears Heartland doesn't realize there are grades and that the earth isn't FLAT after all. This week we tore one up in the front jacks and scraped the spare tire which is under the hitch ^ . It bottomed out. It's so low to the ground there's no way it wont bottom out going into campsites and gas stations. We didn't have these problems with our Sunline and Zinger. This is poor design. Poor engineering.

Does anyone have any ways to resolve this? This is getting really annoying considering that I have to pay almost $500 each time to get a new set.

It's cost us also. We added two very heavy duty casters to the frame in the rear, but they don't work on gravel which is what you find in most RV parks and CGs. We also had to add a Fantastic Fan because of the slide windows. And those slender vertical things to the slide windows for air when it rains. What the heck possessed some of these mfgs to do away with jalousie windows? We buy these units and have to put hundreds into them to make them usable. It makes no sense.

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give.

All you can do is replace them with the manual ones like we're doing. Add the casters to the rear frame... and we're clueless as to where to put the spare tire that's under the hitch.



Jeremy[/QUOTE]

 

[RanCarr]

I have the same trailer and they are very low to the ground. I have shaved the dirt a couple times when backing into some campsites. Have you ever thought about flipping the axles to underneath the springs. That would give you more clearance. I am very careful when I go into and out of parking lots.

Have you any idea what THAT costs? Will Heartland pay for it, have their dealers do it? What about the spare tire under the hitch? Where can that be moved to? That drags also.

 

[RanCarr]

All the North trails are low, even mine, basically you need truck stops or big service stations to fuel at as they have low in/out entrances. I fuel as much as I can before hooking up. When travelling you have to look at service stations and parking lots with very low entrances. I have even unhooked to fuel in a pinch(in a pull out area). I have seen some people fuel and back out the same entrance because of entrances. Just have to pick and choose places. Cheaper than damaging trailer constantly.

This is a real major PIA though. And does nothing for the spare dragging.

As for the back. I had industrial dolly wheels welded onto the back of my old Prower Trailer and they saved me. But it had a stronger cross member right at back of frame.
Also My dad had steel plate welded on the back of his unit to take the weight when bottomed out.

We also installed those casters or dolly wheels but they're almost useless once off the paved area in campgrounds and RV parks. I sure wish we would have known these things before buying the BRS28. We would have looked at something a little better designed. What makes the problem even worse is to actually USE the pull-out tray in the rear where the shower is. Even a slight rise or fall makes it drag.

 

[RanCarr]

Jeremy, when your hooked up to your tow vehicle is your North Trail setting level or the hitch higher than the rear?

Jim M

I know ours is dead level. We also use anti-sway bars and a WDH. Ours still drags. When the tray is out it's even worse since it extends further. Three of the stabilizing jacks were ruined and two had to be replaced at our expense, with manual ones, to give us more clearance. We're going to try and make do with the bent one in front. The next time it drags it will probably have to be replaced. The casters we added don't work on gravel or dirt. They just sink in. I worry they may twist the frame on pavement since one always hits the ground before the other. One day the spare, set so low it drags also, will be ripped from our TT. There's nowhere else to put it. On our Zinger and Sunline TTs, they were attached to the rear outer wall of the TTs and out of the way. That gave us a lot more clearance in the front. I can't imagine what the Heartland engineers were thinking when they attached it under the hitch. As I'm sure you can tell, we're angry and frustrated over this.