attach scissor jack to a stainless steel plate - Fiberglass RV
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Old 05-12-2016, 09:15 PM   #1
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Name: Eric
Trailer: Boler
Alberta
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attach scissor jack to a stainless steel plate

Hello, I want to attach a scissor jack to a stainless steel plate, as shown in the picture. Then attached the plate to trailer frame. Tried to drill hole on the plate so I can use rivet. Too hard to drill through. Wonder if polyester resin can hold them together well.
Your comments are appreciated.
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drill 2 attach.jpg   scissor jack.png  

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Old 05-12-2016, 09:27 PM   #2
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Welcome to the forum.

What is the jack for? It's hard to advise if we don't know the application.
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Old 05-12-2016, 09:49 PM   #3
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as stabilizers to be put under the four corners under the frame, as shown in the picture.
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Old 05-12-2016, 09:58 PM   #4
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Try a center drill.


or a Step Drill


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Old 05-12-2016, 10:25 PM   #5
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Just one man's opinion, but those are way heavy as stabilizers for a Boler.
And why stainless? Carbon steel frame, carbon steel jacks. And from what I saw in the original pictures, it appears that you are going to loose another inch or two of ground clearance with those plates.

As for me, I would go with a couple of Atwood type stabilizers, as seen here,

Stabilizer Jack | etrailer.com

and attach them directly to the frame. Should be plenty of stabilization for the Boler, even with just two in the rear.

On a '72 Boler, I would save your cash for other repairs/upgrades.

Best of luck to you.
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Old 05-12-2016, 10:28 PM   #6
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To Jeremy: Thanks. I guess these tools are good, just hesitate to spend another $20~30

To Clif: I got these ss plates @ about $2 each. Originally designed to be used to hold the frame with trailer floor with bolts and nuts. Got the scissor jacks from Canadian Tires when on sale.
It is a good concern "it appears that you are going to loose another inch or two of ground clearance with those plates". I wonder if and/or how much it matters if the bottom of the jack is above the red line as shown in this picture.

To Dudley: 'weld' is another option but I'm not sure how much will be the cost. Try to control the total cost of this restoration.
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Old 05-12-2016, 10:34 PM   #7
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You could also just weld the jack to the frame or the stainless steel channels. Mild steel flux core wire will work but will rust and must be painted

If you are drilling, then yes buy some very good drill bits not the cheap ones. The step drill bits work great, just watch how far you go in as the hole sizes jump.
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Old 05-13-2016, 02:16 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by HawkBoler72 View Post
Hello, I want to attach a scissor jack to a stainless steel plate, as shown in the picture. Then attached the plate to trailer frame. Tried to drill hole on the plate so I can use rivet. Too hard to drill through. Wonder if polyester resin can hold them together well.
Your comments are appreciated.
Polyester resin....no it is not going to make a strong bond that will take the stress without fracturing the resin.

You need a carbide tipped drill bit for stainless steel. A carbide bit is pretty much the only one that will do the job without getting burned up and dull. Also use lots of drilling lubrication and take it slow, and steady. Carbide bits are great but a bit on the brittle side so a steady hand is very important if you are not using a drill press. Be sure you clamp the part securely to a work bench or the drill press table before you start drilling.

You do want to use a center punch to hammer in a little divot where you are going to drill. Center punching at the hole location is actually pretty much an essential when drilling into all types of metal as otherwise the drill bit is likely to "walk" off of the exact center location you want the hole to be.

Rivets....you will want to use stainless steel rivets since you are fastening steel parts. Advance warning, stainless steel rivets in the diameter you would need are not something that is going to be at all easy and perhaps not even possible to pull with a hand puller. We have a hard enough time pulling them with a pneumatic puller powered by a large compressor. I would suggest you use bolts to fasten those two parts together, it will be so much easier for you to do than trying to get the rivet to pull tight.
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Old 05-13-2016, 03:21 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by HawkBoler72 View Post
Hello, I want to attach a scissor jack to a stainless steel plate, as shown in the picture. Then attached the plate to trailer frame. Tried to drill hole on the plate so I can use rivet. Too hard to drill through. Wonder if polyester resin can hold them together well.
Your comments are appreciated.
Howdy, I've got the same type jacks on a stickie trailer but the top attaching plate is wider to the sides than yours. That allowed self tapping screws to be used for mounting to the frame. Not sure why you want to use the SS brackets though as there is plenty of lift with the jacks without them. Not to mention the extra ground clearance without them. YMMV
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Old 05-13-2016, 07:15 AM   #10
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Just curious as to why you are making your life needlessly difficult. Nix the stainless steel plates and just put the jacks under the frame like everybody else. They are total overkill and really add little, if anything, to stabilizing the trailer frame.
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Old 05-13-2016, 07:31 AM   #11
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"I wonder if and/or how much it matters if the bottom of the jack is above the red line as shown in this picture."

I don't quite understand. Is there a warning on the jack that says not to lift beyond a certain point? If so the purpose of that is to ensure that the jack doesn't loose stability when used as a jack. There is a point on a scissors jack where it is too tall relative to the width of the base to be stable.

Imagine the bottom edges of the base, measured along the longer side of the base, as the two bottom angles of a triangle. The top of the jack is the apex of that triangle. As the jack lifts, the base gets proportionately smaller, relative to the height of the jack.

In your use that shouldn't be too great a concern as the top of the jack will be attached to the frame.

Points to consider:
A trailer stabilizer is just that, a stabilizer. The suspension and the tongue jack support the weight of the trailer. The stabilizers should prevent two things; up and down motion and side to side sway. Scissor jacks such as yours will provide the first, but not the second. They provide only a vertical moment only; a vertical post if you will.

If you take a look at stabilizers specifically designed for the purpose you will find that they deploy much the same as the outriggers on a back hoe or crane, providing vertical support and widening the trailers footprint somewhat.

It is often the case, and I speak from personal experience here, that it is better to go with the specific product for the job as opposed to adapting something because you found it cheap.

Myself, I would get a couple of the 650 lb Atwood type, that's 1200 lbs total, and use them in combination with the tongue jack to level and stabilize the trailer. Ask other Boler and 13 foot Scamp owners on this site what they use. Then the recommendations will come from personal experience with trailers like yours.

Regards,
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Old 05-13-2016, 07:34 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Borrego Dave View Post
Howdy, I've got the same type jacks on a stickie trailer but the top attaching plate is wider to the sides than yours. That allowed self tapping screws to be used for mounting to the frame. Not sure why you want to use the SS brackets though as there is plenty of lift with the jacks without them. Not to mention the extra ground clearance without them. YMMV
Dave;

Does your trailer actually use scissor jacks or do you have the screw activated stabilizers? See my comment on stabilizers above.
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Old 05-13-2016, 07:42 AM   #13
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Thats a lot of stabilizers for a 13' Boler. Have a 16' with only tongue jack and light weight scamp stabilizers at the rear & good wheel chocks. Have only due to terrain needed to put a portable jack such as what you have to use as a stabilizer a handful of times in 9 years.

Depending on where your going to take the trailer the loss of clearance due to the installation of the front ones may come back to bite you far more frequently than how often you actually need them. As you have them, I would just carry them in the back of the vehicle for a season and see how often you actually use/need them before installing.
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Old 05-13-2016, 08:18 AM   #14
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FORGET all the mounting. Just set them on the ground and run them up against the frame to stablize.... no mounting, breaking and falling off, no welding, no "low ground clearance" issues.... KISS method drastically applies here!

Otherwise, they need to be mounted up inside the C-channel bumper which would call for some "preferred" welding. IF you use bolts/nuts, use "TOP-LOCK" nuts ONLY!

Just my $.04 for the day
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Old 05-13-2016, 08:58 AM   #15
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Thank you ALL for your comments/suggestions.
Clif's point about "side to side sway" convinces me to think again if I should use these scissor jacks at all. Darral's $0.04 most likely is in US, is about 6 cents in Canadian, I'll take it
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Old 05-13-2016, 09:04 AM   #16
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Good decision. It seemed like you were trying to go through a lot of work because you got some SS cheap. I would worry about metal galling because of using two totally different metals. You may have ended up damaging the frame trying to save a few bucks.
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Old 05-13-2016, 01:37 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by The Minimalist View Post
Dave;

Does your trailer actually use scissor jacks or do you have the screw activated stabilizers? See my comment on stabilizers above.
Yup Clif, scissor jacks on all corners with a 3/4" hex nut drive. I don't use them often as the SOB TT is pretty solid without them down. I use a cordless drill motor as it's easier than the handle crank.
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Old 05-13-2016, 03:43 PM   #18
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I had steel plates welded to the frame when I had it removed from the body. The jacks are bolted to those plates.
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Old 05-15-2016, 09:04 AM   #19
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I'd like to highlight the "carbon steel to carbon steel" advice you have received here. Galvanic corrosion can be a problem, particularly if you ever drive on salty roads or near the ocean. It's possible to mix metals of course, but there are precautions and best practices to control corrosion. I used stainless steel screws to hold our aluminum frames for example but filled the holes with calk and used rubber washers. Here is a good introductory article, but there is lots more on the internet: How to deal with dissimilar metals

Oh, our Trillium is also small. I get by with one scissor jack in the trunk of our tow and some blocks. A little more work, maybe, but simple!
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Old 05-15-2016, 08:34 PM   #20
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The article referred by Randy is good. Learned a lot from there.
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