jack up axles

[Rzrbrn]

What do you use to jack up your axles when adjusting the brakes or taking off the wheels? Do you take the same device when on the road in anticipation of changing a flat tire? Some people like the Andersen Rapid Jack, some like the aluminum Blaylock drive on jack, some use a bottle jack, scissor jack or floor jack.

I have a 8K lbs (approximate fully loaded weight, I am adding a bit to be conservative) Big Foot 25RQ. I anticipate changing a tire in adverse conditions as well as maintenance of the suspension, tires and axle at home. What is the best to use, or what do you use?

[Travelin2]

I use a bottle jack. I did carry one of those lift cams but stopped because I found it very unhandy to have to hook up the tow rig just to lift a wheel. If you have a flat you still have to crawl under to put it in place so you may as well take a jack with you. I also found that many times the ground conditions didn't suit the cam well and required numerous times in and out of the rig to see if it lifted and that I hadn't gone too far.

[trainman]

Just wondering about jacking on the axles, Casita says NO JACKING on the axle and jack on the trailer frame. Is this true of all travel trailers, or just Casita. I assume it's because the axles on the Casita's are light weight as probably most trailers of that size are.

trainman

[Jack L]

Devices like the Rapid Jack have 1 function. I prefer a bottle jack because it has lots of uses beyond lifting the trailer.

[Jon in AZ]

The rubber torsion axles on Casitas and many other smaller trailers have a hollow tube. It is more easily damaged by jacking operations, hence the warning.

The OP’s Bigfoot has a leaf spring suspension with solid axles. Different animal.

I carry a scissors jack when I travel due to the low clearance on a Scamp 13 with a flat. I use a floor jack and jack stands at home.

For the Bigfoot I’m thinking a HD bottle jack on the road, and the same at home plus jack stands to rest on while working for safety.

[redbarron55]

Personally I think the admonition to not jack on the axle is to prevent someone from jacking in the center of the axle where the bending stress is the highest and the tube really is hollow.
The Dexter has a "torsion" bar ans rubber rods at the ends and the Flexi-Ride has the end full of rubber and an embedded rod filling the square tube. The tube is fairly thick and while it would not be a good practice to jack on it, I doubt it would be damaged if the jack goes across the entire bottom flat and had a board between the jack and the axle cross shaft.
Actually strictly speaking the axle is on the end of the trailing arm and would probably not be a good place to jack either and this could also be part of the admonition!
Be safe and jack on the frame, but with the older thinner frame tubes you can damage them too! A board between is still a good idea.

[Rzrbrn]

Thanks everyone for responding.

Dexter Axle says don't jack on the axle or suspension points. Some frame mfg's say don't jack on the frame. Tire shops say they jack where the axle is attached to the suspension. Casita says jack on the frame, but it is a torflex suspension, so the axle wall thickness is thin.

On the Big Foot the frame is very high. I don't think it has a solid axle, although it does have a very thick wall. The axle does see a lot of action, such as pot holes, corduroy roads, etc., which leads one to believe putting a jack close to the tire should be acceptable. I will probably put the jack where my Dad always did, where the axle meets the suspension, hopefully between the U bolts, maybe on a thick board.

Scissor jacks don't work that well. I had a blowout on the Casita (single axle). Pulled over onto a fairly soft angled shoulder. Fully flat the scissor jack could not be extended, no matter how hard I tried. A guy stopped and loaned me his small bottle jack, which allowed me to raise the frame high enough to eventually get the scissor jack under and extended just enough to allow it to be screwed to the height needed to change the tire. So, after that, towing the Casita, I carry a small bottle jack, a 6 ton bottle jack and a large scissor jack. While this works OK with the Casita, I am concerned it may not be what is needed with a double axle BF, which weighs, loaded maybe 7K to 8k pounds.

Also during that repair of the blowout I was on the side of the road on a soft shoulder, on an angle. The smaller jack buried into the ground but raised the TT up just enough to get a second larger jack under it which then raised it up enough to get the scissor jack on a board up enough to change the tire. Many anxious moments during this effort. Prefer something a bit less problematic next time.

Someone said they use a floor jack, which they keep in the bed of their truck. So I checked floor jacks out on Amazon. A 1.5 ton floor jack weighs about 40+ pounds, a 2 ton weights about 60 lbs and a 3 ton floor jack weighs 80 up to 150 lbs. I would need a bumper crane just to get it out of the bed of the pickup.

I suspect a 1.5 aluminum floor jack, the lightest weight, is not strong enough to raise up one tire on the BF, but I could be wrong. Anything bigger is just that, big and heavy. I don't really want to use the Rapid jack or the Blaylock jack. So it looks like I just talked myself into a couple of hydraulic ram jacks, the 6 ton and maybe a smaller one. Sure like the idea of a small aluminum floor jack though, seems like it would be safer.

[Jon in AZ]

Since you have tandem axles, if you get a flat in an awkward place, you can always pull it slowly to a better spot (if more than a short distance, air up the good tire to max, since I recall BF runs at less than full sidewall pressure). You can also run the good tire onto leveling blocks to get a head start on jacking. Tandems give you a few more options. I don’t see why you’d need to carry more than one bottle jack sufficient to lift one side, 3-4T maybe?

BTW, you can do the same with a single axle trailer, too, in a pinch. Run the flat tire up on leveling blocks to create clearance for a jack.

[varmint]

I've used both bottle and scissor jacks on the frame of my 16' Scamp. I always use a block of wood to spread the force over a greater area on the frame. When travelling I depend on my car scissor jack but have never had a need to use it in 5 yrs and maybe 30,000 miles of towing. Knock on wood!

[Iowa Dave]

I have four pieces of 2x 8 treated in the front box and and also a pair of Anderson levelers. I can and have slowly pulled the Escape , both the 19 and 21 up onto one or two high of the 2x8 s and the other tandem tire is then off the ground. Hooked up to the tow vehicle, in park and with the brake set I remove the tire and wheel for service, rotation or whatever. If it’s brake adjustment, I spin the tire and wheel and adjust as necessary.
Iowa Dave

[Wayne Collins]

It may be possible to place the jack under the swing arm (torsion axle) it then need just enough lift to get the tire off the ground. Be sure to chock both front and rear of the other wheel. That's as long as there is enough clearance in the wheel well. Best to be hitched to the TV, so the trailer doesn't shift on you.
Remember to loosen the lug nuts before raising the wheel. And do the final torquing after lowering to ground.

[Rzrbrn]

Thanks everyone. I will certainly follow some of the advise given. Jacking up at home is one thing, quite another when out in the boonies without a cell phone connection, in the rain or snow, soft ground slanted roadway etc. Hopefully I will remember to find a better place to pull over now that I have a tandem.

It just never occurred to me to run the rim up on blocks to get the scissor jack situated. Gotta remember this bit for sure.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Rzrbrn

...It just never occurred to me to run the rim up on blocks to get the scissor jack situated. Gotta remember this bit for sure.

Me neither. Got a flat on my single axle utility trailer a couple of years ago. My tow vehicle only had a bottle-style jack, which wouldn't fit under the trailer anywhere. Fortunately my wife was nearby with a scissors jack that did fit.

Later I told the story to a friend, and he said, "Why didn't you just pull the flat tire onto a rock?" Duh!

[mary and bob]

[QUOTE=Rzrbrn;734608]






Someone said they use a floor jack, which they keep in the bed of their truck. So I checked floor jacks out on Amazon. A 1.5 ton floor jack weighs about 40+ pounds, a 2 ton weights about 60 lbs and a 3 ton floor jack weighs 80 up to 150 lbs. I would need a bumper crane just to get it out of the bed of the pickup.


I have two professional quality floor jacks like you would find in any good auto repair shop. They are good jacks but heavy. I also have three of the small mini floor jacks that I bought at Sears. They are rated 2 1/4 tons and are only 22" long. One came in a plastic carry case. I use them a lot because they are small and easy to carry. They work good and have never had any problems. I bought a similar one for my son-in-law at Walmart so he could change tires. I was surprised at how good it worked. These are not jacks you would use on an everyday basis, but for occasional use they are OK. I have used one to pull the wheels on our Casita.

[Rzrbrn]

Bob, what minimum size floor jack would you suggest for a 8K lb trailer to change a tire? Can you recommend a brand and model?

[mary and bob]

Henry, keep in mind that you are not jacking up the whole trailer, just one wheel. I can't recommend any particular brand as my big floor jacks I bought years ago and the Sears jacks are 8 to 10 years old. A bottle type hydraulic jack takes up much less storage space, but may be harder to get in position if a tire is flat. When traveling I take a 5 ton bottle jack and whatever jack came with the vehicle, which is usually a scissors jack. An extra scissors jack wouldn't hurt to have along with a few short boards or the plastic leveling blocks you would have anyway. Two jacks together will give you double the jacking capacity, and be safer too. Or, you get a roadside service policy and let someone else change the tire. We have AAA premium plus RV and for a couple years also had Good Sam. Never used either one.
Edit; to answer your jack size question, 2 1/2 to 3 ton floor jack should be good.

[Russ Foster]

Other than a jack in the vehicle, I carry a ramp (approx 24 inches long base) made of 3 shorter and shorter pieces of 2 x 6. Case in point: discovered a nail in one of two tires on left side of dual axle BF in the campground...backed trailer onto ramp, suspending front tire, removed it..back in 1/2 hr with repaired tire..installed and pulled trailer off ramp. No crawling/laying on the ground, etc..

[Rzrbrn]

Russ, That is pretty much what the Blaylock and Andersen Rapid Jack do. Put under one of the two dual axle tires and the other is suspended high enough to make the change.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Rzrbrn

Someone said they use a floor jack, which they keep in the bed of their truck. So I checked floor jacks out on Amazon. A 1.5 ton floor jack weighs about 40+ pounds, a 2 ton weights about 60 lbs and a 3 ton floor jack weighs 80 up to 150 lbs. I would need a bumper crane just to get it out of the bed of the pickup.

Why would anybody consider a full sized 150 lb floor jack to change a tire on a trailer? No way.

A small aluminum floor jack only weigh about 20 lbs. They have removable handles that break down into two pieces and the whole setup fits nicely in a milk crate along with a 12v compressor, a set of heavy gauge jumper cables and a lug wrench.

I have also used a scissors jack with no problems because they are so low when collapsed. I made a jack handle for mine that work from a 12v drill or a 1/2" ratchet. Some of them have to be opened a bit before the thread can take over for lifting, but they are still very low and fit under the leaf spring with a flat tire. Bottle jacks are often too tall to fit with a flat, so you have to jack under the frame in a different position and then block and lift again.

Screw jacks are another great option. They are often two stage and lift a long way for their height. They are completely reliable and can't leak fluid. These came as the standard jack for Toyota and Nissan pickups for years. There are different models, so it's best to look a them and get one you like, but the best ones are about 4" in diameter at the bottom with a 2" diameter cylinder part that lifts. They can be either cast iron or stamped steel. Very good design. Be sure to get the handle if you find one. I have picked up several of them at garage sales, of all places.

If you jack under the leaf spring plate, on leaf spring axles, you only have to lift the wheel as far as the tire has collapsed. If you jack under the frame, you have to jack enough that the spring can extend down and the height of the collapsed tire, or several inches more. This can easily be more than a jack can extend.

Floor jacks start out very low and have a lot of travel so they are well suited to this job. Stacking some blocks on a bottle jack is dangerous and can very easily fall. Turning a scissors jack handle is hard, while operating a floor jack pump is quite easy and lowering a floor jack is the easiest of all.

On a 6,600 lb trailer with tandem axles and leaf springs, the lifting weight to change a tire is only about 1,500 lbs max, if you jack under the spring. If you lift under the frame and jack up the entire side of the trailer, the lifting weight would be about 3,000 lbs.

Finally, you can build a short ramp and run the adjacent tire up onto it to lift the flat tire off the ground. If on dirt you can even dig out a bit under the flat as needed, if the ramp is not high enough. It's always nice to have a 2X6 board, long enough for both tires to sit on for leveling anyway. These, with some blocks, works well. Torsion axles work even better with this method because they have no equalizer system.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Russ Foster

Other than a jack in the vehicle, I carry a ramp (approx 24 inches long base) made of 3 shorter and shorter pieces of 2 x 6. Case in point: discovered a nail in one of two tires on left side of dual axle BF in the campground...backed trailer onto ramp, suspending front tire, removed it..back in 1/2 hr with repaired tire..installed and pulled trailer off ramp. No crawling/laying on the ground, etc..

This is what I was referring to. It works very well.