Jack placement on a fiberglass trailer

[PJ47]

Thought of another ? When the 15 yo who changed our tire used a hydraulic jack he put it under the axle. I had read somewhere NOT to do that and then other places say to place it on the axle as close to the tire as you can get it???
He put our lug nuts on backwards so we corrected that when we discover it a few hundred miles later!
Have no idea where else you would put the jack? Cant place it on the fiberglass, right?
PJ

[Jon in AZ]

If yours has a leaf spring axle, as some do, under the axle is okay. If it has a rubber torsion axle, as many do, it's better not to, although done gently on the outer end near the mounting brackets is unlikely to cause harm.

Best practice, though, is to jack on the main longitudinal frame rails just aft of the axle mounts. That part of the frame is designed to carry the full weight of the trailer when the wheels are on the ground.

Lug nuts on backward... very bad.

[Raspy]

15 year old doing service calls out on the highway? How did he get there?

Nuts on backwards? Eeek. Please call his boss and ask that the kid be taught how to do it before someone losses a wheel on the highway.

Jacking as close to the wheel, either under the axle or the frame, is the best you can do. In the middle of the axle or under the floor or under the fiberglass would be a big problem.

[padlin00]

What Jon says. Mine is leaf spring, hard to get to the frame with the undercarriage insulation. They jack where the axle to spring brackets are at the tire shop. The owner tells me they use that point a lot and have never had an axle problem reported. Not a heck of a lot of choice.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by PJ47

... When the 15 yo who changed our tire used a hydraulic jack he put it under the axle. I had read somewhere NOT to do that and then other places say to place it on the axle as close to the tire as you can get it???...
PJ

(I know OP has a Parkliner but this is pertinent irregardless)

I believe that Scamp's web site or video does, or at one point did, say IN ERROR to put a jack under the axle. But in the case of torsion axles, that is bad advice.

Scamp correctly advises to put the jack under the frame:

The trailer frame consists of two main beams made out of 3 inch x 1 1/2 inch tubing, one on each side. Either of these can be used to jack up the trailer. The jack should be placed close to the axle or toward the rear of the trailer, so that the whole weight of the trailer is not on one point. The rear bumper jacks are not intended to be used as a jack for changing tires. A scissor jack, hydraulic jack, or floor jack should be used.

[PJ47]

We have a Parkliner 15' with 2 axel frames from one side of the tire to the other.
Don't know if we have the leaf spring or not. We have no manual but were able to get a video from Parkliner but it did not mention that.
So based on the forum, we will just try and get the jack as close to the tire as possible on the axel.

Hope that works.

We are ordering 2 maxxis tires and having them installed. Have not found tires shops that have these.

Thanks for the feedback

[PJ47]

He may have been 16 but looked 15. Anyway his Dad was his boss and sent him because he was out fishing. Guess we were lucky nothing else happened that day. He also bumped his nose whilst changing the tire and bled profusely. A memory for sure.