Stabilizer Jacks Necessary?

[IMJ in FLA]

Originally Posted by IMJ in FLA

Sequence of steps:

1) Level camper side-to-side as necessary by driving onto leveling blocks
2) Deploy wheel chocks
3) Disconnect electrical and safety chains from tow vehicle
4) Raise tongue to disconnect hitch
5) Pull tow vehicle forward to clear trailer tongue
6) Raise or lower tongue to level forward-to-rear
7) Deploy stabalizers

Folliow steps in exact reverse order when hooking up to leave.

(It's important to retract the rear stabalizers prior to raising the tongue when hooking up -- otherwise you may put more weight on the rear stabalizers than they are designed to hold.)

Amy,

After making my post, I read in a similiar thread on another forum that some folks remove the safety chains as a last step. There is a good reason for this, since if one does not have a good chock on a wheel, then the safety chains will stop the vehicle after disconnecting the ball coupler.

Another issue is the emergency brake cable on the trailer. When Escape Trailers configured my trailer, they attached the emergency brake activation cable to one of the safety chains. Some trailer configurations have that cable as a separate item that has to be connected/disconnected as a separate step. I have read arguments why this cable should be separate from the safety chains. If your trailer emergency brake cable is separate from the safety chains, then I would disconnect that item last.

Revised steps:

1) Level camper side-to-side by driving onto leveling blocks
2) Deploy wheel chocks (one chock on each side, forward and back, of each wheel)
3) Disconnect electrical from tow vehicle
4) Raise tongue to disconnect trailer from tow vehicle
5) Disconnect safety chains
6) Disconnect emergency brake cable (if separate from safety chains)
7) Pull tow vehicle forward to clear trailer tongue
8) Raise or lower trailer tongue to level forward-to-rear
9) Depoly stabalizers

I hope this helps,
Mike

[k0wtz]

Our 13f I guess the p/o had installed permanent jacks at the back bumper. Sure is handy I suggest using them. I do not like the old method with the jack stands.


I have wood pieces 2x6 to put on the ground for the jacks to meet. helps a lot I think and I use 1 at the tongue!

bob

Originally Posted by pegski

I have sold the Casita and kept my 13’ Scamp and I never put the stabilizers down. It’s just me and I’ve never had it feel tippy. Stabilizers are a pain in older campers.

[gordon2]

Originally Posted by IMJ in FLA

Sequence of steps:

...
6) Raise or lower tongue to level forward-to-rear
7) Deploy stabalizers (sic)

Folliow (sic) steps in exact reverse order when hooking up to leave.

...

That means you "un-deploy" the stabilizers and then raise or lower the tongue preparing to hitch up.

I disagree. Lower tongue before retracting the rear stabilizers. its much easier and less likely to bind or break something when there is no weight on them. And then raise the tongue and hitch up.

[Rick In Mn]

Originally Posted by IMJ in FLA

Another issue is the emergency brake cable on the trailer. When Escape Trailers configured my trailer, they attached the emergency brake activation cable to one of the safety chains. Some trailer configurations have that cable as a separate item that has to be connected/disconnected as a separate step. I have read arguments why this cable should be separate from the safety chains. If your trailer emergency brake cable is separate from the safety chains, then I would disconnect that item last.

What good does the breakaway cable do if its hooked to the chain?

[Kenny Strong]

it does not hook to the chains. it hooks to the tow, where the end of the chain hooks

[Casita Greg]

The "break-away" cord should be connected directly to the tow vehicle. You can hook it into the same fitting, (slots,) that the safety chain hooks go into on the tow vehicle hitch, but not to the safety chain itself. The rationale is that if the trailer separated from the hitch ball, it could "jump" off the hitch ball, but if the emergency brake cord is attached to the trailer's safety chains, then it wouldn't pull out and energize the trailer brakes, because the safety chains would still be attached to the tow vehicle, but the trailer wouldn't be. Also remember that the safety chains need to be crossed under the tongue so that if the hitch came off the tow ball, the trailer tongue would be "cradled" and caught by the crossed chains, keeping it up off the road surface.

[Fred762]

Originally Posted by AmyFL

Walt P said something a lot of solo campers say: stabilizer jacks not always necessary. I guess I’ll put them down. I need to practice anyway. Kenny - Loved the imagery of the pancakes flying - but would hate for that to happen!

I saw a Casita at Ft Desoto Park in Pinnellas County, FL, last year. I don’t see many if FL. Hope to run into some of you nice fiberglass “egg”people sometime. (And thanks for the backing/parking tips!)

WE loved Ft Desoto last May and plan to go back when we can with our new E21. . Our other fav was TH Stone @ cape San Blas, but the hurricane destroyed it and the road to it..sad...and I bet FL will not rebuild the road or CG.
Be careful with raising the tongue with rear stabilizers down..if not careful you can 1. bend the rear stabs and 2. break the stabs bks there is alot of leverage pressing DOWNWARDS on the rear, when you raise that tongue.
Best bet is LEVEL the trailer side to side and front to back..THEN put down yer rear stabs on 2" thick blocks of wood and make them tight using your stabilizer tool. There is a good YT video of it.

[computerspook]

As you may catch here it is as much as anything about comfort as anything else. Now I have the lever down type on the rear. So I get everything about right, then drop the front a couple of extra inches and put the rear jacks down. Then I raise the front and level it.


But I have camped without them many times with or without an attachment to the tow vehicle. NOw as someone said with a 13 foot you can drop the back pretty easy. That is not happening with a 16 footer. Also on an incident site I have gone operational hooked up. Then moved to unhooked and then stabilized later as time permitted.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by computerspook

...NOw as someone said with a 13 foot you can drop the back pretty easy. That is not happening with a 16 footer....

See post #11. That happened in a 16'er.

[Kenny Strong]

the pan cakes were flipped up side down in a 16'er.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by IMJ in FLA

Amy,

After making my post, I read in a similiar thread on another forum that some folks remove the safety chains as a last step. There is a good reason for this, since if one does not have a good chock on a wheel, then the safety chains will stop the vehicle after disconnecting the ball coupler.

Another issue is the emergency brake cable on the trailer. When Escape Trailers configured my trailer, they attached the emergency brake activation cable to one of the safety chains. Some trailer configurations have that cable as a separate item that has to be connected/disconnected as a separate step. I have read arguments why this cable should be separate from the safety chains. If your trailer emergency brake cable is separate from the safety chains, then I would disconnect that item last.

Revised steps:

1) Level camper side-to-side by driving onto leveling blocks
2) Deploy wheel chocks (one chock on each side, forward and back, of each wheel)
3) Disconnect electrical from tow vehicle
4) Raise tongue to disconnect trailer from tow vehicle
5) Disconnect safety chains
6) Disconnect emergency brake cable (if separate from safety chains)
7) Pull tow vehicle forward to clear trailer tongue
8) Raise or lower trailer tongue to level forward-to-rear
9) Depoly stabalizers

I hope this helps,
Mike

Items 8 and 0
8) lower tongue jack until the front is about a 1/2 bubble low.
9) Deploy stabilizers
10) Raise front with tingue jack until level front to back.

11) Light fridge and relax.

[WaltP]

I can attest to another example of tipping in a 16' Casita. Quite startling.

Walt

[ROBERT ONEILL]

The safest way to use the Breakaway cable is to connect it to the frame of the TV = tow vehicle not the hitch, not the safety chain. This is the fastest brake action to happen in the event of a trailer coming disconnected from the TV. Hitches do break at areas where there are bends in the flat metal at the 90 degree bends or bolts shear off when the hitch drags in high centering or when tail dragging happens when entering and exiting driveways and contact is made with the ground. Most people never check for cracks or missing or loose bolts mounting the hitch. If possible connect it to a cross-member at the point in the center of the TV with enough slack to not get caught so it doesn't apply the brakes when making a turn because of pulling out the plunger out on the breakaway switch. Yes, it is rare that a hitch breaks or bolts on the hitch fall out. But it does happen. Commercial driver are required by law to inspect all mounting hardware and safety chains and light before towing anything and completing a log book record of anything problems found. This is an area that truck scales inspect when safety checking TV. Please be safe .
and Epstein didn't *ill himself.

[Glenn Baglo]

I was shown to connect the break-away cable to the pin that holds the hitch in the hitch receiver. The cable loop goes through the R clip and around the pin. Then the R clip is attached to the pin.

The hitch receiver is bolted to the vehicle frame in many places.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

See post #11. That happened in a 16'er.

Weird. Sure would not happen with mine. Not sure what the difference is, but the balance is pretty front heavy. Even with a full waste tank I can't lift the front by hand. About three years ago I had three guys in the 280-300 range at the back table with the waste tank with about a 2/3 fill. No problem.

May have to rethink the order of setting things up at an incident. As I said generally I have to go operational within minutes of arrival. Then I get like 10 minute breaks when I can do various steps in making myself more comfortable.

[NW Cat Owner]

Wow, never thought of flipping a trailer like some of you have described! Dang, gotta keep an eye on those smaller rigs, I guess.



With that being said, the only time I put the stabilizers down in our 21' Escape is if others are going to be in there with me. The movement of the trailer with just me moving around doesn't bother me.


And the other exception is when it's quite windy out. They make a big difference then.


Bending over and cranking them up and down absolutely kills my gut so I try to avoid doing it. And if I do use them, I bring them up the night before I leave so my gut doesn't kill me on the drive out of there.

[computerspook]

Originally Posted by NW Cat Owner

Bending over and cranking them up and down absolutely kills my gut so I try to avoid doing it. And if I do use them, I bring them up the night before I leave so my gut doesn't kill me on the drive out of there.

Get you an extension and a cordless tire impact wrench


Actually some are no longer even coming with cranks and only an extension for a cordless wrench

[k0wtz]

I got some all thread bent a hook on it put it on my cordless drill and take them down or up. real simple real easy!

bob

Originally Posted by NW Cat Owner

Wow, never thought of flipping a trailer like some of you have described! Dang, gotta keep an eye on those smaller rigs, I guess.



With that being said, the only time I put the stabilizers down in our 21' Escape is if others are going to be in there with me. The movement of the trailer with just me moving around doesn't bother me.


And the other exception is when it's quite windy out. They make a big difference then.


Bending over and cranking them up and down absolutely kills my gut so I try to avoid doing it. And if I do use them, I bring them up the night before I leave so my gut doesn't kill me on the drive out of there.

[Jon in AZ]

The day I need power tools just to operate my camper is the day I go back to a tent.

Deploying my stabilizers takes about a minute with minimal bending down and no tools, power or otherwise. I would not do it if I was making a short overnight without unhitching (mainly because I'd be afraid I'd try to drive off in the morning without raising them). Anytime I unhitch, even for one night, there is no reason not to.

I do understand larger trailers require more robust jacking/stabilizing systems. If I had limited mobility and wanted to keep using my large trailer, there are electric options...
https://www.etrailer.com/Camper-Jack.../LC298707.html

[NW Cat Owner]

Originally Posted by computerspook

Get you an extension and a cordless tire impact wrench

Tried that once and I didn't have the strength in my hands to hold on to the darn thing. Plus, the noise is horrible. I've been next to campers using them and .... um, yeah, it's noisy. And I'd like to keep my hearing, thank you very much. (yeah, yeah, wear ear protectors)



Basically anything tight around my belly kills it due to various reasons. Why I wear dresses now. Bending over far enough to do the stabilizers puts too much pressure on the affected area.