Tire Change - Bottle or Rapid Jack

[Ian and Sue]

[QUOTE=cpaharley2008;253639]

Originally Posted by Ian and Sue

I am in the bottle jack camp. I carry a hydraulic bottle jack that does 5 or 6 ton. This will also allow me to change the tire on a fully loaded truck, trailer, whatever...I don't trust the jack that the truck came with. I have even used the jack to help level things in extreme cases I find it easier than driving up on something to jack and put the right blocks where they belong. Now if I could find the balance point, I could get the whole trailer up in the air with one jack...[/QUOTE]

Not sure that would be a good idea for the frame and opposite axle side...

Geeze....relax I was joking!

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Ron,
Are you saying that adjusting the tow vehicle will level your trailer? or is that comment strictly for truck purposes?

Not exactly, it'll help level the trailer in difficult spots when you're not unhooked. I've had situations where the ground sloped differently where the truck was and where the trailer was. Sometimes doing something like back up the truck on blocks will bring the tongue up without having to lift the back end of the tug with the tongue jack.

At the other end of the scale, when a stabilizer can't reach the ground they fill the gap.

2 bys, I never leave home without them.

Ron

[Fox hunt]

i used the trailer aide to change tires on my friends fully loaded 6 horse trailer very easy so i bought one,

[Little Richie]

Originally Posted by Bilbo

Hello, question about changing tires on a 5.0 TA - should I carry a bottle jack or will an Anderson Rapid Jack suffice in the need to change a tire?

I've seen some older threads about the Rapid Jack not working because of the axels Escape uses and wanted to see if there is any concensus one way or there other.

Thanks
Jim

I gave a 2017 model with the elevated axel. I called the axel manufacture regarding the Rapid jack and similar products. They gave a polite but firm “NO!”

I use a US jack and stands that are high enough to accommodate the lifts on my axel. There may be a cheaper alternative.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Little Richie

I called the axel manufacture regarding the Rapid jack and similar products. They gave a polite but firm “NO!”

Not to be argumentative with Dexter, but I don't see why they'd tell you that. I've used my Andersen rapid jack on my 19 without any issues at all. Rapid jacks work just fine with Dexter Torflex axles.

[Little Richie]

I must note that I did not test or measure the impact on the axel of using a rapid jack or similar product.

If you are willing to take to use this kind of device the down side is possibly damaging the axel there are some advantages that may be important to you:
1 if you are not familiar with the safe use of a jack it maybe siplier to use correctly. (Check reviews)

2 it is cheaper than a good jack

3 it is smaller than a jack and stands if you use stands

4 it can be used as a backup if you rely on a portable air pump and road service (depending on trip plans).

Regarding 4: on other trailers I have delt with slow leaks by just re-inflating the tire and driving to a repair shop. (I highly recommend the portable ac/dc pumps. I use mine primarily to adjust camper tire pressure when going between temperature and altitude extreams. )