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Old 09-02-2018, 08:03 PM   #1
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Jack Stands - Yes Or No?

We're going to forego our planned trip north. Too cold and very wet. So, time to put the 19 away for the winter. I want to put it up on jack stands to help preserve the brand new tires. However, I'm not sure where to put the stands. Should they go on the frame between the two axles? It would seem to be the most logical place but I'm open to suggestions.

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Old 09-02-2018, 08:08 PM   #2
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My tires are perfectly happy sitting on my asphalt driveway, year round. After six or seven years, I replaced them even though they looked almost new.

I'd be more concerned about twisting the frame or putting undue stress in areas of the frame by lifting it.
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Old 09-02-2018, 08:13 PM   #3
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I place my tires on strips of plywood while at home to keep the tires off concrete... and put the stabilizers down.
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Old 09-02-2018, 08:34 PM   #4
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Jack stands

Our trailer is parked on a concrete floor in the off season. I have read that a concern is parking on new concrete ( less than a year old.) I don't know if it's valid but the first year I put each tire up on a 2X10. If I were going to use Jack stands, I'd get 4 stands and position them about a foot on each side of the wheels. Once set up I'd assure that the Jack post was in contact with the parking surface but supporting very little and I'd also make sure the stabilizers were down. That's how I would do it. Others may have different ideas and logic.
Safety is job 1.
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Old 09-02-2018, 09:44 PM   #5
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Interesting issue, although I think that the axles are more of a storage issue than the tires are. I plan to take the weight off the tires and torsion axles for storage, and will do so with jack stands under the frame between the wheels. My intent here is to relieve the compression of the rubber elements in the torsion axles, not to save the tires.
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Old 09-02-2018, 09:47 PM   #6
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That's how I would do it.
Iowa Dave
Me too.

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Old 09-02-2018, 10:43 PM   #7
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I take weight off the axle by ensuring that there is no beer left in the fridge.
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Old 09-03-2018, 01:35 AM   #8
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A pair of jack stands for this purpose should be rearward of the centre of mass (balance point of the trailer) so that the tongue jack still carries load and the whole thing is stable. A challenge in putting stands between the axles is that the wheels are on the end of trailing arms, so midway between the axle tubes (which run across the trailer) is forward of the point midway between the wheels, so it might be easy to get too far forward. A solution might be to put the stands under the brackets (not directly touching the square tubes; see page 17 of the owners manual) of the rearward axle.

Another challenge is how to raise the trailer: the best place for stands is also the best place to jack, so a compromise jacking location (presumably on the frame just rearward of the rearward wheels) is required. It's easy to use ramps, but then you still have the trailer supported by (at least two of) the wheels, defeating the whole purpose of putting it up on stands. If you have at least one (two is better) of those jacks that lift the tire for side-to-side levelling, that would work well to lift, place the stand, and then retract and remove the jack.
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Old 09-03-2018, 05:23 AM   #9
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I was told to place a jack on the frame as close to the axle as you can get, which might be what Brian is saying.

My tire guy suggested, at a minimum, move the trailer a bit a couple times over the winter to get a different part of the tire in contact with the ground or whatever. Better, get the weight off the tires. Best, remove the tires and put them in the basement.

I put it up on blocks one year pretty much like Dave says, overall it was way to much hassle. Camping for the winter in the south has worked out a lot better.
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Old 09-03-2018, 06:51 AM   #10
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I take weight off the axle by ensuring that there is no beer left in the fridge.
That sounds like a really good idea, and with practice one I believe I could master. Perhaps a youtube video showing your technique would be helpful.
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Old 09-03-2018, 07:08 AM   #11
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I always thought the beed remained in the trailer, just in a different place......
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Old 09-03-2018, 08:03 AM   #12
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Camping for the winter in the south has worked out a lot better.
I like that way of thinking
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Old 09-03-2018, 08:08 AM   #13
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Here is a short, helpful video. Also make sure the tires are protected from the sun with covers:


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Old 09-03-2018, 08:20 AM   #14
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I always thought the beed remained in the trailer, just in a different place......
Hi: cpaharley2008... Some people re tire their trailer, others simply retire it!!! Alf
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Old 09-03-2018, 08:28 AM   #15
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I retire to my trailer each night. And my thumbs get tired doing all this typing.
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Old 09-03-2018, 08:57 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by padlin View Post
I was told to place a jack on the frame as close to the axle as you can get, which might be what Brian is saying.

My tire guy suggested, at a minimum, move the trailer a bit a couple times over the winter to get a different part of the tire in contact with the ground or whatever. Better, get the weight off the tires. Best, remove the tires and put them in the basement.
I found both of these too much work, so after a few years of nit-picking just put a board underneath our tires. After a couple of decades haven't had a problem with tires or trailer suspension. Lately, it's been stored inside in the county's fairground building, but they don't put boards underneath the tires.

Quote:
Originally Posted by padlin View Post
Camping for the winter in the south has worked out a lot better.
We've decided this is the correct way to winter our camper.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 09-03-2018, 09:30 AM   #17
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I always thought the beed remained in the trailer, just in a different place......

Only temporarily...
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Old 09-03-2018, 09:35 AM   #18
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The idea was to keep the weight from damaging the sidewalls when sitting still over the 7 month off season. Both tires (crappy Towmax's) on my Starcraft had bubbles on them from being parked without moving over the winters. It was a single axle that had just 300 lbs of payload capacity, meaning it was always pretty much at the max weight for the tires. Which is not the case on my 5.0TA.
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Old 09-03-2018, 10:15 AM   #19
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I’ve never jacked up my trailer for the winter with jack stands underneath though I keep a pair in the garage. I am known for sometimes taking them along on trips. I do that not for the trailer but for the tow vehicle, given the fact that it’s factory jack is 99 percent junk.

We are planning a 10-day-plus trip without the trailer, for October. This has me thinking about using them garage jack stands. Concerned about theft while we are away. Last year my neighbor woke up in the morning to find his brand new F150 up on blocks and both fancy front tires/rims gone sometime in the night. That was brazen and unnerving. The bad guys are out there. We may live in the land of enchantment, but it's also the land of opportunity.

What to do? We are on a quiet dead end dirt road street not much patrolled. We will park our second car in front of ET-19 but any good thief could probably pop it and move it over. I thought of adding orange tire clamps, about heavy chains looping through the wheels and under the axles, and of tongue locks. All are probably false security easily circumvented. It would seem the only best solution is to make the trailer just too much to bother with. Thieves rely on stealth and speed.

To make them pass it up I need to make my trailer the lesser target of opportunity. My solution is floor jacks. I will jack up one side of the trailer and remove both tires. That should do it.

Wait -- ('target of opportunity?") --come to think of it, we're surrounded by stick-builts.
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Old 09-03-2018, 04:39 PM   #20
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Question - Why can't the trailer be supported by the stabilizer jacks?
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