1. Jacking up trailer when on the road
I have a single axle trailer for my Mac 26X and have a number of concerns about jacking it up. Any help would be much appreciated.
If I have a puncture on the road, how do I jack it up to change the spare wheel?
I have a bottle screw jack for the towing vehicle which I could use, but Im unsure where to apply the lift. Should I jack the axle itself (using a block of wood to spread the load a little)? Or should I apply the lift to the main frame of the trailer?
Obviously, I would apply the handbrake and chock the wheel that stays on the ground, but theres a heck of a lot of load on the jack and Im concerned that the whole rig might wonder around a bit when jacked and possibly fall off the jack. Any comments on this?
2 Jacking up trailer for storage
It seems to be a good idea to jack the trailer when the boat is stored on it for prolonged periods to take the weight off both tires and wheel bearings. Whats the best way of doing this? My previous owner gave me a set of 4 nice looking tubular stands with metal plates acting as feet and U shaped flanges at the tops that cup the box section of the main frame. The tubular sections are angled slightly from the vertical. However, I think they may be a bit under sized for the job and there appears to be some wrinkling of the metal at the flanges. Also the plates for the feet are not really flat anymore. Im not sure why they should have been designed sloping inwards it does seem to put a lot of sideways pressure onto the sides of the flanges and indeed onto one side of the feet.
So whats the best thing for longer term jacking?
jacking trailer
-
Chip Hindes
- Admiral
- Posts: 2166
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 6:13 am
- Location: West Sand Lake, NY '01X, "Nextboat" 50HP Tohatsu
I've changed a tire on the road and it's not that big a deal.
Jack the axle, not the frame for several reasons. The box tube axle is by far the strongest part of the trailer. It can take it. If you jack the frame, about the first 5-6" of travel will be accomplishing nothing but unloading the spring. By the time you get the wheel high enough to put the spare on, the whole side of the trailer will be way high off the ground.
Do not use a piece of wood to "distribute the load", as it's much more likely to fall of the jack when it's balanced on a piece of wood.
Do not attempt to jack with the trailer on sand, gravel, mud or anything other than a hard surface without a jacking plate- a piece of thick plywood about a foot square- underneath the jack. If it's really hot, you may need a jacking plate even on asphalt.
Get the jack as close to the spring mount as possible so you're only jacking up one side of the trailer. If possible, put it under the spring plate, though you have to have a really short jack to fit.
Do not attempt to jack the trailer when it's unhitched from the tow vehicle. Leave it hitched, tow vehicle in park or in gear, parking brake set, wheels blocked if you have wheel chocks.
While it's on the jack don't put your hands, feet or anything else underneath where the the trailer could fall on them.
You are not doing anything for the bearings by taking the weight off them for storage. Bearing steel doesn't work that way. You may be protecting the tires from "flat spotting", though some would debate whether this is a problem for modern tires.
IMO a trailer even on "good" automotived type jack stands is an ivitation to disaster. Jack stands designed for automotive use do not have a slope. It sounds like what you may have are modified boatyard stands, made to prop the sides of the hull of a boat to keep it form toppling over; the weight is resting on the keel. Typically these have to be chained side to side to keep them from kicking out. They should not be used for a trailer.
If you really feel the need to get the wheoff the ground, jack the axle, remove the wheels and lower the axle onto a couple chunks of 6x6.
"Fix a flat" is good for slow leaks or minor road hazards like nails. You'll be extremely fotunate to discover such before the tire self destructs. For about 90% of on the road trailer tire failures, it will be worthless.
Jack the axle, not the frame for several reasons. The box tube axle is by far the strongest part of the trailer. It can take it. If you jack the frame, about the first 5-6" of travel will be accomplishing nothing but unloading the spring. By the time you get the wheel high enough to put the spare on, the whole side of the trailer will be way high off the ground.
Do not use a piece of wood to "distribute the load", as it's much more likely to fall of the jack when it's balanced on a piece of wood.
Do not attempt to jack with the trailer on sand, gravel, mud or anything other than a hard surface without a jacking plate- a piece of thick plywood about a foot square- underneath the jack. If it's really hot, you may need a jacking plate even on asphalt.
Get the jack as close to the spring mount as possible so you're only jacking up one side of the trailer. If possible, put it under the spring plate, though you have to have a really short jack to fit.
Do not attempt to jack the trailer when it's unhitched from the tow vehicle. Leave it hitched, tow vehicle in park or in gear, parking brake set, wheels blocked if you have wheel chocks.
While it's on the jack don't put your hands, feet or anything else underneath where the the trailer could fall on them.
You are not doing anything for the bearings by taking the weight off them for storage. Bearing steel doesn't work that way. You may be protecting the tires from "flat spotting", though some would debate whether this is a problem for modern tires.
IMO a trailer even on "good" automotived type jack stands is an ivitation to disaster. Jack stands designed for automotive use do not have a slope. It sounds like what you may have are modified boatyard stands, made to prop the sides of the hull of a boat to keep it form toppling over; the weight is resting on the keel. Typically these have to be chained side to side to keep them from kicking out. They should not be used for a trailer.
If you really feel the need to get the wheoff the ground, jack the axle, remove the wheels and lower the axle onto a couple chunks of 6x6.
"Fix a flat" is good for slow leaks or minor road hazards like nails. You'll be extremely fotunate to discover such before the tire self destructs. For about 90% of on the road trailer tire failures, it will be worthless.
Have had to change tires twice, once when the port side tire started coming apart internally, and looked like a wheel coming off from loose lug nuts, and again, to put the internally failing tire back on, when the never-used spare tire totally lost its tread about 50 miles later at 60 mph, and totally destroyed the heavy metal fender. Had to limp home on the failing tire because no one carries the ST215R14 tires MacGregor used on the X. We stopped at several tire stores with no luck.
Out of habit from motorcycling, I carry a tubeless tire repair kit and foot-powered air pump for those nails and screws that cause a slow leak. But in these cases, neither that or a can of Fix-A-Flat would've helped.
I used the Ford F250's bottle jack, on the axle outboard of the spring. I see no need to put the trailer on jacks over the winter, and with wind gusts of over 65 mph at times, feel better with the boat sitting on the tires, rather than jacks or a stack of boards. My wife sewed some tire covers for when the boat is parked, especially over the winter.
Chip's instructions are right-on. If I can add anything, it's to find out whether your tow vehicle lug wrench fits the trailer lug nuts or you need another size lug wrench. I carry a torque wrench and sockets, so have the right size for either.
--
Moe
Out of habit from motorcycling, I carry a tubeless tire repair kit and foot-powered air pump for those nails and screws that cause a slow leak. But in these cases, neither that or a can of Fix-A-Flat would've helped.
I used the Ford F250's bottle jack, on the axle outboard of the spring. I see no need to put the trailer on jacks over the winter, and with wind gusts of over 65 mph at times, feel better with the boat sitting on the tires, rather than jacks or a stack of boards. My wife sewed some tire covers for when the boat is parked, especially over the winter.
Chip's instructions are right-on. If I can add anything, it's to find out whether your tow vehicle lug wrench fits the trailer lug nuts or you need another size lug wrench. I carry a torque wrench and sockets, so have the right size for either.
--
Moe
Agree with Chip and have a few additional suggestions.
When I travel pulling the trailer I carry a Tupperware tub that contains two different size bottle jacks, scissors jack, two pieces of PT 2X8 about 2' long, a couple pieces of 4X4 2' long and miscellaneous tools including torque wrench and sockets for the lug nuts, large crescent wrench and large channel lock pliers each roughly 20" long, hack saw, hammer and chisels, set of combination wrenches, socket set- ratchet and extensions, extra trailer lights, roll of wire, spare trailer bearings and seals and if it's an extended trip the " cordless drill with complete set of bits etc. The container sits in the garage ready to go whenever I take the boat out.
If you have a tire blowout on the trailer, the axle will be much lower to the ground and a standard bottle jack may be too tall to fit, but the scissors jack will. You can lift the axle up enough with the scissors jack until you can get the bottle jack sitting on the 2X8 under the axle. An alternative to the scissors jack is to make a ramp out of one of the 2X8 and 4x4's then pull the trailer up on it, then put the bottle jack and other 2X8 under the axle You should always have two support methods in case one fails.
Always try to carry enough combination of stuff with you to get you out of a jamb. The Boy scout motto has always stuck with me and works well "Be Prepared".
Greg
When I travel pulling the trailer I carry a Tupperware tub that contains two different size bottle jacks, scissors jack, two pieces of PT 2X8 about 2' long, a couple pieces of 4X4 2' long and miscellaneous tools including torque wrench and sockets for the lug nuts, large crescent wrench and large channel lock pliers each roughly 20" long, hack saw, hammer and chisels, set of combination wrenches, socket set- ratchet and extensions, extra trailer lights, roll of wire, spare trailer bearings and seals and if it's an extended trip the " cordless drill with complete set of bits etc. The container sits in the garage ready to go whenever I take the boat out.
If you have a tire blowout on the trailer, the axle will be much lower to the ground and a standard bottle jack may be too tall to fit, but the scissors jack will. You can lift the axle up enough with the scissors jack until you can get the bottle jack sitting on the 2X8 under the axle. An alternative to the scissors jack is to make a ramp out of one of the 2X8 and 4x4's then pull the trailer up on it, then put the bottle jack and other 2X8 under the axle You should always have two support methods in case one fails.
Always try to carry enough combination of stuff with you to get you out of a jamb. The Boy scout motto has always stuck with me and works well "Be Prepared".
Greg
Great comments - thanks guys.
I thought it was a good idea to jack it up for storage but evidently not. So I'm happy to dispense with the stands which did seem inadequate.
No takers on my separate tire pressure question?! Maybe it's because the markings are European? But the main question is what pressure should I put in them?
I thought it was a good idea to jack it up for storage but evidently not. So I'm happy to dispense with the stands which did seem inadequate.
No takers on my separate tire pressure question?! Maybe it's because the markings are European? But the main question is what pressure should I put in them?
-
jklightner
- Engineer
- Posts: 142
- Joined: Fri Jul 09, 2004 1:49 pm
- Location: Tacoma, WA
The scissors jack from my Jeep does a fine job of jacking up the trailer while on the road for tire changes. Fortunately, I haven't had to do it for real but the test run went well. At home, it sits in the driveway where during the off season (which has been the last 19 months!) I have the tires off and stored in the garage to protect them. I put several 4 x 12 's under the axel for support and to give it a slight tilt astern for drainage. I give the drums a spin with my foot whenever I walk by them just to keep the grease and bearings happy. At home I have a roll around garage jack for lifting.