Do you jack up your 5th wheel while the landing gear is down?

[Duramax1]

In order to lubricate the Ez Lube axels, I will need to jack up the Sundance 5th wheel while it is in storage. Normally I do not have the 5th wheel hitch in my truck and I am wondering whether I can simply jack up the 5th wheel with the landing gear down or should I install the hitch before jacking it up. Is there a problem with lifting the weight of the rv off one side of the landing gear?

 

[danemayer]

Hi Duramax1,

I just lubed my wetbolts. 4 point auto-level system. Rig was in storage on fairly level concrete. Front jacks were holding the front end. I extended the rear jacks to get the wheels barely off the ground on both sides. SAFETY: you need use appropriate jack stands or other supports before getting under the trailer to work - in case there's a hydraulic failure while you're underneath. Of course if you're just doing the EZ-lube, that may not be an issue.

As to using the EZ-lube zerk to lube the bearings, a lot of people say it's pretty easy to blow the seals and contaminate your brakes with grease. If you go ahead with the EZ-lube, be very careful how much grease you pump in.

 

[wdk450]

With a standard landing gear system you should have the trailer hitched up on the 5th wheel hitch when jacking to lessen frame flexing and overstraining the front landing gear leg on the opposite side to the side you are jacking. The hitch swivels side-to-side and front-to-back. Early in my ownership, I did not know this, and had a roadside tire service guy jacking my trailer without me hitched up to fix a leaking (nail) tire. Well, the pin in the telescoping landing gear ended up shearing, and that leg collapsed together causing damage to the leg thrust bearing that I didn't find until more than a year later.

 

[porthole]

In order to lubricate the Ez Lube axels, I will need to jack up the Sundance 5th wheel while it is in storage. Normally I do not have the 5th wheel hitch in my truck and I am wondering whether I can simply jack up the 5th wheel with the landing gear down or should I install the hitch before jacking it up. Is there a problem with lifting the weight of the rv off one side of the landing gear?

My preference is to always have the 5th wheel connected to the truck if I am raising the axles off the ground.

 

[murry135]

Duane,

Don't you think by keeping the 5'er hitched to to TV it would limit the lift range and twisted the hitch or TV frame and even prevent 5'er from lifting off the ground? Just my mental picture put into words, not theoretical knowledge.

 

[cookie]

I would not jack with the landing gear down. Those legs are not meant to take the sideways pressure put on them while jacked. They only like up and down pressure.
The hitch heads will swivel when needed.

Peace
Dave

 

[scottyb]

As to using the EZ-lube zerk to lube the bearings, a lot of people say it's pretty easy to blow the seals and contaminate your brakes with grease. If you go ahead with the EZ-lube, be very careful how much grease you pump in.

I have read this before, but the EZ Lube instructions tell you to rotate the wheel/hub and slowly pump grease until clean grease comes out the front port around the nozzle. How do you know what is too much? Also, is there any harm in jacking up one wheel at a time, just enough for the tire to spin, using a 2 x 4 on the axle? If so, where is this information? I couldn't find it in the manuals section.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

This winter I tried something different. Because we have Mor Ryde I.S. there isn't much of an area to put a bottle jack for individual wheel lifting. I hooked up the truck, raised all the jacks and lifted one side at a time using the frame. The I.S. frame addition makes it much easier and seemed more stable. This with a 6 ton bottle jack.

 

[cookie]

Also, is there any harm in jacking up one wheel at a time, just enough for the tire to spin, using a 2 x 4 on the axle? If so, where is this information? I couldn't find it in the manuals section.

Here is an exert from the Dexter website FAQ.

MISCELLANEOUS - Is it okay to jack up my trailer?
Dexter recommends that you do not jack up the trailer on the suspension components because there is always the potential for damage. Bent hangers, leaf springs, or axle tubes can cause bad axle alignment with bad tire wear resulting. Also, many trailer builders do not use Dexter hangers and we have no idea how strong these hangers may or may not be. Therefore, we take the conservative approach and recommend jacking up only on the trailer frame.

Lippert says the same.

Peace
Dave

 

[scottyb]

Thanks, I'll take that into consideration. Discount Tire uses 6 floor jacks, two on each axle.

 

[porthole]

This winter I tried something different. Because we have Mor Ryde I.S. there isn't much of an area to put a bottle jack for individual wheel lifting. I hooked up the truck, raised all the jacks and lifted one side at a time using the frame. The I.S. frame addition makes it much easier and seemed more stable. This with a 6 ton bottle jack.

Ray, before I added the LevelUp I used a low profile 20 ton bottle jack. I could set this under the outer-rmost steel vertical plate. This bypasses the suspension and will almost directly lift the tire off the ground.




20 ton jack makes jacking very easy - it is not overkill.

 

[porthole]

I would not jack with the landing gear down. Those legs are not meant to take the sideways pressure put on them while jacked. They only like up and down pressure.
The hitch heads will swivel when needed.

What sideways pressure? The hydraulic landing gear is rated at 14K for each jack. I have on occasion, jacked the complete trialer off the ground.

Don't you think by keeping the 5'er hitched to to TV it would limit the lift range and twisted the hitch or TV frame and even prevent 5'er from lifting off the ground? Just my mental picture put into words, not theoretical knowledge.

Jim, If you are jacking to change a tire or such you are not lifting it that high off the ground. Granted, if you were to bottom out the jacks you could in theory load the chassis unevenly. But you could do that anyway just using the auto feature of the LevelUp if some of the jacks were at the limit of travel and all of the brackets are not welded on exactly the same height.

My reasoning for leaving the trailer connected when rasing off the ground for either tire or bearing service is simple "----" happens (and one of the reasons I have my job).

If I were to raise the trailer un-hitched and there was a hydraulic failure all jacks could possibly retract together. Still connected to the truck would at least keep the front end stable.

 

[Birchwood]

I jack under the axle and have done this many times to grease bearings ,change tires and rotate tires.This process can be done hitched or unhitched .I would never jack the side of a rig when on the landing gear.

 

[cookie]

What sideways pressure? The hydraulic landing gear is rated at 14K for each jack. I have on occasion, jacked the complete trialer off the ground

Duane, the OP is not talking about using the Level Up system. So he is talking about the two front landing gear legs.
If they were supporting the front of the coach in vertical plane, by jacking one side of the trailer the geometry would change and the the legs, especially the one on the non jacked side would no longer be at the optimal vertical position. There would be a sideways pressure along with the downward pressure.
My 2 cents.

Peace
Dave

 

[danemayer]

Duane, the OP is not talking about using the Level Up system. So he is talking about the two front landing gear legs.

I'm afraid my earlier response took the thread off track. On re-reading, it does look like the original question was about a Sundance with front jacks, not an auto-leveling system. My response was about the 4 point auto-leveling which is quite different. Apples and oranges.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Ray, before I added the LevelUp I used a low profile 20 ton bottle jack. I could set this under the oute-rmost steel vertical plate. This bypasses the suspension and will almost directly lift the tire off the ground.




20 ton jack makes jacking very easy - it is not overkill.

I tried something similar to that. I still have drums and if I remember correctly, it was difficult getting the jack centered on the board I was using to keep the jack from sinking into the dirt. I could have put the jack at the edge of the board but it seemed like it was going to sink the board. If I were on concrete or blacktop, it would work. No board needed.

 

[porthole]

I tried something similar to that. I still have drums and if I remember correctly, it was difficult getting the jack centered on the board I was using to keep the jack from sinking into the dirt. I could have put the jack at the edge of the board but it seemed like it was going to sink the board. If I were on concrete or blacktop, it would work. No board needed.

Not for nothing Ray, but I would not use the bottle jack on anything but pavement - unless it was absolutely unavoidable. IIRC I could nto get the jack to work having it set on a board. With two good tires no problem, but if we are trying to jack a flat tire that brings the axle closer to the ground. That and the tire bulge makes it difficult.
With a flat I would drive the good tire up on at least one 2X?

 

[porthole]

Duane, the OP is not talking about using the Level Up system. So he is talking about the two front landing gear legs.
If they were supporting the front of the coach in vertical plane, by jacking one side of the trailer the geometry would change and the the legs, especially the one on the non jacked side would no longer be at the optimal vertical position. There would be a sideways pressure along with the downward pressure.
My 2 cents.

Peace
Dave

I'm afraid my earlier response took the thread off track. On re-reading, it does look like the original question was about a Sundance with front jacks, not an auto-leveling system. My response was about the 4 point auto-leveling which is quite different. Apples and oranges.

I was probably thinking about Jim's (murry135) post when I wrote that.

On my Cyclone, when it had electric jacks, they were set in location by sitting on a welded tabs, then clamped to the chassis. I would not not put sideways pressure on that. Only about 1/8" of steel kept that jack in position.

 

[scottyb]

I jacked up one wheel at a time, just high enough to ratate it while greasing. No problem whatsoever. No stress on anything. The other 5 tires remained firmly on the ground and I was not hitched up.

 

[navyAZ1]

I just replaced all four entire brake assembly's, made the change to the self adjusting type. I wanted all four wheels off the pavement at the same time. I had hyd landing gear installed back in 2011 by Lippert, so I placed 2, 12 ton bottle jacks behind the read axles one on each side placing them at the frame and not on the suspension. My neighbor and I jacked up the rear of the coach sort of at the same pace until I had a slight angle on the coach (rear high), then I went up and used the landing gear to raise up the front. We did this about twice until we had both sides fairly level and all wheels off the ground, placed jack stands under the frame at each point for added safety and went to work. I felt that by using the hyd landing gear on the front that this was actually more stable than hitching to the truck. However, I don't think I would have tried this with the weak electric landing gear that was on the BH originally.