Best approach for 5th wheel suspension maintenance?

[sean.harp]

I'm planning to replace the shackles, bolts and bushings on our MORryde 3000 suspension with their heavy duty wet bolt kit. I wanted to pick the forum's brain regarding the best approach to jacking up the 5th wheel for maintenance.

What I've got planned is to raise the 5th wheel tires off the ground using the auto-leveling system, then place jack stands behind the rear axle and lower the trailer back onto the jack stands.

If you've tackled this work before, how did you approach it and what capacity jack stands did you use?

I could probably just pay Camping World to perform the work, but they're going to charge plenty to do it and then probably hold onto my trailer for 2 months during the process.

[nma33]

I don't think the auto leveling system is designed to do that, I am sure others will chime in.

[Magnolia Tom]

Sean

I recently upgraded to the wet bolts and shackles. This is how I did the job.
Leveled the trailer with all jacks. Used 4 ton jack stands as additional supports. Removed wheels with floor jack. Once both wheels are off, do one bolt/shackle at a time and use the floor jack to help raise/lower axle to make reassembly easier.

I did mine at home and I have a concrete slab that my trailer is parked on so every was well supported. If doing this on grass or on gravel, make sure you have some good blocking or cribbing to spread the load of the jacks.


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[sean.harp]

Thanks! What sort of floor jack do you have. The frame of our 325 is a pretty good distance off the ground at 26" ground to frame with the tires still touching the ground (it's currently auto-leveled).

[Magnolia Tom]

I have a floor jack I got from Lowes a while ago. I think it is a 2.5 ton floor jack

Looks like this




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[Magnolia Tom]

I use the floor jack under the axle to lift tires off the ground. I use the jack stands to help support the frame.


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[bdreinv]

Originally Posted by Magnolia Tom

Sean

I recently upgraded to the wet bolts and shackles. This is how I did the job.
Leveled the trailer with all jacks. Used 4 ton jack stands as additional supports. Removed wheels with floor jack. Once both wheels are off, do one bolt/shackle at a time and use the floor jack to help raise/lower axle to make reassembly easier.

I did mine at home and I have a concrete slab that my trailer is parked on so every was well supported. If doing this on grass or on gravel, make sure you have some good blocking or cribbing to spread the load of the jacks.


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There are a couple of u tube videos on line, pretty much spot on with your plan.I wonder if you placed 4x4s under rear jacks, that would get the rear wheels off the ground.I think the front jacks have more stroke.Found a company MAKAR105RV.com. They sell the kits 78 bucks,plus an overview on install.Can you let us know how install came out?Thanks

[Magnolia Tom]

Originally Posted by bdreinv

There are a couple of u tube videos on line, pretty much spot on with your plan.I wonder if you placed 4x4s under rear jacks, that would get the rear wheels off the ground.I think the front jacks have more stroke.Found a company MAKAR105RV.com. They sell the kits 78 bucks,plus an overview on install.Can you let us know how install came out?Thanks

Yes, I had (always have) blocking under all my jacks. I don't know if I would be 100% comfortable using only the leveling jacks to get the wheels off the ground....while it could possibly do it, I don't think it was designed to be used that way.
I got my kit from Amazon for about the same price. I also got the X factor brace to add addition reinforcement between the equalizers.

Install wasn't too bad. Took a couple hours but I was also doing some brake/bearing maintenance at the same time.


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[RedHorse1]

I did the wet bolt trick in the storage lot, dirt with a little gravel. I cut up a bunch of 2x4's for cribbing. Used the landing gear to support the front and raised the front about 6". Built 2 towers (cribbing) a little aft of the axles for my 3T jack stands, one on each side. 2 more towers behind those that I put the 20T bottle jack on. Raising one side at a time I lifted the rear maybe 2 - 3 inches at a time, position the stand on that side and repeat on the other side until I'd raised the rear 6" or so. Then I used two floor jacks to lift an axle, remove the tires and lower. Do the same to the other axle and the hubs are exposed. The key is to lift the rig enough that when the tires are off and the axle lowered the suspension droop when the axle is lowered still keeps the hubs off the ground. I then worked on one axle at a time. Taking things apart was easy, reassembly I had a friend helping and things went smooth.
Look for BigJohnD's massive post in the Mods section. He's posted a great set of pics and "how he did it" discussion.
Work slow and carefully, these things are heavy!