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Old 05-16-2013, 06:58 AM   #1
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Temporarily Supporting TT on the Scissor Jacks

Our TT is sitting on a seasonal site. I want to add additional blocks under the Tongue Jack as the nose shifted about 4 inches over the winter! I want to sure the tongue up. Will the Scissor Jacks support the TT long ennough for me to raise the tonngue off the ground to add blocks underneath the Tongue Jack. The Tires are on the ground and the four corner Jacks are sitting on blocks. Our TT is a 308 RETS.

I'm thinking 10 or 15 minutes max that the Tongue Jack will be off the ground. Any thoughts and as always thanks for your input.
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Old 05-16-2013, 07:33 AM   #2
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Have done this a few times with trailer in my sig also with new trailers at manufacturer when tongue has sunk into the soft ground. They are likely not designed for it but in my experiences they have held long enough to make necessary adjustments.
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Old 05-16-2013, 08:44 AM   #3
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Unless I'm missing something, in a static situation (nobody moving around inside, slides in, etc.) with the rear jacks relaxed the front jacks should just be seeing the tongue weight. That should be fine for short periods.

On a hard surface I have also used blocking and a roll around floor jack against the A frame in similar situations. within reason the floor jack will move if anything shifts. A bottle jack on the A frame might be a bit dicey. FWIW. vic
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Old 05-16-2013, 09:28 AM   #4
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Unless I'm missing something, in a static situation (nobody moving around inside, slides in, etc.) with the rear jacks relaxed the front jacks should just be seeing the tongue weight. That should be fine for short periods.

On a hard surface I have also used blocking and a roll around floor jack against the A frame in similar situations. within reason the floor jack will move if anything shifts. A bottle jack on the A frame might be a bit dicey. FWIW. vic
Hmmm. Yes this is a static situation! I plan on re-leveling the TT on it's seasonal site (front to back), so with that said, I could relax the jacks, set up some blocks at the tongue so it can rest. Then set my new blocks (cap blocks & treated lumber under the tongue jack and re-level front to back, set my Scissor Jacks and I'm good to go.

I'm thinking this will work!
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Old 05-16-2013, 01:37 PM   #5
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That is a mighty high TT, as we have one ourselves. I've got two sets of four 2x6" stacked blocks fastened together that are used under the tongue jack. You will need something similar I would imagine. After getting the blocks you will need, perhaps somebody can just back-up to your TT, hitch it up on the ball only, lift it up, and you can slide your blocks underneath the foot of the jack, and good to go.

Mike
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Old 05-16-2013, 01:51 PM   #6
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I wouldn't do it. The stabilizer jacks aren't mean to lift or support heavy weight. You also run the risk of tweaking the frame and most owners manuals state this. I would use a bottle jack or something similar to lift the tongue with the stabilizers up, level it front to back and then reset the stabilizers. JMHO
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Old 05-16-2013, 02:43 PM   #7
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That is a mighty high TT, as we have one ourselves. I've got two sets of four 2x6" stacked blocks fastened together that are used under the tongue jack. You will need something similar I would imagine. After getting the blocks you will need, perhaps somebody can just back-up to your TT, hitch it up on the ball only, lift it up, and you can slide your blocks underneath the foot of the jack, and good to go.

Mike
Thanks Mike. I'm sure the owner of the Campground will come down with his tractor to lift the nose as I block it. Worse case, I'll block the nose (nose) with blocks so that I can left the tongue temporarily to set the blocks up like you suggested.

As always, thanks everyone for the great input!
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Old 05-16-2013, 02:47 PM   #8
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I wouldn't do it. The stabilizer jacks aren't mean to lift or support heavy weight. You also run the risk of tweaking the frame and most owners manuals state this. I would use a bottle jack or something similar to lift the tongue with the stabilizers up, level it front to back and then reset the stabilizers. JMHO
Bob, I would agree with your thinking. I'm either going to have the Campground owner lift the nost or I'll rest the tongue on stacked blocks so I get set new blocks under the foot of the tongue Jack. The re-level her front to back.

Thanks everyone!
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Old 05-16-2013, 03:01 PM   #9
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Personally, I would use a bottle jack. I would place it on some thicker pieces of plywood or 2 pieces of 2x12”. Your scissors jack in your jeep should be strong enough to hold it in place but I would rather use a bottle jack as it would be safer. You could place the jack head right into the ball socket, so it is centered and out of the way while you do your work.
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Old 05-16-2013, 06:21 PM   #10
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Not to be argumentative, but I will be...

Of course the conservative and safest answer is to employ something which supports to the A frame. That said, with the wheels firmly chocked if a stabilizing scissors jack, and frame of the trailer where they are attached, won't support the tongue weight of the trailer divided in 1/2 (for each jack) in a STATIC situation then you have bigger problems.

By taking the weight off the rear jacks you virtually guarantee that the only weight the front jacks will see is the trailer tongue weight because the rest of the weight is on the axles. When an owner employs all the stabilizing jacks available then it is very possible to actually lift the trailer off the axles and add heavier loads than just the tongue weight to the front (or rear) jacks. The other factor is that when the slides are out and people are occupying the trailer it then becomes a dynamic load situation which changes all bets.

500# is two big guys standing on the scissor jack. That is the same as 1000# tongue weight (divided in 1/2 for each jack). Does anyone really think that the scissor jack or trailer frame attachment point would fail under the weight of 2 big guys in a static load situation?

As I said, the conservative path is to use the A frame. If you're stuck by yourself in some situation without help, in my opinion the scissor jacks are up to the task with a static load condition, but do what you feel comfortable with.

FWIW. vic
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Old 05-16-2013, 07:53 PM   #11
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Scissor jacks would be find. Most of the jacks on TT are rated at 1000 lbs. I had a 32 footer I used to accidentally raise off the front tongue jack just by cranking the front jacks down. I did not even realize that I had done that until I had seen the front jack later.
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Old 05-16-2013, 09:24 PM   #12
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A true Scissor jack stabilizer will most likely hold the trailer up. Some stabilizer jacks don't look very sturdy like the electric jacks on our trailer.
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Old 05-17-2013, 07:42 AM   #13
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A true Scissor jack stabilizer will most likely hold the trailer up. Some stabilizer jacks don't look very sturdy like the electric jacks on our trailer.
That is a very good point. Some of the stabilizing jacks are not as sturdy as the scissor jack style called out in the thread title.

Another very important point is to block the wheels firmly. The the scissor stabilizing jacks are weak in the sideways direction. A shift the wrong way could be a big problem.

As with any lifting or rigging situation some basic knowledge needs to be possessed and applied before going off willy nilly. One rigger that I learned from always stressed that you needed to make certain things were right before any lift. Once a load gets away from you the only safe thing to do is stand back and watch the carnage. vic
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Old 05-28-2013, 02:29 PM   #14
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Well Gang, Here's what I did and it worked perfect. I raised all the Scissor Jacks and let the camper rest on the Tongue Jack just as if she was sitting in storage. I then lowered the A-Frame down on to a stack of blocks so that I was able to raise the tongue jack of the ground. Set up blocks for the tongue and lowered the tongue jack into place. Now I was able to set up my blocks for each Scissor Jack to level the TT. She is now rock solid. Thanks for all the advice!
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Old 05-28-2013, 03:40 PM   #15
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Well Gang, Here's what I did and it worked perfect. I raised all the Scissor Jacks and let the camper rest on the Tongue Jack just as if she was sitting in storage. I then lowered the A-Frame down on to a stack of blocks so that I was able to raise the tongue jack of the ground. Set up blocks for the tongue and lowered the tongue jack into place. Now I was able to set up my blocks for each Scissor Jack to level the TT. She is now rock solid. Thanks for all the advice!
Good job! You did it just like a good millwright would have done...with cribbing. You could leapfrog like this all day and won't misuse your stabilizers.
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