Trailer Tongue Fell (Ideas to Prevent Again)

[mia389]

Originally Posted by eagleback

Sounds like your tires had side wall torque left in them after backing up. You need to back in and then straighten the trailer to remove the side wall tension or it will happen again. and chocks wont stop that from happening. good thing you didn't lose a shin or toe.

This happens to us all the time on our lot. We move our trailers with a bobcat and sometimes we put alot of tension on the axles with tight turns. If we dont straitened them before unhooking the tongue, it will move up to 6 inches sometimes. I could see this happening quite a bit when backing into short camping sites where you dont have much room to roll the trailer back a few feet to straiten the wheels.

[Bilz]

I used to use a 4x10 to which I added a piece of 3/4 ply with a cut out of the foot. It worked great for 6 years.

[morleyz]

I don't use blocks with my tongue jack because of this and not wanting to have to carry around an abundance of blocks. I just bought 3 different length feet to deal with the varying landscapes and follow the instructions provided earlier of putting the TV in neutral and letting the trailer settle on the chocks before unhitching.

Regarding x-chocks, I swear I read in the instructions that you shouldn't operate the tongue jack once the x-chocks are in place.

[OdiN1701]

Have you thought about one of these?

https://www.amazon.com/Fastway-88-00.../dp/B003CE283I

[Tunce the traveler]

Originally Posted by OdiN1701

Have you thought about one of these?

https://www.amazon.com/Fastway-88-00.../dp/B003CE283I

I like that Extension plate

[Lolead]

That Fastway is what I have on my power jack. I am VERY happy with its performance.

[nighthawk87]

Originally Posted by eagleback

Sounds like your tires had side wall torque left in them after backing up. You need to back in and then straighten the trailer to remove the side wall tension or it will happen again. and chocks wont stop that from happening. good thing you didn't lose a shin or toe.

This must be it!


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[nighthawk87]

The problem with the castaway is it doesn’t really add any length as it require removal of the existing circular pad extension.


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[Scott_Trailer_Newbe]

Originally Posted by K2tiger

Similar to what Jagiven mentioned, X-Chocks have worked very well for us. The tires essentially go on "lock down" when these are applied to both sides. Almost entirely eliminates any possibility of forward or backward movement on both sides, thus lateral movement in the forward part of the frame is severely diminished as well. It may not solve the entire issue as you described it, but it may help when added to your current plan.

https://www.amazon.com/X-Chock-Wheel...words=x+chocks

Be careful selecting these because they don't go wide enough to hit both wheels on some of the newer trailers. On my trailer the wheels are 18" apart and this device won't go that wide.

[WVDusty]

Originally Posted by Scott_Trailer_Newbe

Be careful selecting these because they don't go wide enough to hit both wheels on some of the newer trailers. On my trailer the wheels are 18" apart and this device won't go that wide.

Check the 28014 bal x-chock they are for the wider spread axles

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[RAurand]

Originally Posted by Lolead

That Fastway is what I have on my power jack. I am VERY happy with its performance.

I have something very similar to that. Works great and I like how it retracts as the tongue jack goes up.

https://www.rvautoparts.com/81025-At...CABEgLdePD_BwE

[vwprostock]

Originally Posted by Duke4857

Before unhooking from your pickup and putting your jack down. Block your trailer tires, put the truck in neutral put your foot on the brake and release the emergency brake. Take your foot off the brake slowly and see if the trailer moves. If the truck and trailer do not move, you should be safe to unhook the trailer. The truck and trailer should move a inch or two, but it will be a controlled roll to tighten up the wheels up on the blocks. You might be doing this, but I just thought I would toss it out there. I do this and have never had a problem with movement when unhooking.

Do the above...let the rig roll whatever inch or so it wants to up against your chocks and it will really minimize this.

[Duke4857]

Originally Posted by eagleback

Sounds like your tires had side wall torque left in them after backing up. You need to back in and then straighten the trailer to remove the side wall tension or it will happen again. and chocks wont stop that from happening. good thing you didn't lose a shin or toe.

I agree with eagleback. I never considered the sidewall torque left on the tires after parking. I will keep that in mind myself. Learned something new to watch for. Thank You.

[jlechmanik]

Originally Posted by Duke4857

Before unhooking from your pickup and putting your jack down. Block your trailer tires, put the truck in neutral put your foot on the brake and release the emergency brake. Take your foot off the brake slowly and see if the trailer moves. If the truck and trailer do not move, you should be safe to unhook the trailer. The truck and trailer should move a inch or two, but it will be a controlled roll to tighten up the wheels up on the blocks. You might be doing this, but I just thought I would toss it out there. I do this and have never had a problem with movement when unhooking.

I had mine move off of a cone (never use that again) one time at my storage sending the hitch onto my ball. And we had both tandems locked with X chocks. The tires were on rubber pads on gravel and shifted. No damage other than the cone breaking. No damage but an eye opener since we were new to TT coming from a Class C. I like your suggestion!

[Swampy]

Originally Posted by nighthawk87

I do that if I’m on level ground. But if I’m on a slope then that wouldn’t work.

I think I’m gonna go the safe route and just visit Home Depot and make a big block and use my router to make a big hole recess for the jack pad to sit in. This way it won’t ever move.


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nighthawk87,
There are a couple of options for making a block / pad for the jack.
1. Visit the local electric company warehouse and ask them for a piece of broken pole for your purpose. Bring a chainsaw & work gloves with you and I'm sure they will give you as much as you want (they usually have to pay to have them disposed of). The butt end of a 40 foot pole is about 2 ft in diameter and is usually not broken or rotted, plus the wood is pressure treated with a preservative. Be sure to wear safety glasses and gloves ... if treated with creosote, you will smell it and it can burn your skin, if the wood is green colored it is CCA treated (cromated copper arsenate) and the treatment is water soluble, if kind of a yellowish bare wood color, it is probably penta treated also a skin & eye irritant and will corrode steel over time. If you cut these into manageable wafers they should work just fine.
OR
2. You could buy a length of treated 2x12 and cut it into 12x12 pieces, then deck screw the slabs together to make the thickness you want. If you are concerned that it may slide on the earth when supporting the tongue, drill a few small diameter holes in the bottom plate before joining the additional slabs, and insert some spikes that stick through the board a couple of inches like cleats.

I hope some of those ideas give you some additional information to decide what you are doing. FYI, I use a piece of 12x12x12 timber on the jack and 2 sets of the tandem wheel locks from Camco between the tires on both sides once leveled. They also seem to dampen the bouncy feel you get when the RV is set up and you move around in it.

Good Camping ... Swampy

[Duke4857]

Originally Posted by Swampy

nighthawk87,
There are a couple of options for making a block / pad for the jack.
1. Visit the local electric company warehouse and ask them for a piece of broken pole for your purpose. Bring a chainsaw & work gloves with you and I'm sure they will give you as much as you want (they usually have to pay to have them disposed of). The butt end of a 40 foot pole is about 2 ft in diameter and is usually not broken or rotted, plus the wood is pressure treated with a preservative. Be sure to wear safety glasses and gloves ... if treated with creosote, you will smell it and it can burn your skin, if the wood is green colored it is CCA treated (cromated copper arsenate) and the treatment is water soluble, if kind of a yellowish bare wood color, it is probably penta treated also a skin & eye irritant and will corrode steel over time. If you cut these into manageable wafers they should work just fine.
OR
2. You could buy a length of treated 2x12 and cut it into 12x12 pieces, then deck screw the slabs together to make the thickness you want. If you are concerned that it may slide on the earth when supporting the tongue, drill a few small diameter holes in the bottom plate before joining the additional slabs, and insert some spikes that stick through the board a couple of inches like cleats.

I hope some of those ideas give you some additional information to decide what you are doing. FYI, I use a piece of 12x12x12 timber on the jack and 2 sets of the tandem wheel locks from Camco between the tires on both sides once leveled. They also seem to dampen the bouncy feel you get when the RV is set up and you move around in it.

Good Camping ... Swampy

I would also add a good waterproof glue when you screw the boards together. Kind of like making your own glulam beam.

[Phil2008]

My driveway has a bit of a grade. So make sure trailer is level for fridge I built this crib out of 2x4's. Gives lots of support for tongue Jack. Sorry for some reason picture went sideways.

[OdiN1701]

Originally Posted by nighthawk87

The problem with the castaway is it doesn’t really add any length as it require removal of the existing circular pad extension.


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Mine had a wheel. It added plenty of extension to not have to stack wood to hook up my truck. There are two versions, one adds 6 inches which seems like it would be more than those circular pads.

[Paullin]

We recently had a flash flood. Water was about 8" or so deep and running with a strong current. The stack of plastic leveling blocks I had used under the jack was washed away. Apparently the TT lurched forward and to the left coming to rest on the passenger's door of our nearby parked truck. Luckily very minor damage to both vehicles. From now on I'll lower the front stabilizing jacks on the TT and keep fingers crossed there are no floods.

[JHerzog]

Originally Posted by Phil2008

My driveway has a bit of a grade. So make sure trailer is level for fridge I built this crib out of 2x4's. Gives lots of support for tongue Jack. Sorry for some reason picture went sideways.

Mine looks just like Phil 2008's picture but I drilled a hole in each piece of wood and have different lengths of rebar I can slide in the holes to hold the pieces together as one unit. That way I can make it up to 18 inches tall or as low as 4 inches tall depending on how many blocks I stack. The rebar keeps the blocks from slipping off each other but they are not permanently affixed.