Stabilizer Jacks... I need to make a quick decision

[Guy]

Dear Chris,

To give a better example of the "how many and where question" it may be more instructive to actually look at Dean's frame.


Your past experience with tripods would not serve Dean or anyone else building a 11 ft. plus teardrop since the doorway is outside the enclosed tripod lines.

[cracker39]

OK Chris...I may have been very much mistaken...I saw tha Bal Levelers that go under the tires. I wasn't referring to jacks, and didn't know that Bal sold them. We've been talking apples and oranges (FL oranges though, Not CA oranges). Sorry I misunderstood what you were referring to.

[cracker39]

Your past experience with tripods would not serve Dean or anyone else building a 11 ft. plus teardrop since the doorway is outside the enclosed tripod lines.

That's why I will be using a jack/stabilizer at each of the corners. With my larger chassis/cabin, I'm afraid that the door area would have weight and stress on it as you stated, "outside the enclosed tripod lines". The extra weight there may be neglible, but I've said it before and I'll say it again...I'd rather be safe than sorry even if it costs more...and it usually does.

[Chris C]

Guy, you have me confused. If I put a Bal jack at the back two corners (underneath the galley end) and use the tongue jack as the third leg, what does the door have to do with the tripod arrangement? Is there any reason those three "legs" wouldn't be able to support/stabilize/level/jack up the tear?

[Guy]

Dear Chris,


Think about standing on your doorway to clean the roof of your tear and the leverage your body weight would have. The fulcrum would actually be on a line drawn from ONE rear end jack to the tongue jack. So it would not matter one bit that you had a tripod since you are outside tripod.
Depending on the length, width, weight, and tongue your body weight could cause the tear to tip or be less than stable for the time you were standing on the door sill.

[Chris C]

Okay! I finally got your point. A point well taken too! Thanks for the tip. I'll put it in my tip file.........and believe me, I have one. So-o-o-o............what you are saying is I need some sort of stabilization at all four corners. Don't remember seeing any trailers at Minden with that many, but your point makes sense. Thanks for your patience in getting it across to me. I'm slow, but I'm old, so I have an excuse.

[R Keller]

Depending on the length, width, weight, and tongue your body weight could cause the tear to tip or be less than stable for the time you were standing on the door sill.

Not an issue. Tripod is fine.

To use your fulcrum example and a back-of-the-envelope simplified calculation: assume a 1,000 lb. trailer is supported by just the tongue jack and two rear jacks with the wheels are totally off the ground, and a 200 lb. person is standing on the door sill (probably at most 1.5 feet outside of the "fulcrum" line).

There is probably, at most, 20% of the total trailer weight (200 lbs.) on the person side of the "fulcrum line", at an average distance of 1.5 feet or less from the line. The person and trailer weight add up to 600 ft-lbs. of torque.

To balance that out, you've got the remaining 80% of the trailer weight (say 800 lbs.) on the other side of the fulcrum at an average distance of 3 feet or more = 2,400 ft. lbs.

600 ft.-lbs. vs. 2,400 ft.-lbs. is no contest. Get six 200 lb. friends on the doorsill with you and you might have a chance at tipping it though!


Rik

[Guy]

Good Calcs, Rik.

Given that then the BAL Leveller (Wheel type) and no further stabilizers would be the easiest since the wheel is even closer towards the door?

[cracker39]

Guy, for a tear, you're probably right. At least as far as tipping goes. But, my comments regarding those tire levelers is that although they level the trailer, when you get in it, that could change as the trailer could still have some vertical movement on the springs/torsion arms if the chassis is not stabilized. Safe, yes, but stable? Not. I like mine to be rock solid when I am in it. You don't want the neighbors to know what you're doing in there do you???

And Chris, you can't be as old as I am.

[Juneaudave]

Geeee....after all this....I'm a thinking Dean got more answers than he bargained for!!!

[R Keller]

Geeee....after all this....I'm a thinking Dean got more answers than he bargained for!!!

Dean oughta know by now that any subject discussed on this board can and will be over-discussed!

Guy, for a tear, you're probably right. At least as far as tipping goes. But, my comments regarding those tire levelers is that although they level the trailer, when you get in it, that could change as the trailer could still have some vertical movement on the springs/torsion arms if the chassis is not stabilized. Safe, yes, but stable? Not. I like mine to be rock solid when I am in it. You don't want the neighbors to know what you're doing in there do you??? .

I like to have the stabilzers (Atwoods, mounted at rear corrners) down too, because the leveling will change a bit once you get in. Though I'd have to really be rockin' the boat so to speak to get the trailer to move much even without the jacks.

Like someone else mentioned, the Atwoods don't have a great ratcheting mechanism. They are rated for 650 lbs. lifting and 1,000 lbs. holding capacity (each), but I find that they are insufficient for lifting the weight of my trailer if I need to go so far as to lift one tire all the way off the ground when side-to side leveling. It won't quite "catch" all the way when you push the metal lifting rod all the way down, and you need it to catch there in order to take it out and insert and do more lifting. I can use them to lift the rear a bit while there is still some weight on the tires. In most cases, that's all I need to do.

But when on a seriously uneven site, like some others on this thread, I use the following method: 1) lower the tongue, 2) unfold and drop the stabilizers (and try to adjust for side-to-side leveling, 3) raise tongue, 4) curse when side-to-side isn't right, and 5) repeat at #1.

Rik

[Guy]

Dear Juneaudave and Rik,

Dean had already made his choice, as the picture I posted above shows. He chose a BAL jack just forward of his door. HEHEHE

[Joanne]

Can someone that's using the BAL Standard T-type stabilizer jacks tell me what the height is of this unit when it's in the stowed or collapsed position?
I see that they need to mount to the underside of a cross member or use a special channel.

Hi Dean,

Sorry to get into the discussion this late, but I've been in training for the last three days.

I'm using both types of stabilizers on my trailer. The BAL type in front (got them for free!) and the Atwood type in the back. I have found that the BAL type stabilize the trailer much more than the Atwoods. Cost is the downside though. Here are the pictures of both my front and back stabilizers.





When my BAL type jack is in the collapsed position it is only about 1.5 to 2 inches in height. Hope this helps!

Joanne