Parking (storing) Question

[modhatter]

This is just too embarrassing to ask. I know you all are going to laugh at my stupidity, but I can not let my pride take a front seat to safety, so here goes. We have just purchased a 2007 TM #2619 and we are totally green to all of this. It is sitting at the top of our driveway which is mostly level at the top, however it does start to slope down right about where the tongue is.

We have a WD hitch on it that the dealer hooked up to our truck. There is a wheel that goes in (either before or after, I am not sure of the sequence) when you unhitch it from the TV.
Since it is a wheel, it rolls. We have a chock in from of each wheel of the TM, but I don’t feel that is secure enough. Are we supposed to lower the scissor jacks for further support. If so, do we crank them up slightly? My son is afraid to unhitch his truck from the TM, but he will eventually have to drive his truck, and can’t be tooling around town with a trailer attached.

How do we make sure it is secure enough, so it won’t roll down the driveway. Again, the TM wheels are on level ground I believe, but it does start to slope where the tongue is. We don’t have any other location to put it, so this is it. Should we not put the tongue wheel on it and instead get some blocks to put under tongue? Or would the stabilizer jacks do the trick?

Needless to say, the dealer who promised to go over everything with us, just whizzed through everything, and I barely got a 15 minute introduction, and he never even touched on this point.
This has got to get the award for the most naïve question ever asked.

[ShrimpBurrito]

First - no stupid questions here.

Second, I have a similar issue, but it sounds like my driveway is steeper. I did not trust the friction of a wheel chock on a decent incline, and since I wanted to eliminate virtually all risk of the trailer going on a solo trip into our neighbor's living room, I wanted a fool proof solution.

My driveway is inclined such that I back the trailer uphill. I made two 6x14 wheel chocks out of a 6x6 and 6x8 bolted and glued together. After I joined them, I went to a wood shop and had them cut an outline of the tire so it will snug up against it. The chock goes above the halfway point of the wheel, so there is no way the TM can run over it.

The chocks obviously go in front of the wheels. In front of the chocks is an 8-foot 6x6 that spans the width of the trailer. In the part of the 6x6 that is directly in front of each chock is a bolt that I drop through the 6x6 into a ~1/2" hole I drilled in the driveway, which is concrete. The bolt just slides in there, and you can remove it with your hand when you release the pressure of the trailer. Thus, the chock is not only braced by friction against the driveway, but it is also held by the sheer force of the bolt. In order for the chock to slide, that bolt has to break, and there is no way that is going to happen.

If that's not an option for you, you might look into some chocks designed for aircraft. With so much at stake, I don't think I'd just a chock from Camping World for this purpose...

Dave

[wbmiller3]

Since you need to get the truck out, and Dave's SuperChocks will take some time to make, do you have a tree or something you could chain the back bumper to? Obviously not a permanent solution but could get the truck loose.

[brulaz]

My driveway is inclined such that I back the trailer uphill. I made two 6x14 wheel chocks out of a 6x6 and 6x8 bolted and glued together. After I joined them, I went to a wood shop and had them cut an outline of the tire so it will snug up against it. The chock goes above the halfway point of the wheel, so there is no way the TM can run over it.

The chocks obviously go in front of the wheels. In front of the chocks is an 8-foot 6x6 that spans the width of the trailer. In the part of the 6x6 that is directly in front of each chock is a bolt that I drop through the 6x6 into a ~1/2" hole I drilled in the driveway, which is concrete. The bolt just slides in there, and you can remove it with your hand when you release the pressure of the trailer. Thus, the chock is not only braced by friction against the driveway, but it is also held by the sheer force of the bolt. In order for the chock to slide, that bolt has to break, and there is no way that is going to happen.


wow. "SuperChocks" indeed.

And yes, for additional security get rid of the Tongue wheel and use your trailer jacks. That will also take some weight off the tires which is supposed to be good for them.

[jhill30]

will this work...
item 94-1392 looks promising to me for your application.
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-jacks/single-axle-tire-chock.htm

[Wavery]

Can you post pics? I'm thinking that you may be a little over cautious here.

You can get hard rubber chocks that do a very good job of gripping concrete. As the trailer tries to roll forward, it rolls up on the chock applying more downward pressure on the chock giving it more gripping power. Unless your driveway is extremely steep, chocks should be fine unless the driveway is coated with motor oil or something.

[ShrimpBurrito]

It may be overkill, but I am confident the failure point of my setup is much higher than that of rubber chocks. And given the consequences of failure, it seemed like a no brainer. Plus, it wasn't hard or expensive. The 6x6 was ~$35, the lumber for the SuperChocks was scrap (free), bolts were <$5, and I think I paid $20 to the wood shop. A half day of my time to get everything, goto the wood shop, assemble the chocks, and drill the holes in the concrete.

Pics are below. The cover is pretty level in the pic, so you can see the level of incline compared to the driveway. It's about 8 degrees, I believe.

To me, it was worth it. Could you get away with rubber chocks? Maybe. Can you get away with my setup? Definitely.

Dave

[wbmiller3]

I wasn't making fun. Your SuperChocks are awesome.

[ShrimpBurrito]

I wasn't making fun. Your SuperChocks are awesome.

No offense taken. And I like the name!

[Redhawk]

I agree with Wayne, if your tires are on level ground, chock them and you will be fine. If it still makes you nervous, put down the front stabilizers for added safety. Use the flat thing on your front jack instead of the wheel, anything to keep the trailer level will help.

the parking spot in my drive way is pretty steep to park a trailer on, but i do it all the time (temporary) with only chocks holding it until i can get the truck turned around and reconnected. It does come forward about an inch making it hard to unhitch, stays put.

[Mr. Adventure]

The wheel on the trailer jack is not terribly useful because of the heavy tongue weight and the roll away risks you mention. If the TM started to roll, there's not a lot you could do to stop it (except maybe grabbing the brake cable as you're jumping out of the way).

So take the wheel off and use the flat plate instead. I carry a 10" block of 6x6 to set the jack on because it provides a good support footprint and reduces the up and down distance the jack has to run. It also travels great between the 2 angle iron brackets on the tongue that support the battery box. With a good block of wood, you could get by without the flat plate if you didn't have one.

[modhatter]

Thank you all for your replies. I think I will incorporate a number of them. Will need to get some rubber chocks. Mine are plastic I think. Also don't have plate to replace tongue wheel, but will look into getting one if possible. If not I'll try the wood post, and use the jacks. Would that be the scissor jacks that I would put down in front?

[brulaz]

Would that be the scissor jacks that I would put down in front?

The scissors jacks on our Elkmont would certainly be strong enough.

[camp2canoe]

I also use the hard rubber chocks - I think they may have been designed for light aircraft. I chock both sides of the TM. They really grip the concrete. For a little added security I have a trailer wheel dock which is basically an orange plastic pad with a depression that cradles the jack wheel. I am confident that my TM won't move absent malicious mischief - and how can you guard against that? - camp2canoe

[PopBeavers]

I am confident that my TM won't move absent malicious mischief - and how can you guard against that? - camp2canoe

Since the TM frame is insulated from ground earth, it would e real tempting to use my 18 kilovolt neon sign transformer. Attach one side to the frame and the other to ground.

If you were standing bare footed on the ground you would likely get shocked before you even touched the TM.

But it might mess with the electronics.

Just a passing thought.

[MisterP]

An observation or opinion - stabilizing jacks are used to stabilize a level trailer to prevent rocking and unwanted motion. They are not intended to prevent a trailer, particularly a trailer on a non level surface, from moving. On my two TMs and I assume on all of them the stabilizer jacks are oriented across the trailer width not along its length. If the jacks are being used to hold the trailer on a hill they will roll under and fail if the trailer moves. Good chocks are your best bet whether they are made by you or someone else. Also if you take the time to level the trailer in your driveway it will be less likely to roll on you.

[Mr. Adventure]

Since the TM frame is insulated from ground earth, it would e real tempting to use my 18 kilovolt neon sign transformer. Attach one side to the frame and the other to ground.

If you were standing bare footed on the ground you would likely get shocked before you even touched the TM.

But it might mess with the electronics.

Just a passing thought.

Fun as this sounds, the innocent will get zapped along with the guilty, and even the guilty would probably seem innocent enough to create liabilities. So something like this would never actually be a good idea. I am impressed with the contents of your garage, though, and I'll bet you've got a lot of potential there you haven't told us about yet.


An observation or opinion - stabilizing jacks are used to stabilize a level trailer to prevent rocking and unwanted motion. They are not intended to prevent a trailer, particularly a trailer on a non level surface, from moving. On my two TMs and I assume on all of them the stabilizer jacks are oriented across the trailer width not along its length. If the jacks are being used to hold the trailer on a hill they will roll under and fail if the trailer moves. Good chocks are your best bet whether they are made by you or someone else. Also if you take the time to level the trailer in your driveway it will be less likely to roll on you.

This makes absolutely good sense to me. If you ever drive off with a jack still extended you'll discover that they crumple too easily to be real good stoppers (I haven't done this in a couple decades, but I had this adventure once with a too-hurried popup departure in the rain). While the jacks each provide some additional resistance, the tongue jack is by far the best one and is pretty good for holding the trailer in place. However, a trailer's tendency to roll is the same whether or not it's level.

[Wavery]

I just bought a 2004 2720SL from a private party. The person that I bought it from has been storing the trailer on a steep sloped driveway for years. He just used the plastic chocks and the levelers down......no issues. See the pic below.

When he was showing us the trailer, there were 4 of us inside the trailer, walking around. I would have used the hard rubber chocks in this situation but he's gotten away with the cheap plastic ones (as evidenced in the pic).

[ShrimpBurrito]

I just bought a 2004 2720SL from a private party. The person that I bought it from has been storing the trailer on a steep sloped driveway for years. He just used the plastic chocks and the levelers down......no issues.

Well I guess that solves that mystery, at least for me. I still wouldn't do it, but I could maybe get comfortable with heavy rubber chocks.

Dave

[ThePair]

That pic isn't too far off from my driveway -- a bit shallower, but not substantially so -- and I use the hard plastic chocks without issue.

[Unstable_Tripod]

Hello Everyone.

I am new to this forum, having joined it because I am extremely interested in getting a Trailmanor. (I currently have a Fleetwood/Coleman Pop-Up tent camper.) Storage is an important concern for me. I keep the popup in the garage and I'd like to keep a trailmanor in there too but I'm not sure about a couple of things.

First issue: I live on a hill and my driveway slopes steeply downhill from the street to the garage. Right now my popup tongue almost hits the pavement at the entrance to the garage when I back it in there because when it gets to that point it is on the level garage floor but the the tow vehicle is still on the sloped driveway. The popup is only 14" long from the rear bumper to the hitch ball coupler. How much clearance does a 19' Trailmanor have from the ground? (I know it has bigger tires but what about the height from the ground to the axle and the fact that the axle is set farther back from center on a Trailmanor?)

Second issue: A popup is supposed to be level before raising the roof because raising the roof when it is off-level is very hard on the cable mechanism. How far out of level can I be and still raise the roof sections of a Trailmanor? I ask because since I would not be able to set the Trailmanor up in the garage as I do the popup (too long when open), I'd have to set it up on the street in front of the house and that is an extremely steep slope. I'd be well out of level even if I put the tongue on the pavement.

I really want a Trailmanor but really don't want the cost and inconvenience of storing it away from home. Thanks very much in advance for your input.

[Scott O]

Where are you located? Our dealer (Custom RV in Anaheim CA) brought one to our house prior to purchase to see if it fit. Don't know how steep your hill is, but the main limitation to setting up on a hill is your strength in raising the uphill shell. There is no mechanism like you had on your popup. I suspect you could figure out some way to raise the downhill end of the TM to level it, after careful blocking of course!

[Bill]

Regarding opening (as opposed to getting it into the garage):

The TM itself must be close to level when it is opened. If the driveway is slanted (as mine is), you'll need to lower the nose enough to level the trailer before opening it. Will the tongue jack crank it high enough? If your driveway is very slanted, the answer may be no.

The problem isn't damage to the trailer (though that can happen). The problem is that when you open the TM, the front shell lifts UP, and then FORWARD. The torsion bar lift system is designed to take care of the UP part of the motion, but has no effect on the FORWARD part of the motion. If "forward" is also "down", it is your own muscle power that will have to pull it uphill. And it is HEAVY. Closing is just the opposite - it will try to zoom closed, and you probably won't be able to hold it back.

Similarly, opening and closing the rear shell will be very hard, since it will try to zoom open, and you'll have to pull it uphill to close it.

Hope that makes sense. Take a look at the "Opening the TM" video at trailmanor.com, and envision pulling the shells uphill and downhill.

Bill

[ShrimpBurrito]

As you see can from the pics earlier in this thread, I too park my TM on an incline such that I back the TM uphill. I wanted to be able to open the TM while parked as well, so I built a riser from the tongue jack. I just took an 8-foot long 2x12 of pressure treated lumber, cut it into 1-foot lengths, and stacked them up with the grain changing direction with each board, and screwed them together as I stacked them. I neglected to glue them together as well, so some of them warped a bit, but it still works fine. If I did it over again, I probably would use untreated lumber on all but the board that touches the ground, to help prevent the warping, and glue AND screw them together. But I also live in SoCal, where it rarely rains.

See the below pic -- the tongue jack is not fully extended. IIRC, my driveway slope is about 8-9 degrees, which is fairly steep. I can verify that if you'd like to compare it to yours.

Dave

[Unstable_Tripod]

Hi Scott O. Thanks for the response. I am just outside Seattle. The closest Trailmanor dealer is in a suburb of Portland, OR, almost 200 miles away. I suspect they won't bring one up here.

Hi Bill. Thanks for your response as well. I've seen the videos and am familiar with the opening process. I would never try to set it up in the driveway because that is at least a 30 degree slope. The street in front of the house is about a 20 degree slope. Unless I created some sort of ramps to back the Trailmanor onto I suspect there is no way I could get it level out there. On the street, it would be the front that is uphill and the back that is downhill.

We will have a big RV show here in Seattle in February. I hope Trailmanor will be there. If so I'll talk to the sales reps about this issue. It may be that off-site storage is my only option if I want one.

PS: Hi Shrimpburrito. Thanks for your response. You must have posted while I was composing my response. I looked at your picture and my slopes (driveway and street) are much more extreme. My issue is not parking it level -- I can do that if I can get it in the garage. My issues are getting it in there without dragging the tongue on the pavement and getting close to level to open it while parked in the street. Thanks again.

[ShrimpBurrito]

Umm....are you sure about that grade? The steepest street in the world is supposedly in New Zealand, with a grade of about 19 degrees. How did you calculate it? Are you talking about % grade? If so, that's a much different number. A 100% grade is a 45 degree climb.

Dave

[Unstable_Tripod]

OK, perhaps my terminology is off. I just went outside and measured it with a level and a ruler. The slope is 2" per foot, so that is 16.7%.

[ShrimpBurrito]

That is very steep. But theoretically, you could still make the trailer level and safe if you build a wide enough riser for the tongue, and you prevented the wheels from moving. I presume you've already read at the beginning of this thread what I did to address the latter issue. Neither is hard to do, but it will take some work.

However, even if you could get the tongue stabilized at whatever height is required to make the unit level, you still need to make sure the rear bumper doesn't bottom out and prevent you from raising the tongue high enough.

When my TM is level in my driveway, the rear edge of my rear bumper is about 9.5" from the ground.

I just measured my driveway, and it is a 6 degree slope. Your driveway, with your measured 16.7% slope, is 9.5 degrees. (the equation is arctan of percentage slope = degrees)

Thus, according to my calculations, if I parked my 2720 TM in your driveway and leveled it, the rear bumper would clear by roughly 3 inches. And note that my 2720 includes the 2" lift kit, so the frame on my TM is about 17" off the ground at the axle. The newer models already have the lift kit installed.

So while it would take some work, you could level a TM in your driveway.

Dave

[camp2canoe]

This is a bit embarassing but... my driveway has a slope to the garage and a curve (what was the designer thinking?). I opened up the TM before winter storage just enough to toss in the laundry bag with clean sheets. I didn't bother to insert the locking pins and while I was standing inside the upper shell it "auto closed" on me. It was a little scary for a second and I had visions of calling 911 from my cell phone to extricate me. Of course that wasn't necessary and I just pushed the upper shell open with my shoulders while walking backwards. In the future, however, I won't step inside either shell without engaging the locking pins! - camp2canoe

[ThePair]

UT - I think you have the opposite problem from most, if I'm reading you correctly: you need to lower the tongue to level a TM on your driveway/street, not raise it. And the issue, rightly pointed out, is that there is an absolute limit to how low you can go (the pavement, in this case).

I can think of two alternatives: One, pull the TM out, use the swing-away hitch (if you have one) to get the hitch/tongue jack out of the way, with the TM supported on one or two jacks--probably at the corners of the frame for clearance, but could also be potentially done with one in the middle, and then lower the front as needed. This will make the distance from axle to nose shorter by almost 2 feet, which will give you more allowance to lower the front to where you need.

Option two is more work and less likely to help, but it would involve making some kind of cut into the driveway to allow the tongue to dip into the surface and achieve level that way.

I think option one is better, assuming you have a swing-away tongue.

As to pulling it into the garage itself, I'm thinking that you could, again, try one of two things. Back it in, use the swing hitch and perhaps some kind of wheels added onto the flat part of the tongue after the nose is swung/removed--like the kind you can put on a rowboat gunwale to move it around. You would likely need some kind of winch at this point, since the tongue won't be attached anymore.

Conversely, you could put the TM in nose-first. Since the wheels are closer to the rear than the front, this would give you more leeway, and make Dave's calculations above work for you. For this, you'd need a winch (again) or the rear hitch receiver, which is listed as the bike-rack receiver. You could then make a bar to go into that to which you could hitch your TV and back it in that way. There should be posts on the boards here with someone else's experience in doing that, I kind of remember from a little while back. The added clearance this way should let you get it in (hopefully) without scraping. In addition, it seems that we are all fairly certain that you could level the TM if the nose is downhill, so that problem would be solved as well.

Me, personally, I put my TM in my garage nose-first. I have an uphill slope, like most, but the TM won't fit if I back it in. So, I put a winch in the back of the garage mounted to the floor, and I use it to get the TM up the driveway, past a small curve, and then into the flat part of the floor. I push from there. It's a very tight fit, but it does fit.

[ShrimpBurrito]

I misread the part about which way the driveway is slanted. ThePair got it right. I like his ideas, especially the one about backing the TM down the driveway using the rear hitch receiver and a long draw bar to connect it to the TV....the long bar/rear hitch setup is pictured here:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10249&highlight=concrete&page=3

Dave

[Bill]

With regard to getting in/out of the garage without the hitch hitting the driveway:

Another possibility is to buy a cheap hitch at WalMart (etc) with a 4 inch rise/drop.

You can also play games with the springbars. Raise them to raise the tongue a couple inches. Release them to drop the tongue. This has the advantage that you can do it halfway down the driveway, as the TM enters the different slant, if you need to.

Bill

[Trailblazer]

As you see can from the pics earlier in this thread, I too park my TM on an incline such that I back the TM uphill. I wanted to be able to open the TM while parked as well, so I built a riser from the tongue jack. I just took an 8-foot long 2x12 of pressure treated lumber, cut it into 1-foot lengths, and stacked them up with the grain changing direction with each board, and screwed them together as I stacked them. I neglected to glue them together as well, so some of them warped a bit, but it still works fine. If I did it over again, I probably would use untreated lumber on all but the board that touches the ground, to help prevent the warping, and glue AND screw them together. But I also live in SoCal, where it rarely rains.

See the below pic -- the tongue jack is not fully extended. IIRC, my driveway slope is about 8-9 degrees, which is fairly steep. I can verify that if you'd like to compare it to yours.

Dave

Newbie TM owner here, resurrecting this older thread. I have a question about parking on a 5.5 degree sloped driveway!

I am wanting to park mine in our driveway, and am concerned about the safety and the process of raising the tongue jack. With the TM hitched, I'd first chock the tires, then slide blocks under the tongue, and raise the jack to take weight off the hitch to disconnect the TV. With the TV out of the way. I'd extend the jack to max, put the the front stabilizers down on blocks to support the weight of the TM by thise and the tires alone, as I retract the tongue jack so that I can then add height to the tongue jack support. Then extend the tongue jack onto the heightened jack support to raise the TM to level wiithout the jack being hyper extended and up off the front stabilizers. Then I'd drop all the stabilizer jacks on supports to further prevent movement, stabilize the level TM to permit opening and access.

Aside from the TM rolling down the driveway, as has previously discussed in the thread, my safety concern is whether the front stabilizer jacks and tires are actually capable of holding the full weight of the TM, while I add height to the tongue jack so that it is not hyper-extended, as I raise it to level. I have not tried to extend the jack to it's maximum, so not sure how high it is able to go above level, but I calculate that I need a front support that needs adds a minimum of 1.4 feet in height for the jack to sit normal at level. I don't believe a 1.4 foot support will fit under the jack, with the TM and TV hitched and jack retracted.

Would like to be able to access the TM in our driveway to avoid the hassle of municipal bylaws that only allow parking on the street a couple days. Appreciate any thoughts or advice from TM veterans, who've experience actually doing this! Would prefer to learn from someone elses's mistakes and not my own! :)

[Kidkraz]

Do you know the size and rating of the tires and the axle of the TM? I'm sure the tires have been replaced since it's a 2010, but what size and rating are on it currently? The axle "should" be a 3500 LB Dexter. If you have a copy of the blue owners book, you might find that in there. Some have 5000 Lb axles, but most are 3500 Lb.
The stabilizers should also be rated to support the camper. I don't know what was the OEM version on my camper when I recieved it, but I always had extension/retraction issues, even after lubing several times. I ended up installing BAL 24002D has 4" to 23-3/4" extension. 7,500 lb. capacity.
Your tires carry the majority of the weight.
What version is the tongue jack? Mine is Husky 87641 rated at 4500 LBs, again possibly over kill, but I'd rather have more power or support capabilities then just maybe enough.
My driveway has kinda steep, but I've never worried about the jacks or tires not being able to support or handle the grade. I did try to make the wooden supports for the front jacks to have an angle to minimise the steepness. That would be my suggestion in your case, until you know more info on the tires, jacks and such.
This pic is before I installed to electric jack. One thing I find is the slope makes it a bit easier for me to lifting the front shell when I open the camper up.

[Shane826]

Regarding the tongue weight it’s VERY overkill. Remember it’s lifting the tongue weight not the total weight of the camper. So maybe 500-600lbs max? But yeah all those power jacks are rated for stupid amounts of weight.

[Trailblazer]

Thanks for the comments! You both have raised some interesting points. My electric jack is the Atwood MPD 80570 with a capacity of 3,500 lbs.

Kidkraz, you driveway's slope looks very similar to mine. I might be a bit unnecessarily cautious! I'm sure others have managed to park and access their TM on a slope worse than mine, just don't want to mess up!

I wasn't so much concerned about the tires or axles, since they're designed capable enough to carry the weight when towed. It was more about whether the front stabilizers would be sufficient to handle the weight on a slope. The weight there would be different than at the tongue, with the jack retracted, as I anticipate needing to add more height to the underlying jack support.

On a slope, with the 3500 lb capable tongue jack retracted so I could add some extra support height underneath it, I would expect more of the TM weight to be distributed from the tires to the front stabilizers, than when on level ground.

I have already made supports for the tongue and the four stabilizers that are fashioned to the slope of the driveway. If there is actually 1.4 feet of extra height hiding in the tongue jack (or close to that) when the trailer is level on flat ground, I likely wouldn't even need to add the extra height to my support. I'm just doubting that there is that much extra, and not so sure that I like the idea of the jack or stabs being overly extended to achieve level anyway. Just would prefer not to be in the middle of all this for the first time, and unprepared. At the moment, the TM is not situated where I can test how high the jack can go fully extended, so still have to check that.

If I understand correctly the stabilizers are supposed to be capable of 5K each!? Therefore I can't see why there should be any issue with supporting the TM on the front stabilizers, while the jack is retracted, providing the wheels are properly chocked. Once level with stabilizers all in play, the fact the TM is on a slope shouldn't matter, with the weight resting on the tires, per usual. Was just wondering if others had ever relied on the front stabs to help them get level on an incline.

[Bill]

If I understand correctly the stabilizers are supposed to be capable of 5K each!? Therefore I can't see why there should be any issue with supporting the TM on the front stabilizers, while the jack is retracted, providing the wheels are properly chocked.You understand correctly, though it would be wise to confirm the rating on the manufacturer's web site. The common confusion on this point comes from using the word "stabilizers" instead of "jacks". Most trailers have stabilizers, which are designed to simply prevent rocking as you walk around in a trailer that is fully supported by its wheels and tongue jack. Stabilizers have very limited weight-carrying capacity. TM, on the other hand, has chosen to install real jacks on each corner.

For me, the biggest issue with the TM jacks is that the jack screw picks up a ton of road grime and sand and crud, which makes them hard to operate and limits their usable capacity. Grease only makes it worse - dry-lube spray is a better choice. Still, I find that before a trip, it is a good idea to run the jacks up and down with no weight on them, while holding a wire brush against the threads. I use an electric to turn them.

Bill

[Shane826]

Keep in mind that 5,000lb rating is VERTICAL load with the camper level. If you have them on a slope, I’d bet they fold way before 5,000lbs. Same
With the tongue jack.