Cordless drill to lower corner stabilizers

Our dealer used a cordless drill and an allen wrench to raise and lower the corner stabilizers when he first showed us new TrailManors. Does anyone know how big (how many volts) a drill is needed to do this without burning up the drill? Also, our owners manual (3124 KS) says to use the stabiizers to level the trailer rather than putting one of the tires on a wood or plastic leveling block. Is this correct?

Thanks, Judy

[fcatwo]

IMO this is one of those things where "whatever" is the best answer. We use a 12 volt drill which I happened to have pre-TM but many use more power. On how to level: we like to leave the TM hooked to the TV if we are only stopping for one night so we even block our rear TV tires if necessary to accomplish that -- I saw a trailer on an adjoining site roll off down a hill when the owner unhitched it once and it made me sort of paranoid about such things. Otherwise we get it near level with blocks and the front jack and then fine-tune it with the stabilizers. To each his/her own.

I always use wood and/or levelor blocks to roughly level side to side and use the jacks to fine tune it from there.

Originally Posted by PopBeavers

I always use wood and/or levelor blocks to oughly level side to side and use the jacks to fine tune it from there.

Ditto, dito , ditto all those previous responses. I have found to my sense of owner security the combination works rather than in those instances where one or more stabilizers has to be run all out to level the TM. I prefer to use the combination block and stabilizers method. BTW: I use a cheap (On sale for $49 B-4 Christmas) 24V cordless that probably won't last a year as it is CHEAP in every respect but it does the trick in combination with lynx levelers under the required tires. My first outing in our TM we were camped in a 50mph wind storm (with sleet) that lasted all night; the TM stayed put solidly. (Of course it was set-up with the end to the wind) but I believe this method of not overextending the stabilizers is the trick for extreme stability in any weather. In addition; there is no single extreme point of pressure on the frame as could be the case usings the stabilizers only. The second thing I do after first putting the TV in park and is leveled with the leveler blocks is CHOCK THE WHEELS ON THE TM! I learned that valuable lesson years ago thankfully with a small utility trailer. I did learn that anything with wheels has a tendency to ROLL...Then I lower the stabilizers one by one. (I don't like those "stick-on" level things as they tend to get "UNLEVEL" themselves.

[Leslie & Nick]

Judy,

I use a 1/2" 18 volt cordless drill with the biggest hex wrench that will fit in the stabilizer holes. I would think a 12 volt drill would also work. The higher the voltage the more torque the drill should achieve. I simply angle the hex wrench into the hole, and then raise or lower the 4 stabilizers. With a freshly charged battery, I have no trouble cranking up/down. If the battery is running low on power, I might have to switch to a freshly charged battery. If all else fails you still have the manual crank (that I've used a few times). Don't lose this manual crank

I usually level front to back using the tongue jack, then side to side. I installed a few inexpensive 'spirit' levels on the TM to let me know when I was level. You need to have the trailer reasonably level for your own comfort, and especially if you run the refrigerator on propane.

Nick

I currently use a 14.4V de Walt VSR drill which is also the primary drill from my tool box. I think using the drill for this purpose puts a lot of stress on it and I so want to get a less expensive one to be dedicated to this task. The drill is great for moving the the jacks between the closed position and the point where the jack hits the ground, but once the jack starts to lift the trailer the drill slows right down (even in lowest gear) and will then stop soon after. I've a feeling I would only get a little more movement range out of a premium higher voltage drill. So I'll probably go for one of those 18V Coleman $39 drills from Pep Boys (I think they have a low speed gear), and crank the extra inch myself.

Paul

Harbor Freight has an 18V 1/2 hammer drill they run on special for $29.95 occasionally and I've found it to work really well. See it here: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=91176 It even lifts the trailer a little. Somebody mentioned the 18 V Coleman from Pep Boys. I made the big mistake of buying the whole kit with the recip saw and circular saw ($99). The whole kit is junk IMHO and you can't buy additional batteries. I finally found some that will work, but had to disassemble and add an additional contact to each one or the charger wouldn't charge them. I wouldn't give 2 ¢ for the whole kit. The battery is good for about one time of running the jacks up and down. The hammer drill from Harbor Freight is a lot better in my opinion and a battery lasts for 5 or six times. Extra batteries are about $16 and they have a button you can push to indicate how much charge remains. I use a 1/2 inch concrete anchor bolt from Lowes instead of the allen wrench because the allen wrench wears the hole out in the jack.

I use Leon's procedure with a couple of minor "improvements"

I don't have a dual axle, so I can not use the fancy chock that locks the pair of wheels together. So I set a chock behind both wheels and then use the TV to back into the chock rather tightly. Then I chock the front of both wheels. Then I put the TV in neutral and let the trailer center itself between the chocks. At this point I can not even kick the chocks out. Therefore there is absolutely no rolling forward or backwards, which is especially important if I have to put some lift into the jacks. By getting the wheels so that they can not roll even the slightest amount stability fore and aft has been improved.

My electric drill has enough torque that I sometimes set the jacks down too hard. This causes the frame to sag in the center resulting in the door not working very well. I now use the drill to lower the jacks, but I actually make the last turn or so with my bare hand. This prevents me from over cranking the jack. After I have all 4 jacks down I perform the wiggle test. I try to rock the trailer at each corner. If it wiggles too much I tighten the jack with the drill, but only a little. After I started doing this I have never had an issue with closing the door and getting it to latch closed easily.

Leon,

I know why capitalized CHOCK THOSE WHEELS. Been there and done that.

I have another step in my procedure. I never disconnect the safety chains and breakaway cable until after I have disconnect the hitch from the TV. I have tested my breakaway brakes and safety cables, one time only.

A couple of years ago my brother-in-law & I were camping in a State Park in Indiana. Beautiful park, but oh my, those sites are uneven.

He backed his brand new trailer up, unhitched it and watched roll down the side of a hill into a ravine. After 4 hours and some generous soles working for the Park Service he finally got his trailer up and on site. Minor damage only.

Meanwhile, I had to use everything I bring with me to level the trailer + borrow extra material from other campers. One side of the trailer had wheels on the ground and the other side was elevated about 18" in the air. Needless to say, stabilizer jacks weren't much use that trip.

I agree Leon, CHOCK THOSE WHEELS! And I fall in the camp that levels first and fine tunes after.

i saw the guy at the service center where i took my tm use a drill and an allen wrench, and since i have a real bad back, i got a b/d firestorm cordless 1/2" drill, with adjustable torque, and it works great. about leveling, just about 2 months before katrina, my DW and i were in Apopka Fl, and the weather was real crummy, it was raining almost every day, very windy and the wind was driving the rain inside from beneath the door, even our dog, a very nice sheltie was turning nasty. so one day about 1:00 pm we decided to break camp and come back to kc. Missouri,and we started to pack, close the camper, etc. when we got home and i was taking everything out of the tm to clean it, i started to ask myself where were the orange wheel chucks? in our hurry, i forgot to remove them, and i guess i ran them over. next time i go back, i`ll look for them. talk to you latter.
Louie