Installing tires- use stabilizer jacks?

[joeboh]

When changing tires, can I just use the scissor stabilizer jacks to lift the tires off the ground?

I've read a few posts about changing tires and most of them mention using a jack on the frame. They all mention clearly not on the axle. I don't recall seeing any that mention using the stabilizer jacks.

It seems that's the easiest way to do it. I'm taking it to a shop and they were going to do it outside. I also read to unlatch the shell to prevent stress on it while jacking. If the stabilizers were used, it seems like it could be jacked up and kept relatively level while swapping out the tires.

[BrucePerens]

It works, and when my trailer is in storage I leave the tires off the ground, based on a suspicion that keeping them out of round for a long time contributes to blowouts due to work hardening of the steel cords.. Lots of people argue about this, but there is too little scientific data. Always have both the front and rear jacks on the ground, if you only have the front on the ground without the rear, or vice versa, the trailer tends to roll off the jacks, destroying them.

I suggest if you are working under the trailer that you put something under it to keep it from falling on you if the jacks fail.

[joeboh]

Great! I think we'll give that a shot. It's likely easier to do with me at the shop than hoping they put the jack under the frame correctly.

[Bill]

Joe -

As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with using the TM corner jacks to lift the trailer. The jacks are perfectly capable of lifting the trailer. On the other hand, it can be quite an arduous process. You will get really tired of turning the hand crank to lift it. A battery-powered drill will crank the jacks, but unless you have a rather powerful drill, it will run out of gas before it has lifted the tires off the ground. None of my 18-volt drills will do it, for example. A corded drill might have better luck if you have shore power and a long extension cord.

On the other hand, you can buy a small bottle jack for about $10-15. Mine is rated for 2 tons, lifts about 7 inches (which is enough), and works with almost no effort. It is about the same size as my drill, so it is easy to carry. I got it at Harbor Freight, where the "normal" price is $19 (you never pay the "normal" price at HF). Walmart has them for about $15 or less. Home Depot has them for $13. And so forth. You just tuck it under the frame, and flip the handle a few times, and it is up.

Bill

[BrucePerens]

I haven't had any problem with the Riobi drills, except for these 30" stabilizers that I have on the front, which are turning out to not work as well as the 24" Husky ones which I have on the back. I am not generally running down a battery during any raise or lower operation. But I do generally charge them between raising and lowering again.

If you are really concerned, consider this huge Riobi 9 amp-hour battery for 162 watt-hours of power. I have a pair of those, but also regularly carry several batteries.

The clincher for buying Riobi is that they have a 12 charger which runs off of my solar panels without an inverter, or in the tow vehicle. Few other brands do.

[tentcamper]

I used the stabs several time to take off the wheels. I do it a different way. I don't think the stabs are long enough to get both tires off the ground???. But I have 15" tires factory installed and I added a 2.5" lift kit

What I do is lower the elec tongue jack as low as it goes. I have some 6x6 blocks I set under the rear stabs and jack the firmly down. Then I rise the front using the tongue elec jack until the the trailer is level. I put 2 2x4 blocks under each side on the front and lower the stabs. I think you might need to stage the front with the front stabs and tongue jack so you can get 2 2x4 under the tongue foot because its to short to get level. But it works fine. My 15" tires are about 1.5 inches off the ground. FYI I also have a 2.5 lift kit, so you may not need to stage the 2x4's under the tongue jack???