Moving TM in garage and leveling

[ELM-JLM]

I just happened to think of something!! Duh! Is the swing hitch still usable for support or to roll the trailer side to side while in the open position! If not then my theory is all wrong! LOL! I can see the need for skates if its useless!

PS: It is ScottieDogs with the TM in the garage! Maybe they can shed some light on parking the TM!

It is difficult to tell from your sketch, but it looks like your support post is not aligned with the garage door.

I can back my TM into the garage and keep it within 2 inches of the wall/door jamb. If I need it moved over any further then I would have your dilemma and need some method to slide it sideways.

I back the TM into the garage with a slight angle. After disconnecting I push the front of the TM to the right. This makes it a little easier to pull my wife's SUV i, because she starts out in a wide space and as she continues to pull forward the space becomes narrower. There is probably 4 inches of space between the front of the SUV and the TM, but at the back of the SUV thee is more than a foot of clearance.

[Bill]

Crazies -

I'm not sure I see the problems. The TM's corner jacks are rated at 5000 pounds each, so they have plenty of capacity to raise and hold the TM. Whether you will enjoy cranking them is another story, but the jacks are good for it.

I suggest that you clean the jackscrews before you start. Just hold a wire brush against the threads as you run the jacks up and down a couple times with your electric drill. On the last pass, spray the jackscrews and the pivot points with DuPont Teflon Multi-Use Lubricant from Lowe's (but not Home Depot) so that they run up and down nice and easy. Do not lube with motor oil, WD-40, grease, silicone lube, etc, all of which will gather grit as you drive.

If needed, put wood blocks under the jack pads to gain height. Use the minimum amount of blocking to get where you need to be - the jacks have the most "lifting power" near the end of their travel.

As noted, you are not going to enjoy cranking the jacks when they are fully loaded. A sturdy 18-volt cordless drill may or may not be adequate - my lighter 18-volt drill isn't. You can either get a 24-volt cordless drill, which will also be useful on the road. Or even better, get a corded drill for when you are in the garage. An inexpensive 1/2-inch drill would be superb - lots of torque, and slower rotation than a smaller drill. Assuming the jacks have a hole for the crank, just chuck the long end of a 3/8-inch Allen wrench, or a similar-size foundation bolt, in the drill, and go to it.

You are incredibly lucky that you have access to both sides of the TM. Most of us (like me) have to park the TM against a sidewall of the garage, which means we have no access to the far side and can't do any cranking there.

Let us know what you do, and how it works out.

Bill

But that is the beauty of it! We only need to do this in the garage which is jammed full of our numerous tools. In clearing out space for the TM, we decided to get rid of 3 of our surplus cordless drills that no longer work correctly. My DH and I were packrats when it came to tools so there are so many options to choose from. (DH and I are home improvement crazies too. )

[CAmark]

Perhaps I missed the year of your TM in the thread but I recall that the earlier models (not sure of the years) could not be supported on their jacks...though I know my 2006 2720SL jacks are good for it. I imagine one of our many knowledgeable friends will chime in with jack specifics.

We are ordering a 2013. Bill said above that each jack can support 5000 lbs, so I think we should be good.

So the 2013 TM 2720SD is on order and I am thinking about the garage storage issue some more. I believe this is the procedure we could use to move the TM sideways in the garage:
1) back into the garage
2) chock tires
3) put small wheel on tongue jack
4) jack up the trailer using 4 corner jacks on top of 3" high blocks of wood
5) put vehicle skates under the tires
6) put 3" high wood under tongue jack
7) adjust corner jacks so weight rests on vehicle skates
8) adjust tongue jack height accordingly, so tongue rests on its wood block
9) rolls TM over to the right
10) lower corner jacks on top of wood again
11) remove vehicle skates
12) remove wood from under tongue jack
13) raise tongue jack
14) swing tongue jack to the left

Does this sound correct? I am unsure how low the tongue jack descends so I am not sure if the block of wood under it would be needed when rolling on the skates.
Is it ok to leave the TM up on the jacks on the wood like that for storage? Would it be better to lower it back on to the tires/tongue jack after step 12 and then put the corner jacks down directly on the concrete before swinging away the tongue jack?

What do you think? Am I missing anything?

[Bill]

Sounds way too complicated.

First, instead of doing the initial lift via the four corner jacks, why not do it with a hydraulic floor jack? Put the jack under the frame, not the axle!, run it up, put a skate under the wheel, let the weight down on the skate, and repeat for the other side. In order to do it quickly, the jack probably needs a lift of about 12-14", so shop accordingly. Harbor Freight is a good place to start. Check their SKU 68049.

I don't understand all the fussiness with the tongue wheel. Once the wheel is on the tongue jack, and the tires are on the skates, you are ready to do the move.

Once you have moved it into place, leave it alone if you are planning short-term storage (2 or 3 months). If you are going for long-term storage (6 months), lower the corner jacks and take some of the weight off the tires, but leave some fraction of it on the skates. There should be no reason why a bit of the weight can't remain on the skates, and it makes it real easy to set up for the reverse move.

Bill

[rvcycleguy]

I would agree with Bill. Why not just leave the wheels on the skates for the period your not using it. I see no reasonable issue with leaving it on the skates.

When I was looking at skates I was looking at the kind that you just back up onto. However, this would require greater precision when backing.