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Ron,
I know you'll hear from a dealer, or Keystone, that you can only use them for "stabilizing." And that you “can't apply too much pressure to them.”
Trouble is, it's hard to know how much is "too much."
I know that I've bent one of the attach points on one of the pads, after stupidly raising the front stabilizers before cranking the rear ones up, once. Luckily, I caught it before the main strut(s) got bent. I also managed to find out that the head of the nut on the crank part is merely spot welded onto the threaded part. Had to have one nut re-welded in Tennessee.
I use my 18v rechargeable drill to lower and raise them, and then the crank to firm them up when they hit the ground. I'd love to be able to crank them hard, hoping the Monty would be solid. But the fact is that the main motion in our Monty is due to the length. Neither the bedroom, nor the rear end has much motion. The bounce is over the wheels. Which is why I bought a pair of slide-out stabilizers, and use them right in front of the wheels, under the frame, to almost kill all motion.
The fact that it's hassle to position them, and that I have to crank them with that awkward handle causes me to think seriously about trying to buy a surplus set of stabilizers as are on the rear, to bolt onto the frame at that point, so I can really kill most of the motion, without inadvertently taking out the stress of knowing it's going to bounce on the rear stabilizers.
One thing's for sure. When I get to our next long term camping site, I'm going to alter the tops of those slide-out stabilizers, (right now they have pieces of wood glued onto them to make the top of the stabilizer flush with the bottom of the frame,) so they will mate with the frame in a more solid way that won't let them wiggle until I bust a knuckle on the steps or drain pipe while setting them up.
Steve
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