JT Stabilizer question, problem solved - Montana Owners Club

brenkco · 04-08-2009, 04:36 AM

I had the dealer install when we picked up our new rig. When rasing the jacks by hand to the 'shortest tow posiiton", the become very hard to move the last few inches. The jacks seem to move easily the more they are extended. (Wing nuts are loose.)

I am wondering if this is normal or if they are slightly out of alignment? Any experience with this?

Thanks
Ken

H. John Kohl · 04-08-2009, 04:46 AM

It sounds as if the JT are binding. You can remove the bolt under the trailer that holds the JTs and see if your landing jacks still bind. I think that is the easiest test. If that is the case I would take them back to the dealer and have them reinstall the JT stabilizers.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

kilch123 · 04-08-2009, 04:49 AM

When I installed and tested mine, I had the pivot bolts too tight. That is what caused mine to bind.

I agree though - take it to who did the install, and have them remedy the situation.

nailbender · 04-08-2009, 04:56 AM

We have had the JT's on both of our Montana's and never had a problem with them. Apply some white lithium grease to all the connection points and see if that helps. All the bolts are suppose to have grease applied during the installation process, maybe your dealer failed to do that.

brenkco · 04-08-2009, 04:59 AM

Thanks guys,
I assume you are talking about the bolt that passes through the lower hole of the jacks? Dealer is about 2 1/2 hours away so I'd like to trouble shoot myself before making the trip back.

H. John Kohl · 04-08-2009, 05:23 AM

The bolt I am talking about is at the top end of the stabilizer where it mounts to the belly of the trailer. That lets you raise the jacks without messing with your pads. All comments about grease and bolt tightness are excellent ideas. If you pull the top bolt check to make sure there is freedom to allow the inside pipe to slide up past the point where it is binding on the stabilizer.
I know what I want to say but the words may be confusing. PM me with a phone number and I will call if that helps. Good luck.

brenkco · 04-08-2009, 05:28 AM

John,
That makes sense. I'll give that a try.

Ken

BB_TX · 04-08-2009, 06:54 AM

You can go to the JT Strongarm web site and download the instructions. It is a fairly large pdf file so it takes a little while.

grampachet · 04-08-2009, 07:44 AM

It may be best to use a dry lubricant to prevent sand and grit from sticking to the grease and causing binding also.

sfretts · 04-08-2009, 08:27 AM

Hi,

We just had a set mounted to our Mountaineer. We hitched up and went to raise the front jacks. Same issue, they got in a bind as we got close to the top. Parts guy at the dealership, looked and shrugged his shoulders as I asked about the jack pin being moved. We found that during installation, the installer rotated the jack pin to the front. With the brackets facing this way, they bind. I would check that to be sure they didnt move that. Once they re did the jacks to the origional position, it worked fine. As you can tell, it could be several things which cause this but the most common seems to be the stabilizers are bolted on in the wrong position.

Steve

adelmoll · 04-08-2009, 01:47 PM

We installed the JT's on our 3475RL and never had any problems but just to let others know, we ordered them on our new Big Sky and there was no way they could be installed on the rear. Our dealer talked to the JT people and they are trying to re-design something to make them fit on the Big Sky. Our dealer installed the front ones but we have the rear ones and will put them on ourselves when we get the solution.

Helen

Stichwerks · 04-08-2009, 06:14 PM

Easiest way to check is to loosen the mounting eye and the lock nut just a bit and try it again. It takes a 9/16" wrench on the nut and the strut will hold the eye end. It sounds like one of them is just a bit to snug. These are not supposed to be real tight. They need to be tight enough to keep the sloop out of them but if they are to tight they will bind at when stowing.

I just got done installing them on my Mountaineer and I had one that was binding. Loosened the nut about a 1/2 turn and all is smooth now. Also be sure they used the lubrication on the mounting eyes.

Champ_49 · 04-10-2009, 01:32 PM

Adelmoll

Since you don't have the rear bars on, how well does it stabilize the unit without them. More curious than anything.

Actually I am in the process of making my own stabilizers for my 3400RL. I have built and raced cars for 31 yrs..........so the knowledge and experience is on my side there. I question myself on the need for the rear one due to the fact that the rear jacks go way out anyway. Plus if the tires are properly chocked it shouldnt move forward and backward. Just questions in my mind because I never never actually seen these things work. Only in video or pictures. It also appears to me that these rods should be in the area of 44" to 46" between mounting points. I understand the trianqulation (sp) theory very well and that will give the most stability. I can make 6 of these bars for less than $100.00 so it is a substantial savings. Tell me what you all think. Just curious!

mcgiver2 · 04-10-2009, 03:39 PM

Champ-49 i built my own stabilizer and only installed them only on the front and they worked great, to bad i sold that unit cause now i will be making somemore ........

Exnavydiver · 04-10-2009, 04:48 PM

adelmoll, I had no problem mounting mine on my Big Sky, as per a phone call with JT's I bought a 72 inch piece of 2x3 steel box channel. I had them cut 45 degree angles on each end for bolt access. That piece went right behind the rear stabilizers (about 6 inches behind them) and the JT's were mounted to that... If you need a link to the pics just ask... Dave

adelmoll · 04-11-2009, 02:42 AM

Please send the link Dave for Bill to look at, but I think our Big Sky is even a little different than yours and when the dealer talked to JT they said they would design something to fit this newest one and send it to us. So far, just having them on the front has helped a lot. I can't even tell when the washer is on but after having them on both the front and rear before, we want both. I got spoiled.

Helen

Exnavydiver · 04-11-2009, 03:45 AM

Here is the slide show of my JTs install LINK Helen, did your rig come with the bike rack trailer hitch??

brenkco · 04-18-2009, 03:30 AM

Problem solved.
It turns out that the front center mounting brakets were slightly forward of the jacks (just more than 90 degrees). This caused them to bind when lifting by hand the last few inches. At John' suggestion, I removed the bolt and held them in a different position, both towards the center and then towards the rear. Moving them over an inch and back about 2 inches solved the problem.

Thank you John and all for your help!

H. John Kohl · 04-18-2009, 05:09 AM

Glad you got it fixed.

mcculloe · 05-28-2009, 05:11 AM

Champ,

It took me about 6 months to finally install the rear after installing the front. So I had a lot of experience with only half of them being on. I never used the roto wheel chocks for reducing movement, fyi, at the same time. I would say that just the front probably dealt with 75% of the movement. The last 20% came when I put the final rear ones on. I think part of it is that you LIVE in the rear side, so you're walking and moving a lot more on this. When you were in the bedroom it would seem like it would hardly ever move.

Note: The above is 95%. Still 5% movement (liveable, mind you - it is and will always be on wheels).

So to answer your question, the rear ones did provide something, but the front four were very beneficial on their own as you suspected.

You may also like: