Hitch Jack? - Montana Owners Club

dannyl · 12-11-2005, 08:54 AM

Some of my friends have a tripod jack and jackstand that they put under the hitch when they disconnect. How many use the hitch jack and does it really do any good?

faeb and genb · 12-11-2005, 08:58 AM

Use one all time with 2 ton jacks under the spring hangers takes just about all movment out of rig.
Gene

Lstierw · 12-11-2005, 09:12 AM

They definitely do work and help to stabilize your coach. Whenever i forget to put it on, my wife reminds me and then i run quickly, ever so quickly....Les

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Montana Sky · 12-11-2005, 09:13 AM

I use the tripod under my kingpin and have found it does take out a great deal of side to side movement. I have on my xmas list 2 ton jacks as I want to try placing them under the spring hangers to take out that bounce in my coach.

Glenn and Lorraine · 12-11-2005, 10:32 AM

Here's my answer to your question...
Click here for stabilizing

Remove any one item and the wiggles wabbles are back.

ols1932 · 12-24-2005, 06:22 AM

I got tired of lugging mine around so I sold it. We don't notice the wiggles much. Or maybe it's just because we're used to it. We use Roto-Choks between the wheels and this stops any back and forth movement. The rear stabilizers seem to keep the rig fairly quiet. We move a lot so the the tripod was just a nuisance. There were a lot of times when it was too short to reach from the kingpin to the ground no matter how far up we had it adjusted.

gkbutler · 12-24-2005, 10:53 AM

We use one and it does stop work!! Only problem we have is with the washer. When it starts the spin cycle it does cause the "wiggles". Hoping Santa brings the jacks and chocks. If he doesn't guess I'll hae to go to Camping World in Ft. Myers.

Wordsmith · 12-24-2005, 01:19 PM

I asked this question back in the spring and received pretty much the same answers. I have talked with padredw in person, and I know he does not believe in the tripod jack, so perhaps he will chip in to this thread the next time he comes on the forum. I have to agree with Glenn: two out of the three items that he shows on his link just do not get the job done. Most of the time, I take only the tripod and the BAL chocks and there is still some movement, decreased, but movement just the same.

I know most people feel that if you are only going to be somewhere for a couple of days, that the tripod is not worth the trouble…

That said, I do not have so much “stuff” in the basement that I have felt inclined to remove it.

padredw · 12-25-2005, 01:33 AM

A blessed and Merry Christas Day to all and especially to friend Wordsmith and his lovely family. Yes, he is right, I did carry and use a tripod for several years, but finally noticed that it seemed to make little difference for us (2955RL, and moving often on trips). So I permanently removed it from our Montana and stored it in our garage.

In truth, this is one of those issues which comes up over and over again on the forum and there are many different and equally valid answers. Only experience will finally provide the answer you need, and if it works for you, by all means do it (whatever IT is).

This is not to say that the answers which some of us share from time time are not helpful. At least they have been for me. I have learned much from the responses made by forum members.

And may your new year be happy and blessed.

Karl · 12-25-2005, 04:14 AM

At the stage of life that many (most) of us are, wouldn't you think that anything that gives a semblance of veracity to the old saw, "IF THE TRAILER'S ROCKING, DON'T COME KNOCKING" would be welcome??!!

But seriously, we do use the tripod under the hitch pin and the expandable wheel chocks between the wheels and find that that is all that is necessary for us.

kdeiss · 12-25-2005, 04:27 AM

We use the tripod on the kingpin and bottle jacks on the frame as Glen discribed

richfaa · 12-25-2005, 07:33 AM

Reality check.. These are CAMPERS..they are connected to the ground by WHEELS. They do not have a foundation like your stick home. Unless you prop it up with contrete blocks everytime you set up they WILL be unstable and will move around some NO MATTER how or with what you firm it up with , Stabilizer jacks, hitch pin jacks, exra jacks under the frame will HELP to some degree..but the things is going to move around. You could alway do what they do in Hurricane country and attach steel cables to the frame and drive pins into the ground and winch them down.

dsprik · 12-25-2005, 08:27 AM

From what I've read, it really depends on one's expectations. I have read where two people have done identical things to stabilize the their 5vers, with one being extremely satisfied (because their goal was to reduce a lot of movement and to see a noticeable difference), and the other (expecting to have it feel like they were on a concrete foundation like their house) was extremely disapointed because they could get rid of ALL the movement and felt they had wasted their money. It all depends on your mindset.

Glenn and Lorraine · 12-25-2005, 11:16 AM

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quote:Originally posted by richfaa

Reality check.. These are CAMPERS..they are connected to the ground by WHEELS. They do not have a foundation like your stick home. Unless you prop it up with contrete blocks everytime you set up they WILL be unstable and will move around some NO MATTER how or with what you firm it up with , Stabilizer jacks, hitch pin jacks, exra jacks under the frame will HELP to some degree..but the things is going to move around. You could alway do what they do in Hurricane country and attach steel cables to the frame and drive pins into the ground and winch them down.

and

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quote:Originally posted by dsprik

From what I've read, it really depends on one's expectations. I have read where two people have done identical things to stabilize the their 5vers, with one being extremely satisfied (because their goal was to reduce a lot of movement and to see a noticeable difference), and the other (expecting to have it feel like they were on a concrete foundation like their house) was extremely disapointed because they could get rid of ALL the movement and felt they had wasted their money. It all depends on your mindset.

Both of the above quotes are 100% accurate.
When I posted my method of stabilization previously I should have also pointed out that I have only gotten rid of about 90% of the movement. I agree with Rich that to get rid of 100% you better be setting it on blocks and than strapping it down. I feel that the remaining 10% that I can't get rid of is a constant reminder that I am now in my element. I am in my RV and not sitting in some stick house somewhere in suburbia waiting for the morning alarm to send me off to work.

To me that 10% is barely noticeable but to the next guy, well, he may think it's like living with a constant earthquake. Now if you find that even the slightest movement is still unbearable or uncomfortable than maybe you should rethink having an RV or you could get a tent. The floors of tents usually don't have much movement at all.

Fordzilla · 12-26-2005, 02:24 AM

Consider me one of those happy with getting rid of 90% of the wiggles. I will always try new things to get rid of more and more of the wiggles. But I know that unless like mentioned above we will never have 100% rock solid. So I use the tripod deluxe wheel chock and added an extra set of stabilizer jacks just behind the rear wheels to help take up some of the spring flex. It takes a few extra minutes to set it all up but satisfaction from DW is priceless. There are so many variables with jacks and stabilizers that two people with identical equipment may set the tension different on each others trailer and achieve different results. Too much pressure and you start to lift the trailer and then get more wiggles than just snugging them up.

Wrenchtraveller · 12-26-2005, 03:09 AM

I was in Chula Vista when they had a little shaker, about 10-12 years ago and one thing I am glad I always keep my front landing gear down on a square of plywood. I have seen people with their landing gear sitting up on blocks and an earthquake like that might cause the landing gear to crash down.
Anyway it was early in the morning and it scared the heck out of us as the whole 5th wheel
was really shaking. My first thought was that a bunch of hoodlums were shaking the trailer.
It was one of those times where the temper kicks in before common sense and I jumped outside ready to do battle in my underwear, lucky for me it was an earthquake.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday. Take care, Don.

dsprik · 12-26-2005, 04:10 AM

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quote:Originally posted by Wrenchtraveller

It was one of those times where the temper kicks in before common sense and I jumped outside ready to do battle in my underwear, lucky for me it was an earthquake.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday. Take care, Don.

Yes it was lucky, Don... unless someone saw you...

That would be a good deterrent for me, though. If someone came running at me in their underwear, I wouldn't be sticking around.

Probably cure me from coming back, too.

Merry Christmas, Don.

Wrenchtraveller · 12-26-2005, 06:18 AM

Thanks Dave, that gave me a good chuckle. Funny thing was my kids slept right through it.

We had to start heading home so we listened to the radio, saw all the Freeways were open and we hooked up and were just ready to head out when they had a little after shock. These stubby little
Palm trees all over the campground were shaking and my truck and 5th wheel were doing a little rock and roll. We drove all the way to Sacramento only stopping for fuel. Vancouver Island is earthquake country too but so far I have never experienced one of that size and I hope I never do.

dsprik · 12-26-2005, 03:46 PM

I believe that would give me an adrenaline rush, too, Don. I also have a couple kids (2 out of 5 -oldest son/youngest daughter) that would not hear a "dump truck driving through a nitro glycerine factory" ("Christmas Vacation") when asleep.

I'm with you... I'm a science teacher (including Earth Science), but I have NO desire to ever experience an earthquake. I will just read about them. The power involved is of a planetary scale that most people can't even imagine. Some can. Sounds like you are one, Don. Here in N MI, we have 800' to 1,000' of pure sand and gravel (glacial till from the Ice Ages) as a surface layer - no loam, not solid rock, on the surface. It really buffers any earthquake waves in a hurry, compared to waves traveling through solid rock.

But other than earthquakes (and hurricanes), a jack stand, chocks and two 2-ton jacks, behind the back springs sounds like a winner for me.

Just a incidental thought... these new Mor/Ryde systems... will these be a little harder to stabilize with a good set of wheel chocks, or not?

old turbo · 12-27-2005, 01:08 AM

I agree with Rich unless you make the tt hurricane proof you will still wiggle. I use to haul a lot of junk to make my 5vr wiggle proof. One day on a storage area cleanout I decided to weigh all the junk I hauled to stop the wiggles and how much space it took up. I was shocked.Wife told me if I lost that much body weight,the 5vr would not move, I would not have all that extra junk and we will save on diesel. I took her advice. The 5vr does not wiggle as much, I dont carry all that junk ,I look and feel better,carry smaller clothing sizes and get more feet per mile.Just my lost 18lbs worth.

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