What to use for landing leg blocks?

[Chasnracin]

I have been looking for some 12x12x12 blocks to use as front landing leg blocks, but so far the search has been futile. I have found some 4x12 which I could bolt together to make an 8x12x12. The closest thing to a solid piece I have found are old railroad ties. Any ideas? Thanks

[dieselguy]

Why the need for a support pad so thick? Especially with the dropped frame, several of us just carry a couple or so 2X8's about a foot long with good results. I do use a couple of 4X4's sandwiched between some 1/4" plywood (makes one easy to manage assy) for the rear stabilizers so they are minimally extended. If you're just looking for a bigger footprint, there are larger feet that go right on your landing gear legs out on the market. Do you use the inner legs and shot pins on your front landing gear?

[Chasnracin]

I guess they don't really need to be that tall, I was just trying to keep the inner legs from having to extend so far down for stability reasons. Currently I have 2x12's I have been using, but I don't like the weight of the trailer sitting on the weakest part of the board (just the paranoia of a new trailer I guess). Boy, this thing is a learning curve:-) I washed it this weekend...that is one big ........ trailer! LOL

[camper4]

You can get stackable blocks at Walmart and Camping world. I use those with a piece of plywood on top.
I also use pieces of treated 6x6 lumber.

[H. John Kohl]

I use some leftover 6x6 treated cribbing.

[Native Tex]

I simply double stack 2x12's that are cut about a foot in length. I them on the rear stabilizers as well. I keep a plastic crate with about a dozen or so on hand.

[DQDick]

I had some 8"x8" blocks I made up when I was brand new and took my new blocks proudly to the Montana Rally. Several folks came up to tell me stories of rigs falling off tall blocks, one of which was Hook. I thank him to this day for getting me to dump my new toys. It wasn't but a couple of months later that I saw a camper roll backwards just enough to cause the blocks to roll and the camper fell off, landing on the legs and bending them. It was in the fall and we went from 90degrees in the day to 40 at night and the poor guy had X chocks and I think probably didn't have them tight enough to start with, but when his tires cooled they didn't stop the trailer from rolling a little bit. Anyway I use one or two 2"x8" blocks now and that won't happen to me.

[fauch]

a set of these came with my trailer. we use them under tires on one side when side-to-side leveling is needed, and always use one under each landing jack pad and rear stailizers
http://www.lynxlevelers.com/newtest/new_index.php

[HOOK]

I have 2x12 treated sawn to 12 " long then screw 2 together being
Sure not to align grain. Actually only 3 " tall and 12 x 12. As these coaches carry a lot of weight on landing gear, most times the single board will split, so you turn th boards biased to prevent splitting. 12x12 large enough and low enough to prevent rollover. Have served me very well.

[bncinwv]

X2 on John Kohl's usage of crib blocks. They are readily accessible at our mine from use on heavy equipment maintenance. They also come in very handy when you have a flat tire and need to support the frame when you jack the tire and axles assembly up! That is based on experience, not opinion. As a disclaimer, I am not endorsing my tire changing method over others, but I can assure you when the rig is supported by crib blocks under the frame, I do not have to worry about any movement.
Bingo

[ols1932]

quote:Originally posted by DQDick

Several folks came up to tell me stories of rigs falling off tall blocks, one of which was Hook. I thank him to this day for getting me to dump my new toys. It wasn't but a couple of months later that I saw a camper roll backwards just enough to cause the blocks to roll and the camper fell off, landing on the legs and bending them.

Good reason for chocking the wheels. Reference another thread about not chocking the wheels.

Orv

[timandsusan]

I will not repeat the details of how a RV Tech at a Montana dealer managed to drop my Montana on the bed of the truck and destroy a landing leg because --"he was the expert" and DID NOT CHOCK THE WHEELS! The dealership paid the $1500 of damage that "the expert caused". I put that in my book as--he got away with sloppy work for some period of time until it finally caught up with him. I am assuming he is working elsewhere. OH--yes, I don't ever plan to return to that dealership for ANYTHING!

[Tfthorp]

I have been using micro lams (engineered lumber) get cut offs from construction sites, they are throwing them out all the time. Good and solid never split.

[Art-n-Marge]

LOL, well may not... I was one of those that forgot to chock correctly and almost had a serious mishap as the rig started to slide off the truck before I was ready when I was extending the landing legs using the stackable lynx blocks. They are lighter and for me, easier to use than big blocks of wood. But don't forget to chock!

And if you X-chock, don't forget the air in the tires shrinks enough that these will loosen so check them frequently. I is also a good idea to use triangular wheel chocks where you can like on the wheels that are not raised with blocks to make the rig level.

The only place I know for the wood you are talking about is a lumber yard but I hope you can find remnants (ooh, just saw tfthorps post). They typically sell these dimensions on considerable size so you'll have leftover pieces to worry about if you can't find remnants. This is why we went with Lynx Stackable levelers. I have two bags of 10 levelers each. I have plenty for the landing gear, leveling one side of the rig as necessary and some left over to minimize the distance traveled for the stabilizers.

[helmick]

I bought a 2" x 12" 8 feet long and cut it to eight one foot pieces. I stacked them four boards hight reversing thr grain. I screwed them together and put handles on the sides.

[Chasnracin]

Thanks to everyone for their advise. I probably would have been the next one for it to slide off the chocks. I do chock the wheels every time once it is leveled. I think I will keep the blocks a little lower than I originally thought. I'm thinking the 4x12's might work out after all. So when your resting spot is unlevel in the rear with the electric stabilizers that come down together, do you use different height chocks to keep everything in line? My last trailer had individual cranks so I didn't have to worry about that.

[steelpony5555]

I just use the lego blocks and so far so good.

[dieselguy]

The electric rear stabilizers are self leveling, but you can help them out with pieces of wood as required.

[DQDick]

For me the same is true on the front. I drop the stabilizers down equally and then add blocks as needed. Right now I have one block under the passenger's side and two under the driver's side, one block each under each tire on the passengers side and one on the passengers side of the rear and two on the rear drivers side. Us my IPad and an app to decide based on keeping the kitchen floor level. The app tells me where to raise and how many inches.

[trlrboy]

We just got lucky. We were in a COE park and while walking the dog I saw 4 big wood blocks by a campfire ring in a vacant site. I went over and they were 12x12 and about 16 inches long. I stuck handles on tham and gave 2 to a friend. They are outstanding, actually not very heavy and easy to move around despite their size. Great find.