Front and back scissor jacks

[SlowPoke]

I've noticed on my 3180RE and all other Passports, the locality of the scissor jacks in relation to the road. They seem mighty low. When I brought my unit back from the dealer, I made sure to avoid all dips at all costs because I didn't want to rip the jacks off accidentally dragging the road. Has anyone else had a problem with this? Or am I just being over cautious. I've searched the threads, but didn't see anyone commenting on it.

I'm especially afraid of dragging the back side as where I live, the roads have dips at every T in the road, I only have one option and it takes me around my elbow to get to my thumb (so to speak)...

[JRTJH]

Slowpoke,

The aft jacks do "appear" to be very low on most RV's, but if you get a straight edge and go from the bottom of the rear tire to the bottom of the rear bumper, I'm pretty sure you'll find that the jacks are just slightly above that line. I know what you mean about how it "looks like they will catch on any dip" and most of us are aware and try not to get into any "obvious situations" but if yours is like mine and most others, it's more an optical illusion that they hang down rather than a problem on the road.

Check it out, hopefully you'll find they're above that straight edge line.

Oh, and the easiest way to get that line is to back over a piece of string and then pull it tight up against the bottom of the bumper.

[SlowPoke]

Unfortunately, it looks after stringing they hang down about 3 inches below the string line... they are mounted SO far back, it looks like they did it because the coroplast would be in the way of the mounts (an afterthought I reckon)... Oh well, if it gets ripped off, that's what a warranty is for eh?

[SteveC7010]

Actually, until just a few years ago, almost all travel trailers and fifth wheels sat a lot lower. My '99 Sunline had 15" of clearance between the bottom of the frame and the ground. The primary reason that rigs sit higher now is they're bigger requiring the larger axle and spring packages.

The lower rigs had the same stabilizing jacks hanging down which is why you saw a lot of the huge casters on back of trailers. They were there specifically to keep the rear end from scraping on the ground in places like the dreaded driveway into the gas station that invariably had a huge dip or rain gutter at the edge of the road.

If you're concerned about scraping, particularly the rear jacks, have someone eyeball things as you go through those dips and turns near your home. I think you will find you have a lot more clearance back there than you think you do.

[SlowPoke]

have someone eyeball things as you go through those dips and turns near your home

Thanks, I just told my wife the same thing... I'm really hoping I can go straight out when its time to leave, otherwise it's gonna be tighter than a tick to get out due to some "not so RV friendly" neighbors that love to park multiple vehicles in the road further out than they should around the block...(sometimes I think because they know it yanks my chain ...lol)