Stopping the Shakes

[Bob Landry]

I've tried everything I can think of to stop my Outback from shaking when anyone walks across the floor. I found some scissor jacks on Ebay like the stabilizer jacks on the corners. Going to bolt them to the farm in front of and behind the wheels. If it doesn't fix the problem, I'm not out a lot of money. I got the set of 4 for $93 shipped to my door, much cheaper than the dealer.

My other pending project is to install a 20A inlet and run 2 or 3 outlets to run space heaters.

[Festus2]

Bob -
Thinking of doing the same 20A "pending project". Do you have anything in the way of plans that you can share with us?

[Bob Landry]

I'm going to put the outlet between the two slide outs. On my trailer, that's the bathroom wall. I'll run the romex under the shower pan and across to the space where the converter is. The Propane sensor went south a long time ago and I never replaced it so a double pole 20A breaker on a Blue Sea panel will go on the wall next to the converter where the propane detector was. The water heater space is next to all of this, so I'm going to put three terminal strips in there to attach the hot, neutral, and ground. From there, I'll run the wires for the outlets down through the floor and under the coroplast.
Oh, I forgot.. My sunscreen material came today, so as soon as the snaps get here, I'll start on that one.

[ctpd814]

I have found through trial and error that the less you have the jacks extended (including the tongue jack) the less movement. I would consider purchasing a couple sets of the Lynx Leveler blocks or something similar. This helped for me. I like the Lynx blocks because they don't take up much space and add very little weight compared to wood blocks.

[therink]

I put a set of Bal locking stabilizer bars on my front landing gear and the difference is amazing. I have asked santa for another set for Xmas for the rear scissor stabilizers. That is the only place I get movement now. When I am at a site for more than a couple of days, I will place a bottle jack under the frame near the axles which keeps the suspension/mid frame bouncing to a minimum. I'm also thinking about getting a set of scissor jacks for the center.

[twstdpear]

Originally Posted by ctpd814

I have found through trial and error that the less you have the jacks extended (including the tongue jack) the less movement. I would consider purchasing a couple sets of the Lynx Leveler blocks or something similar. This helped for me. I like the Lynx blocks because they don't take up much space and add very little weight compared to wood blocks.

I've had the same experience with our TT. My setup process:

1. Level the trailer with the appropriate number of Lynx blocks. Usually uses between none and 6.
2. For my jack, I put my red Valterra jack stand and enough Lynx blocks under that to take up most of the free space, so the jack extends as little as possible. Usually that uses two to four blocks, a cap and my red Valterra jack stand.
3. Put BAL X-chocks on the wheels to lock them together, and add regular chocks just for good measure.
4. distribute the remainder of my Lynx blocks under the stabilizers, lower the stabilizers until the hit the blocks firmly and give another 3/4 to 2 cranks, depending on the softness of the ground. Usually we have eight to ten blocks per stabilizer. If one end/side is higher, I put more on that end/side.

I have 44 Lynx blocks and eight caps.

I don't think it's possible to eliminate shaking completely. The tiny amount we do get seems appropriate, especially considering I have two active boys.

I've also run across SteadyFast (http://www.steadyfast.com/). I have no first hand experience, just found the site and watched the video. The idea seems sound, though.

[Bob Landry]

It's perception that the trailer shakes less with the stabilizer jacks extended less. I've done it both ways and it doesn't matter. The support on the corner jacks comes from the threaded rod going through the nut that connects the scissors, there is no flex in the support arms regardless of the extended length, so there can be no movement. X-Chocks are gong to restrict lateral movement, or rolling action of the wheels and offer nothing to counteract trailer shake. We're talking about flex in the frame, not the wheels rolling or the trailer being not level. The only thing that is going to reduce the amount of flex in the frame is to get more support under it.

[ctpd814]

I do agree that adding support in the middle of the frame will help. As far as the extension of the jacks not making a difference, try a little experiment. Close them up and grab the foot and move it. Then extend them almost to the ground and do it again. You will see much more movement when extended. There has to be clearances in the jack to operate. These clearances are multiplied over distance. Also the scissor jacks that I have seen on most trailers have a thin mounting plate that is mounted to the trailer with 2 self tapping screws. The additional torque of the extended jacks causes flex in the mounting area. These factors added together give you more movement the farther you extend the jacks.

[B&T]

In addition to my ultra cheap home made triangular bracing system(that I posted somewhere else on the forum), I grabbed a set of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Camco-44560-Ol.../dp/B000760FWU

They are inexpensive, light weight, storage is very compact and in use take some of the wiggle out of the frame flexing.

[Festus2]

To view B&T's ultra cheap and home-made stabilizers :

http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/sho...?t=9716&page=2

[Aklak]

Originally Posted by twstdpear

I've had the same experience with our TT. My setup process:

1. Level the trailer with the appropriate number of Lynx blocks. Usually uses between none and 6.
2. For my jack, I put my red Valterra jack stand and enough Lynx blocks under that to take up most of the free space, so the jack extends as little as possible. Usually that uses two to four blocks, a cap and my red Valterra jack stand.
3. Put BAL X-chocks on the wheels to lock them together, and add regular chocks just for good measure.
4. distribute the remainder of my Lynx blocks under the stabilizers, lower the stabilizers until the hit the blocks firmly and give another 3/4 to 2 cranks, depending on the softness of the ground. Usually we have eight to ten blocks per stabilizer. If one end/side is higher, I put more on that end/side.

I have 44 Lynx blocks and eight caps.

I don't think it's possible to eliminate shaking completely. The tiny amount we do get seems appropriate, especially considering I have two active boys.

I've also run across SteadyFast (http://www.steadyfast.com/). I have no first hand experience, just found the site and watched the video. The idea seems sound, though.

I have the Steady Fast system and it is very functional, not 100% but very close - I highly recommend it! I do use it in conjunction with Bal-X wheel chocks

[Onthemove]

I have a Cougar 25 RLSWE trailer that is 29’ – 6” long. I use a 2”x6”x6” board under the Lynk blocks with top caps. I have 26 blocks and I use them all on all four corners so the jack extends as little as possible. I put quite a bit of pressure on the jacks, and then I put my Bal-X-chocks between the tires, then I put four wheel chocks in front and rear of the tires and make them tight against the wheels. Our trailer moves very little.
I also wanted to add a 20Amp inlet to my trailer so I put a water proof box inside my outside shower box, we have never used that shower, and I added a rain trim above the door and calked it. I mounted the box over one of the two holes that had the faucet on and put a 90 into the other hole. I bolted a small piece of ½ plywood inside the trailer in back of the shower box to stiffen the box up. Then I ran the romex under the sink through the closet and installed a receptacle box and plug-ins on the outside of closet close to the floor. I have a small heater with a separate thermostat and I keep the heater going all winter. The trailer is 50 degrees inside all winter.

[michol02]

I'm using the BAL stabilizer bars and X chock, and I'm satisfied with them. The only drawback is having to crawl halfway under the camper to tighten the "stop bolts" on the bars. I have a set of Lynx blocks, but I'm lazy, so I bolted composite wood boards to the jacks. I have a set of jacks in the middle of the trailer, but they don't do much for stabilization. I only use them if I need to make a minor side to side level.

[michol02]

BAL stabilizers(2 on each jack).

[michol02]

Middle jack(showing composite boards).

[Bluewater]

I found the x-chock between the tires makes a big difference.

[JRTJH]

The entendable part of the front landing gear legs on our Cougar are much looser in the fixed part than they were in the Springdale. This allows the front of the trailer to move fore/aft as well as side to side much more than the Springdale. We found with the Springdale that firming up the aft stabilizer jacks and installing X-chocks between the wheels was all we needed to do. With the Cougar, those actions don't stop the movement when set up in camp.

Like Bob on his conventional trailer, we're considering different ways to help stabilize better. I'm thinking that BAL stabilizer bars on the front landing gear may be all we need to do. If not, then possibly jacks near the center will help. I'd think center jacks will take some suspension bounce out, but I'm just not sure if they will stop movement effectively or if they will just firm up the axles without stopping side to side movement.

[spicercars]

In my many years of camping and owning several different units I have found that the campers move forward and back when you are moving around in them. Stand out side sometime and watch the tires as somebody walks around inside. That's how I found out my 5th wheel was moving. I bought a set of BAL chocks that go between the tires and keep them from moving and they worked very well. They are pretty cheap. My new Raptor have the rear jack mounted at a 45 degree angle and it is very stable. Good luck.

[concours]

The BAL stabilisers and Xchocks did it for us even when camped on the gusty Oregon coast

[dacar]

Steadyfast system works great for me. I had to add an extra pair of stabilizer jacks because of the slide rack on the 318SAB took a few hours to install but not difficult