Jack question

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by skids

Dammit! John, you are right I know because there isn't much room and there certainly isn't enough to accommodate a flat tire. All I have ever done is pull off wheels to grease bearings and such.

When we lost the wheel and hub in a campground 3 years ago, I had two 4 ton bottle jacks. No problem (so I thought) I can jack up the entire side of the trailer or the both sides of either axle with what I have... NOPE !!!!!

When the wheel and hub came off, the axle was about 3" from the ground and the tire was lodged in the wheelwell and I couldn't move the trailer without damaging the wheelwell and the fender skirt. No way to get a jack under it and no way to use my limited cribbing to jack the frame.... I wound up jacking the "good wheel/hub, putting cribbing under the tire, removing the jack, sitting it on cribbing, jacking higher, more cribbing under the tire, more under the jack until I finally had the "hanging axle" high enough to get a jack under the U-bolts so I could tie the axle up to tow the trailer (on 3 tires) to the campsite and try to fix things.

To say it was a "frustrating, name calling goat rope with greased pigs" would be a nice way to package my vocals for church, but only as far as the church parking lot.... Man, I said a few things that I hadn't said since back in Viet Nam....

Anyway, jacking the axle to change a flat tire is NOT the same "clearance under the axle" as jacking an inflated tire. That 4 or 5 inches does make a difference in whether you "say words nobody should hear" or "simply change the flat and get back on the road".... Yep, a flat tire can be a "show stopper" if you have only jacked inflated tires with your bottle jack....