Bionic Man wrote: The best way would be to jack the trailer up by the frame if it is possible. I've heard that there is the potential to bend the axle if you do it there.
And, as far as letting someone else do it, here is how my trailer looked the first trip after I had someone work on my wheel bearings/brakes. Lugs were not tightened properly and I lost the wheel.
Usually the bent axles are from someone at a garage thinking they can throw a floor jack under the middle of an axle and lift both ends of the axle off of the ground at the same time. This is the reason you want to do it yourself so this is not done.
pitch black wrote: i also have the equa flex suspension, does that matter?
Since you have an equa flex you have to jack up by the frame.
The TrailAir equaflex equalizer gives you more suspension travel than normal. If you are trying to get both tires on one side off the ground with 1 jack, then yes you would have to jack under the frame. But to get all four tires at once, you would need 2 jacks.
What most people do is jack up one wheel so that it is barely off of the ground and put a jackstand under the axle on that end. Then they proceed to do that with the next tire, until the trailer is sitting on four jackstands.
That is actually how my trailers are when in storage in my driveway. It takes the weight off of the tires, which reduces the effects of ozone cracking.
agesilaus wrote: I was wondering how their torque wrenches could be set too high, my tires specify 120 pounds. That would probably wring off a passenger car lug bolt.
I have two impact wrenches. One goes to 250 foot pounds, the other to 350 foot pounds. There marks on the settings don't tell you what the setting is. It is common practice to use full torque for removal. A lot of mechanics are lazy and just flip the direction on the impact, without resetting the torque.
This is a big enough problem in the industry that they have developed a solution. It is called a torque extension. It relys on the fact that the travel of the wrench for each impact if actually very small. The extension will start twisting at a certain torque so that the socket does not turn. In the time it takes for the impact to turn again with the next impact, the extension snaps back to where it was. Here is a link for a set of these:
Even with this equipment, it can still be done wrong. If your specs say 120 ft lb. You don't just grab the extension marked 120 ft lb and go at it. You should actually torque in stages, which requires you to use 3 different entensions. The last one would be the 110. Then you finish it off with your torque wrench. The reason for doing this is to avoid warping a drum or rotor -- and on trailer wheels, which are lug centric, to make sure the wheel is properly centered.
Then you recheck it with your torque wrench at about 10 to 50 miles and at 100 miles (minimum -- they actually specify something like 10 miles, 50 miles, and 100 miles). It can be difficult to find a convenient place to do this after the specified mileage. On most of my trips, I can pull into a rest stop at 50 to 60 miles from home. Occasionally, a nut will turn up to 1/4 of a turn. Usually 1 or 2 nuts on each wheel can be tightened just a slight bit.
OldGreaser wrote: Equa flex does not require jacking up by the frame. Place a jack of any kind under the spring perch behind the tire you wish to raise. I've done this with success several times. My tire wear is even with no evidence of camber or alignment problems on any of the 6 tires. The risk of bending an axle comes into play if one were to put a jack closer to the middle of the axle.
Disclaimer: I'm not an expert, just sharing my experience and ready to be flamed.
I won't flame you -- I'll stand with you to take some of the heat.
SH wrote: OK...I understand that I should jack from the frame per Lippert recommendations but...if I am changing a tire and only lifting the axle with TrailAir Equa-Flex high enough to do so, could I weld one of these (see photo) to the bottle jack and reduce the chance of causing any axle damage?
Can't see pictures on photobucket here at work -- they have it blocked. My fiver is underslung, so the axle tube is above the springs. There is a nice flat plate under the spring that the u-bolts go through. It is called the tie plate, and I can just put the bottle jack under there. On my TT, it is overslung. This means my springs are above the axle tube. So I made an adapter for my bottle jack. I took a pipe nipple that would slip over the top of my bottle jack and welded it to a "spring perch" that was for my axle diameter. Here is a link to the "spring perch":
It's real simple, take a low profile bottle jack and place it under the spot where the springs attach to the axles. Use a small piece of wood between the bottle jack and the axle point. Jack up the one tire just enough to get it off. Take the SPARE and put it on where you took off the tire. Lower that axle and jack up the other tire in the same manner. Take that tire off and leave the jack there. This way you can do one side with safety because you have the spare installed in case the jack fails. I torque to 100 ft. lbs. Never had a problem. Good luck
Lynn & Diana Wagoner
Three Boston Terriers
2005 Chevy 2500HD D/A
2006 HHII 29.5LKTG
Retired
SH wrote: OK...I understand that I should jack from the frame per Lippert recommendations but...if I am changing a tire and only lifting the axle with TrailAir Equa-Flex high enough to do so, could I weld one of these (see photo) to the bottle jack and reduce the chance of causing any axle damage?
You will note the correct term is "spring seat". When you look at your axle, there is already one of these welded to it.
Thanks David...actually the picture is a "spring seat" from East Marine only a 3" version. I think that is what I need for 7000lb axles. Welding the pipe to the seat would save welding it directly to the jack. I might try that. Seems like jacking that way should not be such an issue. I am being lazy as I just don't want to carry all the 4x4 cribbing everytime I travel. This would be much easier if it doesn't create any damage.
2011 Heartland Big Country 3450TS
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SH wrote: OK...I understand that I should jack from the frame per Lippert recommendations but...if I am changing a tire and only lifting the axle with TrailAir Equa-Flex high enough to do so, could I weld one of these (see photo) to the bottle jack and reduce the chance of causing any axle damage?
You will note the correct term is "spring seat". When you look at your axle, there is already one of these welded to it.
Thanks David...actually the picture is a "spring seat" from East Marine only a 3" version. I think that is what I need for 7000lb axles. Welding the pipe to the seat would save welding it directly to the jack. I might try that. Seems like jacking that way should not be such an issue. I am being lazy as I just don't want to carry all the 4x4 cribbing everytime I travel. This would be much easier if it doesn't create any damage.
The biggest problem is getting a pipe nipple that fits nicely on your jack. I got one that was just slightly undersized and reamed it out with a carbide burr in a die grinder. Alternatively, I could have used a file, but it would have been more work. The ideal would be to get a lathe operator to machine it out for you.
Anyway, get the pipe to fit the jack prior to the welding.
I have a seat for the 3" axle tube that is welded to the head of a 1/2" bolt. It is the adapter I use with my Sherline scale when I was measuring the individual wheel weights on my fiver. The tie plates on it are not parallel to the ground, so without using the adapter on the axle tube right beside the tie plate, you get an unacceptable error in the weight readings.
I need to get another seat for my 3.5K axles on the TT so I can make an adapter for the Sherline to use it with the TT.
I recently bought 4 jackstands to get the tires on the TT off of the ground. I had to do some cutting on the tops with the reciprocating saw and use the carbide burr on it to get the nice half round shape to match the axle tube on the TT. What a pain. On the last one, I messed up a bit and had to fire up the MIG welder and do some filling in.
I like the idea of putting the spare on and leaving one on the jack so that you can take two to the dealer at one time. If you don't have jackstands like I do . . . that sound like a good sound and safe approach to the problem.
SH wrote: OK...I understand that I should jack from the frame per Lippert recommendations but...if I am changing a tire and only lifting the axle with TrailAir Equa-Flex high enough to do so, could I weld one of these (see photo) to the bottle jack and reduce the chance of causing any axle damage?
IMO, that wouldn't make any difference...to Lippert. Their CYA policy is that if you jack anywhere on the axle, you run the risk of bending the axle...despite the fact that your most likely jack point is right under the springs, where the axle is carrying the load. With a floor jack, you really wouldn't need that, as it's got a "cup" as its jack point anyway. With a bottle jack, having a piece like you pictured =welded on= sure would make jacking on the axle a lot safer, but would make the jack pretty useless for anything else. JMO...
Lyle
2002 GMC Sierra 2500 HD Duramax Crew Cab 4x4
Banks Bullet Tuner and Monster Exhaust
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2004 Komfort 25FSG Fifth Wheel
1936 John Deere Model A
International Flying Farmers 55 Year Member
SH wrote: OK...I understand that I should jack from the frame per Lippert recommendations but...if I am changing a tire and only lifting the axle with TrailAir Equa-Flex high enough to do so, could I weld one of these (see photo) to the bottle jack and reduce the chance of causing any axle damage?
Can't see pictures on photobucket here at work -- they have it blocked. My fiver is underslung, so the axle tube is above the springs. There is a nice flat plate under the spring that the u-bolts go through. It is called the tie plate, and I can just put the bottle jack under there. On my TT, it is overslung. This means my springs are above the axle tube. So I made an adapter for my bottle jack. I took a pipe nipple that would slip over the top of my bottle jack and welded it to a "spring perch" that was for my axle diameter. Here is a link to the "spring perch":
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