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BobsYourUncle
Calgary Alberta Canada
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Joined: 12/12/2003
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I've overnighted many times in snow and ice, but have always found level ground and left my TT hooked up.
Chocking on ice is not easy, as the risk of sliding is high.
I carry a truck full of hardware wherever I go so my inclination would be to get one of my many blocks of wood I carry, along with some 4 or 5 inch decking screws and screw blocks of 2X8 or 2X6 into the ground against the tires. Assuming you are not on pavement. A few screws through the blocks into the ground and it's not going anywhere. Do both sides. You could screw your chocks to the blocks if needed.
In addition to that, if it will reach, crank your hitch jack down without using a block. The pipe will dig into the ice and provide an anchor point.
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profdant139
Southern California
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Bob, those are good suggestions. But if you crank your jack down to serve as an anchor point without the jack wheel, and if the trailer then shifts a little after you chock the wheels and unhitch, the stem of the jack can be bent a little, making it impossible to retract the jack.
Please don't ask how I know this.
The good news is that replacing a bent jack is not that expensive or difficult.
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Lwiddis
South of Lone Pine, California
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Lots of good ideas above. Very informative.
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JRscooby
Indepmo
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profdant139 wrote:Bob, those are good suggestions. But if you crank your jack down to serve as an anchor point without the jack wheel, and if the trailer then shifts a little after you chock the wheels and unhitch, the stem of the jack can be bent a little, making it impossible to retract the jack.
Please don't ask how I know this.
The good news is that replacing a bent jack is not that expensive or difficult.
Something I always think of when I see/hear of a RV trailer set down with out wheel on the jack; Often when I want something rigid I make a triangle, because once set, as long as the length of a side does not change, the angles can't change. Now in my mind I see a* triangle, where the weight meets ground at tire, (A) where the jack meets ground, (B) and where jack is attached to tongue. (C). Now the point A should be set so it can't move when you unhook, or the trailer can roll away. And the distance A-C is set when trailer built/loaded. The angle at C is set when the jack is mounted. When you crank the jack down to unhook, you set the lengths of A-B and B-C. Most trailers, your done, nothing changes until ready to hook back up. But a RV trailer, we want the floor level, so we start changing the length of B-C. With a wheel at B, that lets the length A-B also change, no issue. But the angle at C takes more force as the length A-B resists the change in length. Will the jack/jack mount take that strain? Most times. But can you be sure all the jacks that get bent is because the jack was holding the trailer in place?
*I said 'a triangle' but there are the same triangles on each side of the trailer. And a tandem trailer has 4 triangles. But they are all putting stress on the same point.
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Skinny D
California
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cougar28 wrote:Just get you some #10 1/2 long hexed head sheet metal screw and screw into the bottom of the rubber chock. Those will bite into the ice and keep them from slipping. You can always remove them for better weather camping.
Do you mean to use the hex head as the ice stud pointing down, with the threaded party of the screw biting up into the chock?
I had considered running screws through a 2x6 with just enough of the threaded tip pointing out to act as the ice studs. You think the hex head would bite better?
And once I got 6' of 2x6, I'd still have enough room to pull up on my levelers for full leveling.
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Skinny D
California
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noteven wrote:To release them drive off and then give them a couple gentle hits with something heavy - chunk of firewood - to break them free. If you overdid the hot water freeze in you might have to use hot water to thaw them free again.
My 2x6s froze to the ground last time... only seemed to contact ground/ice on 1 of 6 sides, but I COULD NOT break free a few of them. The ice was stronger than the doug fir and I just hammered off pieces of wood, and ended up just leaving some wood frozen to the ground.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Skinny D wrote: My 2x6s froze to the ground last time... only seemed to contact ground/ice on 1 of 6 sides, but I COULD NOT break free a few of them. The ice was stronger than the doug fir and I just hammered off pieces of wood, and ended up just leaving some wood frozen to the ground.
That's why I carry a crowbar. DAMHIK
Sand on the ground where the contact points between the RV and the ground are.
Regards, Don
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cougar28
Lowell,AR USA
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Skinny D wrote:cougar28 wrote:Just get you some #10 1/2 long hexed head sheet metal screw and screw into the bottom of the rubber chock. Those will bite into the ice and keep them from slipping. You can always remove them for better weather camping.
Do you mean to use the hex head as the ice stud pointing down, with the threaded party of the screw biting up into the chock?
I had considered running screws through a 2x6 with just enough of the threaded tip pointing out to act as the ice studs. You think the hex head would bite better?
And once I got 6' of 2x6, I'd still have enough room to pull up on my levelers for full leveling.
Yes using the head as the ice stud. Better -can't say for sure but I've used many of them over the year for ice studs in off road tire -atv-sxs and dirt bike. You can also buy them specifically for just that.
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BurbMan
Islip, Long Island
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Think opposite...when we camp on the beach, you can't use any kind of blocking in the sand to raise the low side...so we use a shovel and dig out under the wheels to lower the high side!
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jdc1
Rescue, Ca
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Use your golf shoes instead of wheel chocks.
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