I took all four wheels off my toy hauler tonight so that I could get the TPMS sensors installed tomorrow. It took me a good hour to do it and I'm looking for advice on how to do it better.

Admittedly, this probably isn't something that is done very often but...

I had two 12 ton jack stands and two 6 ton jack stands. I lowered the trailer tongue as far down as it would go and placed the 12 ton stands under the frame, close behind the back wheels. I then raised the tongue as far as I felt comfortable, probably 15". That wasn't enough to raise the tires off the ground. (I have the trailer tires sitting on 2"x12" boards and that contributed greatly to my problems.) I then placed one 6 ton jack under the frame in front of the front tires on the curb side of the trailer. I used my 6 ton bottle jack to raise the front tire up so it cleared the board. Bad idea as the tire spun when I tried to loosen the lug nuts. Back down it went, loosen lug nuts, jack up, remove wheel. Repeat for rear wheel on curb side.

I couldn't position the other 6 ton jack stand on the street side under the frame because the board under the tires was in the way and further forward my sewer drain is right under the frame rail. Used the bottle jack to raise the tire off the board, removed wheel and pulled the board to the side. The 6 ton jack stand wasn't tall enough to reach the frame so I made a 4x4 pattern of Lynx levelers, three high. Bottle jack under the rear and pull the wheel.

So my trailer is looking like I parked in the ghetto and someone stole all the wheels.

If I were to do this again, taller jack stands would help, as would a bigger bottle jack. My Wal-mart special bottle jack worked, but it's kind of short. Not parking the trailer on boards would also help. From an earlier thread I read that I shouldn't make the trailer's axles bear any weight, so I only used the bottle jack under the u-bolts that hold the axle to the leaf springs. There is no way my bottle jack would reach the frame.

The 2"x12" boards under the tires are used to level the trailer without having to jack it up.

 

work over blacktop or concrete... when possible.

if you must work over dirt ... lots of wood (cribbing)... longer the better.

I had a 4x4 wood explode apart.. and the wheels were still on trailer. (brake/bearing service)

* Right Tool for the Job *. takes time and money.

 

I'm on dirt/gravel.

It would be a lot easier if there were room on the axle to both jack it up and place a jack stand.

 

I reinstalled the tires this afternoon. It went a lot faster than the removal I brought along a bunch of cribbing, or as I like to call it random pieces of lumber stacked up.

Unfortunately, I broke one of my jack stands. The roll pin that holds the cam to the handle must have sheared off. The jack didn't release, meaning that it was still bearing weight. But once I took the weight off it was never going to hold weight again.

Discount Tire wouldn't handle one of my tires because it was 10+ years old. Looked fine to me, lots of tread, no cracking. I had to replace the tire to get them to put the sensor in. They cut me a deal so I'm OK with that.

 

I always try to remember to loosen the lug nuts before I start the jacking sequence...but I often forget. Something wedged a little under the tire on the 'downward' side, a 2x4, a rock, part of the jack itself, can often provide enough resistance to loosen the nuts. Having an impact, corded or cordless is often not an option but some people carry them for just this situation.

But back to your question...

I recently wanted to remove the two axles on my trailer, affect a modification, and then reinstall them. I lowered the bumper hitch jack to its lowest limit, (with all wheels still in place) placed 12 ton jack stands under the frame, behind, but as close to, the rear tires. Cranked the hitch jack up to its full travel, and did the same as the jack stands at the rear, but in front of the front wheels. I again repeated the lowering of the hitch jack, extended the rear jack stands, raised the hitch jack stands until I see-sawed it high enough for my needs.

Don't know if any of this rambling is of help to you though.....

 

That's kind of what I did. It just wasn't enough to get the tires to clear the ground. So I still had to use the bottle jack under the axles.

There's probably a better way, I just haven't come up with the right combination of jack stand placement and tongue jack raise/lower.

 

I have to do the same soon. Is it important to have your wheels balanced when installing those heavy tpms sensors?

 

Guessing you're talking about an external sensor and not the OEM type that's mounted on the wheel? Either way, balancing tires doesn't cost much and you probably want to pull the tires once a year to check the brakes anyway....

 

I don't think these sensors are very heavy, but I didn't examine them that carefully. I handed them over to the guys at Discount Tire and they figured it out from there. I assume they rebalanced the tires.

 

I have to have the factory sensors installed. I sure hope they fit the wheel correctly. I read the instructions and there's some pretty specific wheel specs for them to be correctly mounted. I'm not sure how standard these wheels are. I don't see any balancing weights currently on the wheel. I'm not sure it's common practive to balance any type of traile wheel/tire but I agree that it doesn't cost that much so I will request that it be done.

 

Lot of guys and tire shops don't balance trailer tires. Besides making a smoother running tire, balancing may tell you if a wheel or tire is bent or otherwise messed up.

 

I'll have to look at my trailer wheels to see if there are any balancing weights attached.

Given the poor quality of many of these tires (China bombs!) I would think that balancing would be important.