My toy hauler has three different brands/styles of leveling jack. I have two different handles for lowering the jacks. I would like to replace all of them so that I can use my cordless impact wrench to raise/lower them, as well as get down to a single jack handle.

I was poking around on the e-trailer web site and I have questions.
1. What weight rating do I need? My trailer grosses out at 11k.
2. I haven't measured the plate that my current jacks are attached to. Kind of an important specification, right? Or does it not matter since many of the jacks say they're a universal design?
3. How do I figure out the rated height of my current jacks? I wouldn't say that my trailer has a lot of ground clearance, so it isn't very tall (ground to skirt). But if the skirt wasn't on there I suspect it would look a lot taller.
3. Is one type of jack (they all look the same to me so far) more readily accepting of stabilizer arms?

 

Toward the weight rating aspect, guess the jacks could level the trailer, but I tend to do the side-to-side leveling with boards or blocks under the wheels to get within an inch or two of level (typically a half bubble of less). Then drop the jacks (low side first) for raising the low side just a bit and then drop the high side jacks just to stiffen the frame. Going this route really does not put much weight on the leveling jacks and they act more as body stiffeners.

Or did I miss something about the question in general in terms of how much weight the leveling jacks should handle?

 

The problem is one of terminology.
First you have to determine whether you have leveling jacks or stabilizer jacks.
Leveling jacks are designed to support the weight of your TH and (oddly enough) level it. Usually hydraulically operated and often from a single control panel.
Stabilizer jacks, otoh, are designed to minimize the rocking associated with campers mounted on rubber tires with spring suspensions. They take very little (if any) weight off the axles. They are usually mounted close to the edge of the unit at each corner. They can be electrically driven but most often use a hand crank. They can be scissor jacks or single leg jacks that consist of one arm with a brace.
Over tightening stabilizer jacks will usually have the effect of tweaking the camper in such a way that door frames are no longer square and windows don't operate smoothly.
All that being said, simply measure from the mounting point of each jack to the ground (on a level surface) and add five inches or so. This will allow you to stabilize your trailer without extending the jacks to their absolute maximum. Of course you are going to want to put some kind of block under each one for various reasons (I use sections of pressure treated 6x6 poles). The higher the weight capacity of the jack, the stronger they are going to be built, and while you don't use them to lift the trailer, lightweight, flimsy jacks get twisted and bent very easily. Heavier is also going to eliminate more rocking.

 

Then based on their position on the trailer, I have stabilizer jacks. All four are very close to the corners.

 

Sounds right. Are they all scissor jacks? Or are the rear ones the single leg type and the front ones scissor? (most common configuration).
It sounds kind of like somebody just stuck whatever was close at hand on there.
The pad (top) where the jacks mount is going to be plenty big enough for pretty much any jack you purchase. Go to Lowe's (or similar) and get sixteen or so stainless steel self tapping shoulder bolts. That way, if the holes don't line up, you can simply install new bolts using your cordless drill.

 

They are indeed all scissor jacks. Quite rusty also.

 

Do yourself and the entire campground a favor and use your cordless drill for this instead of the impact driver. Not only is it ridiculously loud it will break the welds on the stop collar of the jack screw.
Use this little tool for a easy no dropped socket solution.

 

What welds are you thinking you could end up breaking?? I use an impact every trip just to run them up and down. If you keep the screws well lubed, you can do this without even having the hammer hit. I'm curious as to what could end up breaking by using the impact though.

 

I don't think the welds will break, but I do agree to using a drill which works just fine rather than an impacter. I haven't seen any broken welds.

Steve

 

I never found any significant differences between stabilizer jacks other than how far they could extend and, as already suggested, I always used self tappers to install them. With some models screws are included by it is hell to drill the frame if that is where they are mounted so I never used them.

I suspect as time went on, the previous owner crushed the rear jacks as often happens when someone forgets to retract them before raising the front of the camper and just picked up what was in stock somewhere as they traveled or when they returned home. Happens a lot!

Steve

 

I ended up getting the Husky Towing Product 76862. Husky calls it both a stabilizer and a leveler. It's rated for 7500 lbs, which is overkill since I'm never going to put much more than 1,000 lbs on a jack.

My trailer came with two holes to bolt the jack into. I'm getting around to adding two more holes. I think the jacks are steadier with four bolts instead of just two. And that's even with the JT Strongarms that I have. The Husky jacks adapt well to the JT Strongarms. That said, I trust stabilizer/leveling jacks only in the up/down direction. I never trust them in the front/back or side/side directions. They just aren't built to to have any strength in those directions.

 

Wrong thread, sorry!

 

There is a lock washer mostly tacked not even "welded" on the shaft of the screw to give the screw something to push against in the raise position.

But really besides damaging your jacks the racket from raise/lowering them with a impact wrench should be enough to not use the impact.
IF you use the 3/4" socket adapter I linked to earlier you won't even have to worry about your socket coming off .