Do you add more stabization under your 5er?

[Gary Hage]

For those of the more stationary 5ers like ourselves that sit and roost in one campsite year round, or at least darn near LOL:

Do you add additional stabilizers (such as screw jack stands, etc.) under the I-beams on the frame to help assist the on-board hydraulic stands? After having grown tired of the bounce in the floor when someone walks or as the washer is in its high-speed spin cycle, it has become time to do something about it time. Plus, the on-going fluctuations in the hydraulics during daily and seasonal temperature changes is causing the RV to rise and settle ever so slightly, yet enough to be noticed over time. I've also had my concerns about the seals, pistons, etc. in the hydraulic rams as they absorb this energy and the possibility of premature wear and leaking at the seals.

So re-leveling the RV has to be done once about every 2-3 months, even though we are on extremely hard (packed shellrock). Due to those not wanting things to look too permanent, placing the RV on concrete bases and blocks is not an option. My "Fit" frame from Lippert has the 6-point auto-leveling hydraulic jack system on it. I do have quite a bit of cantilever from the rear axle to the back of the box. Since we don't move our RV around, by placing 4-equally spaced screw type jack stands along each frame rail, from front to rear once it has been auto-leveled sounds good to me in making our 5er more stable. Combined, we now have fourteen stabilization points on the ground. Once carefully snugged up to the bottom of the frame, tight enough to prevent slippage of the jack stand(s) but not enough to lift the frame off of the hydraulics, I wouldn't think that the additional stands would hurt anything. Unless you forget to remove all of them before you push the button in the little box that says "Leveler" on it! That would not be good. 

[Memtb]

Gary,

After reading your post, it certainly appears that you have a lot of frame flex.  I don't think that having extra support will hurt anything provided that they are fairly evenly loaded.  Do you have this flex situation immediately after leveling with your hydraulic system or does the flex increase over time?  

As we are not full-timers, our unit is often on the hydraulic jacks for several months at a time.  I have gone back and energized the system and found the unit to still be level., although we're not living in it either.   It seems that you may be experiencing some leak down in your hydraulic ram.  

We only have four Big Foot hydraulic jacks on our unit and do not detect any floor flex when set up.  We rarely camp in RV campgrounds so we seldom use our washer and dryer; however, a few weeks ago we did stay in an RV park for about a week. We used the washer twice and were barely able to hear it run and felt no vibration.  

As far as the aggravating situation concerning the spin cycle on the washing machine, is it possible that you have some sort of balance issue with the washing machine?  Good luck solving your problem.

[Heavymetal]

We full time also but unlike you we travel, not staying in one place very long, but we still have four extra jacks on our RV that I lower with a impact.  We have a 16" frame so there is no frame flex but the extra stabilizer make for a more solid footing and a more comfortable feel to the RV. 

[Gary Hage]

We have the larger Splendide stack washer and dryer set rather than a much lower profile combo washer/dryer unit. Rather than there being a shelf above the washer like I've seen in many other units for the dryer to sit on, our prewired and plumbed laundry area does not have one. So our W/D units are attached directly to each other.  Thus creating one unit, so to say, that is about 32-36" square X about 6' tall. Throw 3-4 pairs jeans or a load of towels into the washer and that's when we notice the slight vibration. Not so with the lighter loads. I've also check for a solid footing on each pedestal of the washer, along with the level of the W/D, and find that both are good. I do believe that we do have a very slight leak down in our hydraulic system, but it is slow enough that we've not seen the need to pull the RV out from under the RV canopy to drag it to the shop just for that repair.

Being in a Redwood rather than a Newmar Mountainaire like Heavymetal and the others, we certainly don't have the more substantial frame under our house like them. Would have been had Newmar not quit building new 5ers when they did. So I do agree that we seem to possibly have a lot more frame flex than the other more solidly built units tend to. Although we are otherwise extremely happy with our 2013 Redwood, and even though this was considered as a "higher end" RV in the pecking order of fifthwheel RVs, the bottom line is that you get what you pay for. Some being a piece of crap to fairly well designed and built, and on up to the top of the line that are built like a Sherman tank! Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to buy those beauties.

[GlennWest]

I must admit I have been installing disc brakes on our Teton. I have a bottle Jack under the spring perch about all the time now. Only have an hour to work in evenings so done in shifts. Our unit is surprising steadier with Jack. Our front loader which has the fast spin out don't shake us now either. 

[Gary Hage]

 

5 hours ago, GlennWest said:

Our unit is surprising steadier with Jack. Our front loader which has the fast spin out don't shake us now either. 

Kind of glad to hear that our front loading washer isn't the only one to cause a shake, especially in a big ole heavy built Teton! If ours shook the RV on every load no matter how light or heavy, I would probably be leaning more towards it having an issue. But as stated before, its only been during the heavy loads. So my focus goes to the frame. I got my eight additional heavy duty screw type tripod jackstands, and have placed them equally along each frame rail of the RV; two at the rear, two directly behind the rear axle, and one at each of the four corners of the drop portion of the frame located at the front 1/3 of the 5er. Then I snugged them up enough to keep them from slipping out from beneath the frame. This was done only after manually taking the RV out of level and then having the auto level re-level the RV. Only took me about 20 minutes to grab and place some wood blocking on the ground and set the additional jackstands in place. What a difference in the stability of the RV and the bonce when one walks thru the RV. Even the shake from the washer (doing a heavy load now) seems to be far less. Maybe, placing almost 40' of RV only on 6-hydraulic stabilization points doesn't give as solid of a footing under the 5er as one would think. I've also wondered why many of the larger units like ours have so much cantilever from the rear landing gear to the rear of the box. Would have thought it a good idea to place another set of stabilizers there, right at the back of the frame like the front gear.

[Newt]

I found that placing a jack directly on the frame in the washer/dryer area helped with the washer shake.

 

Newt

[Heavymetal]

14 hours ago, Gary Hage said:

Some being a piece of crap to fairly well designed and built, and on up to the top of the line that are built like a Sherman tank! Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to buy those beauties.

Its not what you pay for a unit it is more when were they built. We did the custom 5 star route and were totally disappointed, so much so we sold it and went back to a 12 year old Newmar for 1/6th the cost and have a better RV. Yes it is not all up to date with all the new electronics, but that is something you can upgrade, but you can't upgrade the structure. Plus the more electronics you have i.e. Multiplex lighting, auto shades, and so on the more you have to go wrong. Our current unit has no computer controlled anything so I can repair it no matter where we are.  I have removed all the LPG tanks and am working on removing the gas furnaces at this time along with roof a/c and water heater. I purchased two military surplus a/c and heating units and am installing them in the basement. These units are built to be abused and the two 9000 BTU units heat and cool better then the two 15k BTU units we have on the roof. We have a 5k geneset mounted and plumed into the truck fuel tanks that can run the HDT the RV or both. The geneset is also military surplus and is water cooled quiet and again built like a tank and with 342 hours on it I paid under &1,000  for it. The a/c and heater units cost me $25 for 4 of them. When finished we will have a very well built RV setup to use anywhere we want to go and have well under $50k invested in it. 

[travelinbob]

I have used 2 quality jack stands under the back of the fiver for years and if makes a big difference. Like another poster replied a set of levers on the rear would be a good idea. Pay a little more and have a 8 point leveling. Or they could move the one directly behind the wheels back toward the rear and it would make it so much better with less wobble.

[rpsinc]

The idea of scew jacks is a good one, but perhaps jacks like what is used under mobile homes, would be suitable.  They are made in varying heights and are designed to do what you are needing done.  Sitting on jacks that are hydraulic is every bit a part of what you are experiencing.  Mobile home jacks are not very expensive either.  I would buy 6-8 and try that, if you arent satisfied, then add a few more.  Might make sense to put more up front to compensate for the W/D activity.

[rdickinson]

My 2002 Travel Supreme has a problem of the slideouts sticking on their initial deployment out.  An RV repair outfit in Indiana told me it was the trailer losing its camber in the longitudinal beams.  He said to either use a jack of some sort to take the stress off the beam or to lower the rear landing gear then drop the trailer then extend the front landing gear to put more downward pressure on the rear support.

This seams to work, the slideouts don't bind when being deployed.