How to jack up a boat trailer???
 

On a tandem or triaxle trailer, when attempting to change a tire, is it OK to place the jack under the axle of the tire you are trying to remove? Seems to me that you would be jacking up a lot of weight on one axle. Would it be better to use two jacks on the frame, 1-front of wheels and 1-aft of wheels and then jack up on the frame??? What does everyone else do?

Axle
 

I believe it is, your axles are independant suspension.
So what is the difference if you jack one tire higher
than the other. Or if that same tire rides over a
curb on a miscalculated turn.

Just keep your jack close to the tire or under your leaf
spring. If you go to the center of the axle I would agree
you may create some problems.

Good luck
Cougarman

Unless you have a HUGE pair of jacks (depending on the size of your boat) you will not be able to lift the one side. Also you will put a lot of preasure on the frame of your trailer. I always get the jack on the axle as close to the outside as I can get it (like under the spring) and then jack it up. You only need to lift it enough to get the tire off the ground so the load will still be sapported on the other tires

Jon

East Coast B

It all depends on the type of axles that you have under the trailer. On a regular leaf spring axle, just jack under the axle close to the wheel as possible, as everyone else said. There is a pivot shackle between the axles that lets the weight transfer from one axle to the other ie., going over a curb. The only bad thing about a triaxle leaf spring trailer is that after you have made some sharp turns (culdsac, in a subdivision) the axles will no longer be "aligned" and you will get uneven tire wear.

On the other hand, if you have a torsion bar axle, that is a different story. These are usually bolted or welded to the frame of the trailer and act independant of each other. You will have to jack up the whole trailer on one side in order to change a tire on these. Also, you will have to jack a lot higher because of the load on the axle. The axle will need to "untwist" so to speak to get the tire off the ground. This is why I would not want a torsion bar axle trailer even though the axles all stay "aligned" as oposed to the leaf spring axles.

I hope this helps

Robert

A little trick to make jacking easier is to drive the tire that is next to the one you want to change, up on a couple of 2x6 pieces of wood. It takes a lot of load off the axle you want to jack up.

I should have stated torsion axles..... Thanks everyone!!! I bought a couple of heavy duty bottle jacks that I will carry in the truck along with some extra lumber to drive that other wheel up higher to take some of the load off the flat tire ....good idea..... Thanks again!!! Good stuff!!!

I have a thing I bought at a commercial trailer place. It is a half moon shaped wedge. You put it in front of back of the adjacent tire and drive forward. It will lift the trailer about 6 - 8 inches. Made of allunimum, costs about $60 or so.

Wood. Keep some 2x6's cut in 3' pieces. Lay one in front of the front tire. Pull forward till rear tire is on wood. Stack 2 high behind the rear tire. Pull back till front tire is on wood. Stack 3 high in front of the front tire. Pull forward. You should be there now.

Requires 5 boards. Keep em in the toolbox on the trailer.

East Coast B

One thing you might want to try is a "dry run" so to speak. Let the air out of one tire and do the tire changing procedure. I know this sounds a little stupid, but I was amazed at how high I had to jack up my equipment trailer to get the tire off the ground. It has torsions. Just be care with the wood blocks as you don't want to put all the load on one axle. The easiest thing to do, if you have the time, is call AAA and let them come change it :D

Robert

You have got a lot of good advise here, but I will go one better.

I think the torsion axle is the best.

When I first got the new 36 Outlaw with Myco triple torsion axle trailer I had a valve stem leaking on one tire.

I tried to jack it up with a 20 Ton bottle jack and then also added a 3 ton floor jack and NEVER got it off the ground.

Called Myco and they laughed and told me I did not need a jack, just to find a curb to drive over and I could get any one of the wheels off the ground the I wanted to.

Well it works like a charm. Just go at the curb at a slight angle and presto, you can get the wheel off.

What I do now when we trailer a long distance on interstates is to carry two 6 inch high x 8 inch wide x 6 foot long boards that I had cut at a local sawmill. Almost like railroad ties.

They work great and it is very easy.

Good luck

Won't hurt to load the whole side of the trailer on one axle. The tires are rated to carry a load at 75 mph continuous over normal roadsurfaces. The axles are built and sprung to accomodate that load over normal roadsurfaces with a significant overbuild to accomodate potholes, curbs, railroad crossings, and such.

Obviously, a quad-axle trailer presses the issue, though.

As long as the loadbearing tire is properly aired up, and reasonable care is taken, shouldn't be a big deal.

Yeah, I remember when I used to ramp my FORMULA at Harbour Town in Fl., the ramp was so steep that the trailer rode on the front axle until it was on flat ground again. It looked like the tires were going to explode :D

Robert

Tripple A does not cover trailer work do they? I know that two years ago when I had just done a bunch of trailer work on the trailer and was heading up north I notices that a tire had worked its way loose. I pulled over to realize that when I was doing the trailer work in my rush to leave the shop I had forgotten to put the breaker bar and socket back in the truck. When the tow guy pulled in behind me about 3 min later I was like SWEET!!! Then the guy tells me 20 bucks to barrow his wrench. I said come on man I have AAA and he said that they do not cover it. Did I get hosed? I told the guy to call it in as a tire on the truck I would not tell anyone. He said NO WAY. :(:(

Jon

While AAA may not change a trailer tire, Boat US does. I have their towing coverage - $15 per year. They sent out one of those big Peterbilt wreckers to change a tire.

Jon

I don't know if AAA does trailers or not, I always take care of it myself. So far, I've only had one flat on the road and it was a good one. The tire blew and the wire bead got in the brake drum and locked the wheel up :mad: . Had to take the whole hub/drum off to get the wire out, all at 2:00am on I-95 at LPGA Blvd in S. Fl.

Horseplay3

Thanks for the reminder, I have that too ;)

Robert