Post by myredracer on Sept 16, 2015 17:09:30 GMT -5
For those who have electric "stabilizer" jacks on their travel trailers, you will know that they don't really provide much in the way of stabilizing. I opted to install a pair of BAL Lock Arm stabilizer struts to the rear of our Spree 262RKS. Before doing this, I mounted an 8" x 8" x 3/4" piece of HDPE plastic under each jack foot. I bolted them onto the Lippert pads and recessed the bolt heads into the plastic. The new pads provide a more stable footing and I don't ever have to put down a "lego" block or piece of wood. The only place I could find to mount the upper BAL strut mounts to was the bumper. The rear of the I-beams is closed off with a sheet metal valance which wouldn't work. I used a length of 2" x 2" steel mounted to the bumper and then the spherical rod pieces were bolted to the tubing. The 2x2 was bolted onto the bumper with the bolt heads inside the bumper which was a trick to do. By using the bumper as the upper mounting point, it also provides some fore/aft stabilizing. The lower end of the struts were bolted onto the feet pads at the outside to provide max. stabilizing. I tried mounting to the horizontal bolts on the jack pads but there was too much play for my liking. I used stainless steel bolts for all fasteners and replaced the plated OEM bolts on the Lippert jack as they were badly rusted in just over a year. For those thinking about installing stabilizer struts, you also need to buy Lippert's Electric Jack Stabilizer Adaptor Kit, part number 314597. If you don't use these, the struts will hit and interfere with the elec. stab. jack struts and if I hadn't used the 2x2 under the rear of the bumper, the struts would also have interfered with the jacks.
As far as performance goes, the new stabilizer struts work very well. Not as good as I'd like, but still much better than without. If you push on the side of the trailer when set up, you can still create movement. This is largely because the Lippert elec. stab. jack feet are too close together relative to the height and width of the trailer. It would be better if the feet were 8' apart when jacks down, and better still if even a few feet more. The entire Lippert elec. stab. jack flexes quite a bit as well. This can be strengthened and I have seen photos of how someone has done it. Would probably be a worthwhile project.
I will probably add a set to the front as well. To go to the next level of improving trailer "bounce", a set of screw or bottle jacks are needed at each of the four corners of the frame. An additional set ahead of the axles helps even more. At the end of the day, there is only so much you can do to reduce bounce/movement as you will find some is due to the way the trailer frame is designed, the spacing of floor joists, thickness of subfloor, etc.
Gil, Deb and Dougal the Springer Spaniel
2014 KZ Spree 262RKS
2009 F250
As far as performance goes, the new stabilizer struts work very well. Not as good as I'd like, but still much better than without. If you push on the side of the trailer when set up, you can still create movement. This is largely because the Lippert elec. stab. jack feet are too close together relative to the height and width of the trailer. It would be better if the feet were 8' apart when jacks down, and better still if even a few feet more. The entire Lippert elec. stab. jack flexes quite a bit as well. This can be strengthened and I have seen photos of how someone has done it. Would probably be a worthwhile project.
I will probably add a set to the front as well. To go to the next level of improving trailer "bounce", a set of screw or bottle jacks are needed at each of the four corners of the frame. An additional set ahead of the axles helps even more. At the end of the day, there is only so much you can do to reduce bounce/movement as you will find some is due to the way the trailer frame is designed, the spacing of floor joists, thickness of subfloor, etc.
Gil, Deb and Dougal the Springer Spaniel
2014 KZ Spree 262RKS
2009 F250