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Old 10-20-2017, 01:53 AM   #1
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A little windy

We got a call today from the owner of the campground where we have a permanent site. The night before half of the province was under a high wind warning of sustained winds of 130 KM/h (80 MPH).

We’ll apparently the wind pushed the front of our trailer about 3 feet sideways. Now I have to go out and assess the damage. From the picture the owner sent it looks like I need to replace at least 1 jack.

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Old 10-20-2017, 03:41 AM   #2
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Sorry to see/hear about your damage...

That said, I just gotta make one comment... take it for what it’s worth:

I see yellow plastic leveling blocks in the photo, and I’m assuming they’re yours. If so, your rig is the THIRD I’ve personally witnessed this year of the gear sliding off of those square plastic blocks.

I have no idea what other’s experience with them has been, but I consider myself lucky that I was warned away from them early on in my RV life. I had a full set of them, all ready to use if ever needed, when a friend saw them in my basement and told me to give em to my grandkids to play with. His reasoning was that, while they fit together to each other well, they provide no friction-grip at all between the jack feet and the block. He said he’d seen many rigs’ landing gear slide right off of them if the terrain wasn’t level... and, high wind. To prove it, he had me hitch up... raise the landing gear... put a single block under each leg... and then lower the gear & unhitch. Then, he walked over... put his hands on the side on the rig... put his shoulder into it and PUSHED. Sure enough, the round feet of the landing gear had slid about an inch or more on the pad!

Since then, I only carry wood blocks. Went to Lowes, had then rip a 10-foot long pressure treated 2x10 into twelve 10”x10” squares that I keep in the truck box.
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Old 10-20-2017, 10:17 AM   #3
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Good tip Tom, thanks. Never thought about it.
Rusty
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Old 10-20-2017, 04:22 PM   #4
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Something to add to your vast intelligence base, Lowe's doesn't 'rip' wood, the machine doesn't allow length wise cutting. They can however, 'cross cut' many wood and wood based products.
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:02 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sundancer 87 View Post
Something to add to your vast intelligence base, Lowe's doesn't 'rip' wood, the machine doesn't allow length wise cutting. They can however, 'cross cut' many wood and wood based products.
Ha! Yeah, yeah... ok, you got me.
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:04 PM   #6
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I have the same plastic blocks for my stabilizers since I have limited storage for wood. I solved any sliding problem by applying some left over Rhinoliner with coarse sand embedded on just four of them. Those 4 always go on top if I need to stack a couple, the jack pads will not move at all. I use tiered 2x6's for leveling the tires and tongue jack.
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Old 10-20-2017, 05:54 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ATCguy View Post
Ha! Yeah, yeah... ok, you got me.
debil made me do it
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Old 10-21-2017, 02:19 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuhl951 View Post
I have the same plastic blocks for my stabilizers since I have limited storage for wood. I solved any sliding problem by applying some left over Rhinoliner with coarse sand embedded on just four of them. Those 4 always go on top if I need to stack a couple, the jack pads will not move at all. I use tiered 2x6's for leveling the tires and tongue jack.
Hey, great! Whatever it takes... I’m just saying that, as sold, they seem to be weak.

The most recent that I saw was over Labor Day... I was at the West Yellowstone KOA, and all of the campsites are on a slope of a mountainside. The sites themselves are somewhat terraced, but they’re still not level. I had to use blocks for the left side, my wheels were 4-6 inches off the ground... and so were most others around me.

One morning I was sitting on the back patio checking email when I heard BOOM! from the rig next door. At first I had no idea what had happened, but went outside to go check that everything was ok. As I was on my way over, the owner came outside and walked to the front of the rig. From there it was easy to see what had happened. The entire front of the rig had shifted left (downhill), as the landing gear had slipped off of his orange plastic blocks. The left leg was bent slightly from the impact, but the right side was bent completely under.

They used the campground back-hoe & some railroad ties to lift the rig, and block it enough so he could back his truck up & rehitch to tow it away for repair. But it was just out of the blue... no strong wind or anything. He had the wheels chocked, nothing out of the ordinary. But his normal moving about in the rig was enough for those landing gear feet to simply slide right off the blocks.
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Old 10-21-2017, 03:01 PM   #9
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Great post. I could see the movie in my head while I read the words. And although none of my rigs are very big or heavy, I get the feeling it applies even more! I'm convinced. And I will consider it yet another "best practice" that I was gifted by this amazing forum.



Thanks everybody!
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Old 10-21-2017, 03:14 PM   #10
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Yeah I’ll have to rethink the block for the tongue jack. I agree that it could have definitely slipped off the plastic block. Still though. It got pushed another 2 1/2’ with out the block
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Old 10-21-2017, 04:38 PM   #11
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This reminds me of when I lived on a beach in Mexico. I had lived in a rehabbed 27 foot TT while building my house.

I looked out one morning after a somewhat normal breezy night to find my TT had been storm surged 30 feet from where is was prior to the surge.

Filled with sand and sea water, dripping from the humidity I declared it a total loss. I pulled the refrigerator and converter and batteries. There were a few fishermen there by that time so I told them to haul it away.

Not as bad as having a current use TT being jacked around by the wind but a box will blow away with enough wind.
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Old 10-24-2017, 02:58 AM   #12
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Here are a couple of more pics from my trip out there this past weekend. The wind buried the pin in the ground about 3 inches. There is a flat plate on the bottom of it.
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