Community Forums

SLDavis · 12-12-2019, 03:19 PM

I would like to hear from the "do it yourselfers" how to safely crawl under the coach. Short of having a pit. I would like to grease it, look for bolts that need retorqued, etc.

brobox · 12-12-2019, 03:47 PM

The Jacks retracted manually from ride height and a set of Jack Stands. I purchased mine at Harbor Freight.

Gary.Jones · 12-12-2019, 07:26 PM

Not sure if you have had the TSB done yet on the Hadley system, but if you have not, then dont let anyone else be in the coach and dont let anyone anywhere near the control panel. If you have had the TSB done, then make sure the Cummins is off and the controls inoperable, then jacks stands, and be very careful.

I am not willing to crawl all around under the coach. I am willing to pay someone with a pit or a lift to do anything that requires spending lots of time under my rig. No thanks !! Money well spent.

Gary

fla tom · 12-12-2019, 07:53 PM

Lift the coach as high as you can with the hydraulic jacks then place appropriate jack stands at frame .for extra measure lower/raise jacks to let the coach rest on the jack stands. Alternatively fabricate ramps to drive the coach up on.

**Spdracr39** · 12-12-2019, 07:58 PM

I drive it up on blocks that will allow enough clearance for my beer belly then air it up for a little more. I figure if anything weird enough to cause it to come down happens my number was up anyway.

Gary.Jones · 12-13-2019, 06:10 AM

Oh, and be sure that your jack stands are able to handle roughly 50,000 pounds divided by 4, which is roughly 7 tons a jack stand (and those are not the ones you can buy at Autozone or Walmart by the way....

that kinda weight will simply crush car rated jack stands)

Gary

Cruzer · 12-13-2019, 07:14 AM

I use the hydraulic leveling jacks to raise the coach. Sometimes I even place a 2x10 board or one of my spacer blocks beneath it if I need even more height. I then have a pair of 12 Ton jack stands to provide safety.

BonS · 12-13-2019, 07:28 AM

If you're using jacks and stands then be sure that the surface you're working on will support the pressure. Asphalt will sink slowly and concrete may give way more suddenly if it does. I've haad flat bottomed jacks depress asphalt and never lift the coach. Those jack stands with the pointy legs are particularly troublesome unless you use additional load spreading support underneath them. Be careful!

schad · 12-13-2019, 09:56 AM

I bought a pair of 12-ton jack stands at the Hazard Fraught. If I need more room under the coach, I lift either the front or the back with the leveling jacks, put the jack stands under the frame, and then retract the leveling jacks just until the frame makes contact with the jack stands. This way, if the leveling jacks fail, there will not be an abrupt 1/2" drop onto the stands which could cause the stands to fail.

Make sure that your jack stands are actually strong enough to support your coach. Your Anthem has a 20,000-pound drive axle and a 12,000-pound tag axle, which means 16 tons on the back end. Since most stands are both sold and rated as pairs, this means you'd need 16-ton stands. You may have trouble finding those locally, and on Amazon they are pretty expensive.

Others build ramps out of wood. This is easier for the majority of tasks, will have no trouble holding your coach's weight, and may be cheaper than jack stands. Make sure the ramps are tall enough for you to fit under even with the airbags fully-deflated, long enough to support both your drive and tag wheels at the same time, and wide enough to get both your drive wheel duals.

In my case, I have a 22,000-pound rear axle and no tag, so the 12-ton stands are perfect and cost less than the lumber for ramps would have. I have a hard time trusting my life to anything from Harbor Freight, though. These stands are purely a last-line safety precaution. If I ever get into a situation where I need to support the coach only on jack stands, I'm taking it to a shop instead.