Parking a fifth wheel for a year or 2 (help please)

[dqstacy]

We just bought a 40' fifth wheel to put on our ranch for a weekend place here in Texas.

I could use some help on the setup. I'll park it on good firm dirt with very good drainage so I'm not worried about washouts or it sitting on "mushy" ground. It has front and rear electric jacks and a kingpin tripod. In addition I'm going to put 4 bottle jacks, 2 in front of the axles and 2 behind, under the frame. I'll put 8"x8" pieces of 2" thick pressure treated wood under the electric and bottle jacks.

So here is the question..... How much of the weight do I want to take off the axles? Tires totally off the ground? None? What? Am I way off base here with my setup?

Remember we're not going to move this beast for at least 2 years.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[CorsairIIAT]

Not sure about your rig. But my instuctions for my rear jacks say they are only for stabilizing. NOT FOR LIFTING. In fact we had our rig parked for 8 months while fulltiming. During that time it settled some and I had to readjust rear jacks because it tweaked the rig and the door became jammed.

[LindaH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CorsairIIAT Not sure about your rig. But my instuctions for my rear jacks say they are only for stabilizing. NOT FOR LIFTING.

The OP said he was getting bottle jacks to put under the frame...he didn't say anything about using the front or rear jacks for lifting.

I'm interested in this same subject, as we'll be parking our fifth wheel on a lot for at least a year, perhaps longer, so I'll be checking for answers, too!

[diandtom]

I would lift the wheels off the ground with the bottle jacks. I would also cover the tires, but in two years unless you just got tires, you going to need new tires anyway. I think with the tires off the ground it would be a lot better on the wheel bearing sitting that long.

[Ray,IN]

Corsair is right! Never use the rear stabilizing "jacks" for raising a trailer.
Even hyd. jacks will leak off slowly over time. I suggest setting your trailer up just like a mobile home. Concrete blocks sitting on concrete pads ( 3' sq.X 2" thick) will keep settling to a minimum and eliminate any trailer movement when walking around. If you look at a mobile home setup, they are spaced about 10' apart. Remove the wheels and store them off the ground in a dark dry environment. De-mounted is best but somewhat impractical. Relieving all air pressure is next best. If you leave any weight on tires while for extended periods, inflate them to 10 psi over sidewall maximum and roll them to a new spot every few months to reduce sidewall cracking,. That will be out of question for your scenario.