A few questions

[superduty]

I just have a few questions for the board.

1. I have an LCD tv in my trailer, will it freeze in cold(0-10F) weather. I kind of worry since it is a Liquid cyrstal display, the term liquid worries me a little. I would just bring it in but I bolted it to the entertainment center so I wouldn't forget to strap it down while driving.

2. Should I jack up and support my trailer during off season storage, to keep from having the tires sit with weight on them for a long period of time?

3. I have a spring over axle type trailer, where is a safe jacking point? The frame is where I suppose I should put the jack, but it is quite high for side of the road tire change. How do you guys do it?

4. Does it hurt anything to leave the trailer plugged in all the time? My convertor says it has a "float" mode that it will go into when charged. I have a 30A dedicated RV style plug outlet on 12AWG cable on my house. I don't want to damage the batteries by having the trailer plugged in. I suppose the convertor will protect them?

Thanks for the help.

[superduty]

I just have a few questions for the board.

1. I have an LCD tv in my trailer, will it freeze in cold(0-10F) weather. I kind of worry since it is a Liquid cyrstal display, the term liquid worries me a little. I would just bring it in but I bolted it to the entertainment center so I wouldn't forget to strap it down while driving.

2. Should I jack up and support my trailer during off season storage, to keep from having the tires sit with weight on them for a long period of time?

3. I have a spring over axle type trailer, where is a safe jacking point? The frame is where I suppose I should put the jack, but it is quite high for side of the road tire change. How do you guys do it?

4. Does it hurt anything to leave the trailer plugged in all the time? My convertor says it has a "float" mode that it will go into when charged. I have a 30A dedicated RV style plug outlet on 12AWG cable on my house. I don't want to damage the batteries by having the trailer plugged in. I suppose the convertor will protect them?

Thanks for the help.

[Jeff_in_The_Dalles]

I'm no expert, but..

1. I found an LCD tv on line that listed -4f to 140f as the range of temps for storage, and 50f to 140f as the operating range. I don't know if that's universal...

2. I don't jack mine up, and haven't had a problem.

3. I think Al-Ko and Dexter both say not to jack on any part of the axle. I got some weathered 4"x12" beams cheap at the lumber yard and cut them into 2' lengths for blocking, and got a really good bottle jack and a tall safety stand...

4. Sounds like you have one of those smart chargers, that I wouldn't think would hurt anything? Just keep the batteries topped off with water. Personally, I just plug mine in for a day or two every month or so, to make sure the batteries stay at full charge (so they won't freeze or sulfide).

[David C]

#2 - I do not jack up the trailer in off-season. If I get time, I might move it forward/back once or twice over the winter, but not worry if that does not happen.
#3 - I carry a hydraulic floor jack on the road. I would place it under the axle/spring junction location for changing a tire. After all that point is strong enough to carry the unit all the time. If you have a flat, that point can be quite low to ground, so I have found the floor jack design will slide under the lift point better than many bottle jacks - also easier and cleaner to slide into jacking position.

[Frank P. Martin]

DavidC:

You might want to reconsider your jack placement, especially since you (like me) own a Jayco.

This topic comes up from time to time and this link points to my posting. I had posed the jack placement question to the folks at Jayco and this is their response:

Jayco's Response to the Question of Jack Placement

[jperry29]

#2. If getting a flat spot is what you are worried about, that is not much of a problem with today's tires. Much more mportant is to keep the tires from direct contact with water, mud and sunlight. Just pulling up on a couple of 1X12's and putting on covers will go a long ways to preserving the tires. Sunlight and water are the big enemies, not standing weight.

#4. Keeping the battery charged by leaving it plugged in with your "smart" system is way better than letting it get fully discharged in cold weather. Like mentioned before, just do not let it dry out.

[Ray,IN]

Frank that response was not clear on jacking directly under the spring hanger. I agree that using the axle anywhere else is not practical. One must remember that it was written by a lawyer to avoid any responsibility on behalf of the corporation.

[Frank P. Martin]

Hi, Ray.

The impression I got from Jayco's response was that you should lift the trailer only by the frame. What they didn't tell you is that the average bottle jack, fully extended, won't even reach the frame if it's placed on the ground. It has to be placed on a raised platform using wood, Lynx levelers, bricks, ... or whatever's handy.

[RustyJC]

If your axle is above the spring and you can get a bottle jack under the spring plate, use a load spreader (a piece of 1x4 or similar) and jack away. I've jacked under spring plates for 50 years, and from an engineering perspective, you're actually relieving load from the plate and U-bolts.

If your axle is below the spring, I agree with the other comments - don't jack directly on the axle tube.

Rusty

[Dwayne & Danette]

We have a LCD TV's in someof our co. 18 wheelers and i havn't heard of any problems with the tv's and they run up in Canada all year, as i get the calls if anything needs replacement or repaired
but i do know they run in 20-30 below (CCOOLLDD) weather. Hope this helps but you could always go to plan B, Book, Hot Joe, and a blanket.
Happy Camping