Jacking front of Fiver

[davonelson]

Is the support structure between the front jacks on a typical fifth wheel strong enough to allow jacking up slightly with a bottle jack if I spread the load with a 4X4?

[BFlinn181]

I think it would be lots safer to jack under the pin. You know that can support the weight. The jacks are braced at either side, not sure what you have between them. Putting the stress there might wrinkle the sheathing and collapse the framing between. Unless you can see what's under the skin across that space, I'd go with the pin as a jack point.

[Fulltimer]

Kinda depends on the rig. I had a Carri Lite once that had some front jack problems. I used a bottle jack to raise the front near the bad leg and found I could raise the whole rig with one jack on one side. Dont mean its right, though. If you are jacking on the frame near the leg/s you should be OK I would never try to jack in the middle of the front between the two legs. You would be better with two jacks. They are cheap enough.

[Boogie_]

Photo below is a 5er frame I used to make a two-car hauler.
A typical example of most trailer frames.

The jacks are mounted to the uprights & main frame rails.
You can see the front lower cross member is a thin piece of Z iron. Not strong enough to support any real weight, even if you're going to use a 4x4.

You could jack anywhere along the main frame as long as you use some type of jack pad.