How do I properly cool fridge when parked in driveway?

[exthemius]

Okay, here's a question for everyone out there. We live in suburbia, and have your typical tract-home driveway where our AS is parked. This said driveway is approximately 40' long, and our AS is a 27'er. Once we get'er backed up the drive, there's a snowflake's chance in hell that we'll ever get it level. She's a tandem-axel trailer, and we'd have to jack up the tongue so high that I think that only a single axle (i.e. rear one) would be on the ground.

I've thought about trying to create some sort of "platform" to drive the front wheels onto once I'm on the drive to try and at least approximate level, but I would then have to be able to back it up and such to get off of it, and this would just make it to where I have to pull it closer to the road. This driveway is a compound incline, so it's steeper within the first 5 feet, then levels to a less steep incline (which makes the height that I would have to jack the tongue up even higher).

Anyway, long story short, there's no way for us to fire-up the fridge the night before to get it cold enough before a trip. Anyone have any suggestions that I haven't thought of?

[Airslide]

Hi Shawn..

Any pictures of what the airstream looks like in your driveway? Maybe someone will have a solution.

Vin

[richinny]

freeze blocks of ice in your house fridge and transfer them an hour before you load the food and go. light the fridge when you get to level ground. the freezer in my trailer gets to refrigerator temp fairly quickly.

[exthemius]

Here's the best pic that I can come up with (of course photos never do it justice):

[Jammer]

The correct answer is: well you're just going to have to level the trailer anyway and here's how.

Get thee a set of the orange Lynx lego-like leveling blocks.

Get thee an adjustable jack stand from the cheap place, say, Northern or Harbor Freight.

Back the trailer within 1' of its designated spot, and put some Lynx blocks between the tandems, and then back it up some more, so that the front wheels of the tandem are up on one or two Lynx blocks. Chock as necessary for safety.

Raise the tongue using the jack. When the jack's travel limit is reached, lower the tongue onto the jackstand, raise the foot of the tongue jack, put blocking under it (not the Lynx blocks, they don't withstand a point load like that), and raise it again. Repeat as necessary until the trailer is level.

[Airslide]

Oh thats not bad.. Lock those wheels like you've done and crank that baby up. Maybe you can leave the bars attached and everything plugged into the truck and just lift it off the hitch ball until its level. When you're ready to go in the morning just lower it back down and go. Are you worried about the extra load on the rear axle? Maybe then you could drive up on a 2x4 on the front wheels so there is some load distribution?

Vin

[AIR-Quarius]

HEY OKC! Great town man. I got a sister that lives in Guthrie or in between Edmond and Guthrie. Please be careful 'perching' your home. I bet someone has mentioned just simply putting a container of dry ice in the compartments over night...I bet that will cool the h.......HECK out of em for your trips. Don't jeopardize in the driveways' incline. Bill

[exthemius]

Raise the tongue using the jack. When the jack's travel limit is reached, lower the tongue onto the jackstand, raise the foot of the tongue jack, put blocking under it (not the Lynx blocks, they don't withstand a point load like that), and raise it again. Repeat as necessary until the trailer is level.

Do the jack stands work on an incline -- the pic doesn't show it very well, but at the bottom of my drive, it's a decent incline. Wouldn't the jackstand "lean" in the direction of the incline? Wouldn't have I have to create a ramp/platform for the jackstand to sit on?

[azflycaster]

It could be worse...

[TBRich]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

It could be worse...

That's ridiculous! What were they thinking???

[Airslide]

Maybe they think everyone drives one of these..

[Ag&Au]

Two things come to mind:

Have you tried the fridge to be sure it won't run at that angle? I think it would.

If it won't, park the trailer on the street the night before you leave.

Ken

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

It could be worse...

That has to be photoshopped.

[exthemius]

Have you tried the fridge to be sure it won't run at that angle? I think it would.

I'm actually a bit scared, as Andy has said over and over again that it has to be level, and I just don't want to mess it up.

If it won't, park the trailer on the street the night before you leave.

Yeah, I would absolutely love to, but we're on a cul-de-sac, so I physically can't unless I want to block a drive or store it a few blocks from the house.

[mojo]

Heck, I've camped in spots worse than that. Puts some levelers under the front axle and some blocks under the jack and crank it best you can. You only need a few hours to get the fridge cooled down.

[Ag&Au]

Originally Posted by exthemius

I'm actually a bit scared, as Andy has said over and over again that it has to be level, and I just don't want to mess it up.



Yeah, I would absolutely love to, but we're on a cul-de-sac, so I physically can't unless I want to block a drive or store it a few blocks from the house.

Can you block your own driveway, or is your lot too narrow in the front?


I am on my third travel trailer and have parked on a lot steeper places than your drive way and never messed up a refrigerator.
I am thinking the worse outcome would be that it would not function correctly, but someone correct me if that is wrong.

Hope you find an answer.

Ken

[exthemius]

Yeah, it's too narrow on the front (the property is pie-shaped). I think that I'm going to keep a few 3/4 filled gallon water containers in the freezer, throw them in the AS a few hours before we leave, and just light it when we pull outta the drive. The photo is a bit off because I know that the camera was tilted slightly (judging by the fact that the house is not vertical), but in person (and in the AS, for that matter) the incline is pretty jarring.

[DaveFL]

If you can still see light under the back you still have a few inches to crank the front. Instead of 2x4 under tongue use a solid 4 in block.
If you put an indoor outdoor thermometer in the frig you can monitor temp of coils and know if the system is working, Andy probably was referring to turning it on and forgetting to monitor, gas refrigerators have improved a lot from the originals. I have seen a lot of cg paved or gravel sites with a lot more incline. I have been known to kick out a couple of inches to improve level, and kicking back on leaving. Hard to do on concrete;>0

[dznf0g]

Block/chock the wheels and crank it up to level. You're not going to hurt the axle unless you store it long term like that; overnight is fine. As stated above, I've been in sites worse than your drive. Heck, because of the length of my trailer, my drive is worse than yours. My tongue jack is almost fully extended and the rear bumper is about 4" off the ground in my drive. I use one of those "between the wheels chock thingies" (name escapes me right now) and the whole thing is really stable. Wouldn't ever work under it like that, but for loading and unloading and fridge cooling, etc.....no problem.

[ventport]

Just bite the bullet and move to a house with an Airstream friendly driveway.