Where to place Jack Stands on '73 Tradewind?

[73project]

I have a 1973 25' Tradewind project. The first part is getting it jacked up and level to work on.

At the moment, it has 3 flat tires and one half-flat. The flats are slow, so I can fill the tires and they're good for a week or so, but I obviously need to get them off and either repaired or replaced.

I'd like to get it up on jack stands. I have 4 of these I can use:

Aluminum Jack Stands - 3 Ton



The questions: Can I use these and, if so, were do I place them under the trailer?

[polarlyse]

I find these stands useful for doing short term maintenance jobs such as wheel bearings / brakes and tires. For lifting a trailer for a long term job I would feel more comfortable using 6x6 lumber in short lengths as cribbing to give me a
strong / stable platform. You can then raise it as high as you feel you need and have long term stability. You might even find that you need more cribbing points to fine tune the frame and keep it straight and level for welding and such. These stands are certainly keepers for all kinds of stuff but not for everything. That's my opinion and it's worth exactly what you paid for it.

See ya on the road sometime.

[73project]

Thanks, polarlyse! Cribbing is a good idea. But I guess my question still stands...where does one then place the cribbing?

[polarlyse]

Inboard of the outriggers you have 2 longitudinal frame rails. They run front to rear. The outriggers are welded on the outboard side of these rails and there are cross members that run between them. If your belly pan is off these are quite obvious but the belly pan will cover and obscure their positioning. My trailers have had a lifting jack position indicated on the belly pan aft of the rear wheels along the long frame rail. Using this as a lifting point you can build your cribbing along this rail in 2 or 3 positions on each side to give you a stable platform. If you do some searching you can find plenty of photo's here on the forum from people that have done this and it will give you some insight. What type of work are you looking to be doing ???? Just use care to position the cribbing in such a way as to allow access to where you'll be working. If you plan to remove the belly pan then cribbing would interfere so you'll need to allow access to drill rivets and remove the pan. Good luck with your project.