Hole at the Jack lift point

[odfarley]

Is there any thing under the bottom pan at the point where you place jacks to raise the trailer other that the frame and cross member. Mine has a hole on each side that has been filled with silicone. I have not removed it to see if there is anything there except the frame.

Thanks,

[uwe]

My trailer has frame rails underneath the stabilizer jack points.
It is easy to punch a hole in the aluminum if you miss the frame rail.
These marked points are not designed to lift the trailer by, merely to place the stabilizer jacks. i learned that the trailer should only be jacked up by means of the axle mounting plate, best between the axles.

[TomW]

My owner's manual does not specifically call out where to jack the trailer up on dual-axle models, "One of the bonuses that result from having independent dura-torque suspension on tandem model Airstreams is the ease with which a flat tire may be changed. On a tandem trailer, to change one of the wheels it is necessary only to drive the remaining wheel on the same side up on a block about 6 inches thickness. The wheel with the flat tire will then clear the ground to a point where it is possible to remove and replace it without the use of a jack..."

That's all well & good, but when I took possesion of my Overlander, it had not moved in 23 years, and driving it up on blocks did not look like a great idea with the shape the tires were in. Laying on my belly to position, and pump a service jack, I was able to jack the trailer up safely, and with no harm to the trailer. I would not prefer to do it this way on the side of the road.

Last week, I dropped the trailer's belly skin from the axles back to the end to work on the black tank. I noticed two, roughly 3" X 3" aluminum "patches", one on either side, about 15 inches back from the axles. The patches, which covered the mail frame rails, appear to be jack points as they do not cover an opening in the belly skin.

Can anyone corroborate this, or explain why they are there?

Thanks,
Tom

[James Schmidt]

Those 3 inch squares are marked "Jack" on my 93 model. I have jacked the trailer up many times using a floor jack using these points. It seemed to work ok with no apparent ill effects to the trailer. I have since learned from this forum that one should only use the axel mounting plates between the wheels. Both methods worked for me. The between the wheel method seems to be more logical.

[TomW]

My problem is that neither of my floor jacks can get to the between the wheels plate from the out side of the plate. Thanks for the info about the "jack" label - my trailer looks like it would be happy to be lifted there.