Do you travel with your jacks?

[Regular Guy]

Newbie question. I'd like to save the 40-50 lbs if I could.

 

[MarkBC]

I think most of us don't travel with jacks on. I never do -- no need, for me.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Don't have jacks on my camper but wouldn't travel with them.
I learned a good lesson .Back in 1981 we had a hard side camper with the jacks on.
We had stopped at Needles for food and a car backing out of a spot caught the left rear
jack and pulled it out of the camper. No great damage but I was at the start of our trip
and not much I could do with a tweaked jack had to wait to get home to do a good fix.
So if I had jacks would I travel with them,NO.
Frank

 

[ski3pin]

No

 

[RONR]

There are several threads from the past on this topic. This is good one from 2015:

https://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/9827-do-you-travel-with-mechanical-jacks-on-or-off/

I remember it because in the beginnings of my FWC travels, I wondered the same as you. This thread made it clear so I have never traveled with the jacks. Too heavy and to likely to cause severe damage to the camper while on or off road. Perhaps I could conjure up the need to have them on, but it would be a rare occurrence to need them and the cost is outweighed by the little benefit.

Ron.

 

[Vic Harder]

No!

 

[Lighthawk]

They would be vulnerable to snagging, so absolutely not.

 

[michelle_east_county]

' haven't taken delivery of camper yet, but has anyone heard of someone needing truck repairs and the shop lacks lift capacity or clearance with a camper on and couldn't work on the truck until the camper was removed? I'd even thought of leaving jacks and hardware in boxes on rear floor of truck, but doubt it's worth it. One reason we bought a Ford truck is that more of their dealers can deal with motorhome chassis, trucks upfitted to ambulances or boxes, etc, so should be able to handle a camper.

And, if one isn't using camper jacks, is there a need to buy them if you didn't need the truck bed? If an RV repair place needed to remove a camper from a truck, would there be a hefty charge for them to temporarily install jacks?

 

[ntsqd]

Old camper: No.
New camper: yes, but not because I want to. Being electric they don't come off nearly as easily so I leave them on. Have never used them anywhere but in our driveway.

 

[Beach]

Nope

 

[DanoT]

' haven't taken delivery of camper yet, but has anyone heard of someone needing truck repairs and the shop lacks lift capacity or clearance with a camper on and couldn't work on the truck until the camper was removed? I'd even thought of leaving jacks and hardware in boxes on rear floor of truck, but doubt it's worth it. One reason we bought a Ford truck is that more of their dealers can deal with motorhome chassis, trucks upfitted to ambulances or boxes, etc, so should be able to handle a camper.

And, if one isn't using camper jacks, is there a need to buy them if you didn't need the truck bed? If an RV repair place needed to remove a camper from a truck, would there be a hefty charge for them to temporarily install jacks?

I always ask before booking a mechanical appointment, if the shop can lift my truck and camper; most can but some can't.

 

[larryqp]

no

 

[Regular Guy]

Thanks all, that was a resounding answer, I'll leave my jacks at home!

Now to figure out what to do on the maiden voyage. I wonder if I can purchase and take delivery of the camper without them. I'll have a 3,000 mi return trip. Maybe I can buy them separately and have them delivered to the house.

 

[fuzzymarindave]

Leave the jacks and the tailgate at home.

 

[fuzzymarindave]

Your maiden voyage might be a good exception for the jacks especially if you are careful and don't travel any rugged trails. There is still a risk of snagging one of them on something.

 

[rubberlegs]

We don’t even own jacks. However, I made some using 4x4 posts and steel plates that have been used twice to check or adjust the camper position. Ours tends to shift to the left. Just shifted t back yesterday.

 

[anthonym]

Now to figure out what to do on the maiden voyage. I wonder if I can purchase and take delivery of the camper without them. I'll have a 3,000 mi return trip. Maybe I can buy them separately and have them delivered to the house.

For our return trip, we took the tailgate off before going to get the camper and then took the jacks off and put them in the rear seat footwells.

 

[57Pan]

I take my jacks off after installing my camper each year for the season to save weight.