Jack Pads

Picking jack pads that hold

It's all surface area. A stabilizer foot spans maybe three or four inches, and on grass or sun-warmed asphalt that's a small enough contact patch to press in under the rig's weight. Set a 10-by-10 pad beneath it and the same load spreads across far more ground, so the trailer holds through the night and the feet lift out clean in the morning.

• Match the pad to the jack. Scissor jacks, drop-leg stabilizers, and tongue jacks all seat differently. The Stromberg Carlson Base Pad Peak is contoured for scissor and stabilizer feet, while the BAL Big Bad Foot is a flat universal base almost any jack will sit on.
• Size it to the ground. On packed gravel or a paved pad, a 6-inch flex pad like Camco's does the job. On grass, dirt, or soft shoulder, size up to the 7-inch Base Pad Extreme rated at 6,000 lb or a 10-inch base for more margin before anything sinks.
• Poly or steel. Molded poly pads are light and rustproof, which helps if they ride in a damp compartment. Steel bases like Camco's heavy-duty stabilizing pads shrug off abuse and won't flex under a loaded fifth wheel.
• Handles and storage. A rope or grab handle, like the one on the Valterra set, drags the pad out from under the rig without you crawling after it. Four-packs cover every corner, so bag them and they won't scatter in the bay.

Pads keep the jacks from sinking but do nothing to level the trailer; that job belongs to leveling blocks under the tires. Set your wheel chocks before the jacks come down, and remember that stabilizer jacks steady the rig rather than lift it. Lifting is the domain of leveling jacks.