Stabilizer Jacks

Picking stabilizer jacks that actually kill the bounce

One rule governs everything below: ask a stabilizer to carry real weight and you'll bend it. These are support devices, not lifts, so the ratings you'll see describe how much load they can steady — not how much they can raise. Get that straight and the rest is picking the right style for your rig.

• Type. Scissor jacks like the Ultra-Fab 6,500 lb units bolt to the frame and crank up in an X; telescoping and adjustable posts like Camco's The Boss or the Valterra universal drop straight down; a tripod steadies a fifth wheel's kingpin up front.
• Capacity and height. The rating is a support figure, not a lift figure. Buy for the gap between your frame and the ground at your usual sites — a 24" or 30" scissor covers most rigs, tent trailers use shorter 20" sets.
• Crank method. Most scissor jacks take a 3/4" socket, so a cordless drill spins them up in seconds. Snug them firm, not gorilla-tight — over-torquing lifts a wheel off the ground and defeats the point.
• Rebuild vs replace. Hydraulic camper jacks can be brought back with a kit like the Rieco-Titan RMK2 rather than replaced outright, which is worth checking before you scrap a leaking pair.

Level the rig first, then stabilize — get the trailer sitting right with leveling blocks and chocks before the jacks come down. On soft ground, set a jack pad under each foot so it doesn't sink, and if you need to raise the nose to couple, that's a tongue or landing jack, not a stabilizer.