Stabilizer For 5th Wheel Camper

[Gerald Weiß]

TheEaz-Lift RV 5th Wheel Stabilizer adds great stability to the front of your 5th wheel. It is for use with 5th wheels whose coaches have a king pin height of 38.5-inches to 50-inches. It features a tripod construction for easy set-up and concave pads for multiple heights. Major height adjustments are made by simply moving the adjustable foot pads inward or outward; minor adjustments are made at the screw level with the provided stabilizing adjusting lever. The 5th wheel stabilizer comes fully assembled and has a steel tube construction with chrome chain. It folds down for easy storage and has a certified 5000 lb. load capacity.

With Quadra Big Foot ours it really stable. Most noticeable is if I'm laying in bed and DW goes up or down the outside steps, then I feel the shake. You might want to consider JT Stabilizers or their equivalent. We just had a washer/dryer installed and I had the stabilizers added to the front Big Feet. I haven't had time yet to see if they decrease the shake when DW uses the outside steps. Greg

The movement comes from part of the weight sitting on the suspension, which will never be completely solid. Leveling systems will probably stabilize it some, but unless you lift all weight clear of the suspension, not likely to do so completely. heavier RVs tend to move less and some people find that it helps to use one of the king-pin stabilizers.

As Kirk suggested we use the kingpin stabilizer and I also put good quality jack stands under the very rear of the trailer. It greatly reduces movement but again as Kirk said it will never be completely solid. Our landing gear is hydraulic and is angled out at 5 degrees and that also helps a little.

Kirk hit the nail on the head. You have to remove the suspension from the equation if you want a steady rig. Adding a leveling system goes a long way to achieving that goal, so long as you program it to lift high enough to get the weight off the wheels.

A less expensive solution is to get two to four bottle jacks and put them under the frame right by the wheels. I don't think I would completely lift the rig this way, just take enough of the load to take some of the flex out of the suspension. Another product I had great results with were rotochocks. They were a fraction of the weight of a bottle jack and took up virtually no space in storage. Unfortunately, Rotochock went out of business in 2014 (owners passed away and family did not continue the business), so the only way to get these great little devices is on eBay or Craig's List.

We have the Lippert 6 Point Hydraulic system on our 38' fifth wheel and it works great. You will always have some movement in a TT/Fifth Wheel but ours is minimal. We are full timers and early on with our levelers found that we would achieve peak stability if we would place wooden boards approx 2 x 10 x 12 under each pad regardless of the surface we are parked on. In my opinion the "king-pin stabilizers" mentioned earlier are a waste of your money and MANY people wind up having to give them away to someone who will also give them away later. Ask a man who has one and if his wife is present he will say"works great" but if wife not present will say"I wish I hadn't bought that junk".

We still have the old electric stabilizers in the rear corners. Right after adding the 6 point Big Foot system I would put them down to make the trailer more rock solid. But after a short time I decided the little movement it cured was not worth the effort to push the buttons to put them down. I will likely remove them them to reduce weight.

Lippert 6 point leveling system on a 5th wheel that weighs about 15K or so. Remember slides stick out over the frame of the RV and as long as some of the weight is on the suspension there will be movement. We have the Mor Ryde IS suspension and that adds to the stability.

With all due respect I disagree. Once all 4/6 legs are on the ground bearing SOME weight the connection between the unit and the ground is solid, period. The suspension is out of the equation. The legs would have to compress (like a shock absorber) to allow movement.

Once all 4/6 legs are on the ground bearing SOME weight the connection between the unit and the ground is solid, period. The suspension is out of the equation. The legs would have to compress (like a shock absorber) to allow movement.

With all due respect I disagree. Lateral stability is exactly what we were posting about. As long as there is significant weight on the suspension, you can't remove 100% of the movement. My experience supports what jperry29 was saying and neither of us confined our statement to vertical movement, which pretty much stops with anything you put between the RV frame and the ground. There are dozens of products available that will stop vertical movement at most RV supply stores but you have to relieve the support of the suspension to stop lateral movement.

Glenn is right, the shorter you run the legs/rams out the more stable it will be. Sure the add on's will help also, but I would try shorting the length the jacks or legs are extended. Only problem is if you do block up the front jacks make sure you have the tires chocked real good in case the RV rolls a little. If the RV should come off the blocks you will have a mess.

Glenn is right, the shorter you run the legs/rams out the more stable it will be. Sure the add-on's will help also, but I would try shorting the length the jacks or legs are extended. Only problem is if you do block up the front jacks make sure you have the tires chocked real good in case the RV rolls a little. If the RV should come off the blocks you will have a mess.

The best chocks for RV use are the block style. They should be big, durable, heavy, and made to last. The scissor chocks, commonly called x-chocks, are used by some to stop trailer roll. They are not recommended for this use, but they have their own free will, so...

However, we each used them on 24 feet travel trailers, and they were sufficient. That said, I can imagine having a much larger/longer rig and possibly wanting larger wheel stops for campers to use with my setup.

Therefore, it is essential to RE-TIGHTEN your x-chocks if you raise or lower your nose any significant height after putting them on, ESPECIALLY if you choose not to use any block chocks.

Don't try to get by with just one! (Yes, Marshall has two.) After that event, Marshall also got himself a second set of rubber chocks. Now, as long as he uses both types when unhitching, his trailer goes nowhere.

Also, it's not recommended to put your tongue jack on lifts of any sort. This is what made the trailer 'fall' further, but he also wouldn't have gotten to level without the extra lift.

Marshall was a co-founder of CampAddict.com and ran the business until April 2024, when he sold the business to Schwalm Inc. He is a seasoned RV expert who has lived the full-time RV life for years, gaining hands-on experience in his travel trailer from 2014 to 2020 and graduating to that #vanlife lifestyle since. Marshall thrives on the freedom of boondocking and he enjoyed sharing his technical insights with the Camp Addict community. Whether you're a seasoned pro or new to RVing, his articles are here to guide you confidently through the exciting world of RVing.

Marshall has a very similar product he uses. Be aware these should not be used exclusively to disallow a trailer to move. The heavy black chocks we recommend are also vital to use to keep your trailer in place. Use them on the side you are not using levelers on.

Lastly, what about getting some REALLY large kettlebells, and placing them behind the legs in the back? I think you can even get 50lb kettlebells. 100lbs should do a pretty good job of keeping the chair in place.

The manufacturer says the X-Chocks are not substitutes for regular chocks. They also warn to NEVER raise or lower your tongue jack while they are in place. The instructions say to chock, level, stabilize, THEN install the X-Chocks.

PS- If you have the paperwork that came with your chocks, or can take a screenshot of where they state to use supplemental chocks, we would love to see it! (For documentation and for preciseness of information for Camp Addict and its readers.) We would really appreciate it!

Many times we arrived at a campground knowing that high winds were forecasted. In those cases, it always pays to stay hitched up to to our Dodge RAM 2500. Keeping the fifth wheel in contact with our truck helps the RV feel more stable. Since our Dodge has air bags, releasing a bit of air helps create more stability too.

WE were in the sand hills out I 20 during a wind storm. It was gusting over 65 MPH and steady at 35 MPH. I added 4 hydralic jacks, one at each corner and pulled in the slides of our 30 foot Motor Home. It still rocked us pretty good. last for 3 days. Part of the time we sat in the front seats belted in. Felt safer that way.

Good advice, but having been in high winds over the years. I always felt it was better to retract the jacks and have all 6 tires of the motorhome in contact with the ground. This of course meant that we had to bring in the slides, which I believe also helped. A towable may be different.

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