Trailer rock & roll

[papa2]

As many of you know we have season lease site this year. We had noticed varying degrees of trailer movement - someone walking through the trailer and feeling the movement - on our travels but now that we're spending more time in our ST29RL the rock & roll has become somewhat annoying. Wasn't front to back but rather side to side. So what to do?

Checked with our RV repair facility. There response was nothing you can do. Checked with the dealer we purchased through. Again, basic answer is just live with it. Read rv.net forums and got solutions from cheap & simple to exotic and impracticable. However, one solution that seemed to make sense was using cross braces to help stabilize the trailer.

After looking around for something affordable i stumbled on these at Harbor Freight



Used two of these at each end to brace the jacks. First day so a little early to report success but at first blush they seemed to have eliminated the side to side shimmy and shake. Still have a little movement from the suspension but that's to be expected and seems minor at this point.

Now I don't know if I would take these with while traveling. There is good accessibility to the rear jacks and they would be relatively easy to do while traveling. Bracing the rear only helped but there was still plenty of movement. The front jacks involve crawling beneath the trailer and would be a total pain to remove if the weather were bad. However they are easy enough to stow in the back of the truck or in the storage bin under the trailer. A breeze to tighten and to relieve tension. Cost about $13 each.

[Russb]

I use these on my Cruiser CTX29RL and they made a world of difference and the price is right. I also added the BAL stabilizers for the front to back motion.

Russ

[jgerni]

If yourwant to get serious about stopping the motion install a set of JT strongarm stablizers or similar setup.

[papa2]

I"m plenty serious but I'm not a money tree. Looked at the JT Strongarms but they failed my economical, low cost test. I can run through 5 sets of these and still come out money ahead. Who knows if I'll even have the trailer in 5 years?

The CTX29RL is the same as my '08 ST29RL. I also use the BAL wheel chocks which do stop front to back motion.

[Lloyd]

Al:
I put the stabilizer on from www.plugitright.com
IMHO the stabilizers are the only way you're going to stop the rock and roll. They made our unit rock solid. Beside that Dutch and Di (owners of plugitright) are very accessible people if you have any questions or any problems. When I put mine on they had a 800 #for that purpose. I have spent enough money over the years trying to stabilize the different RVs we have had. Nothing has worked. To me, this was one of the BEST mods I have done.

[coastn]

I used a different style of Harbor Freight cargo bar on our March-April trip this year. Dramatic improvement in side-to-side stability!! Put them front and back. Took putting a mat down and laying on my back to place them but it was well worth it...at a cost of about $60 total for four.Pretty easy on and off. Use the BAL locking chocks between tires to eliminate front-to-back movement.



This is a view of the front placement. The rear placement is similar and easier.