I promised I would share a video (or two) showing how those red rolling ramps work to lift one side of an RV to make it level, side-to-side … or to lift one tire high enough that the other tire (on the same side of the vehicle) is far enough off the ground that you can change a tire without jacking up the trailer. So … here are the videos.
This first video below shows how to use the normal sized rolling ramps (“Camper Leveler”) … and shows how much easier these ramps are than stacking those static blocks (take a look at the most recent blog post and look at the fourth photo from the top to see the time I had to use 18 static blocks that were about 6 feet in length! to raise both tires/axles only about 3.5 inches). These red rolling ramps will lift each tire up to 4 inches and can be purchased individually or in groups of two or three (or more), depending on how many axles you want to lift. I bought two of them since my trailer has two axles … two tires on each side of the trailer. Whether using the static blocks or these rolling ramps, these devices allow us to lift one side of the RV in order to level our rigs from side-to-side, left-to-right … once that is done, we unhitch the tow vehicle and then level the rig fore-aft or front-to-back using the tongue jack at the very front of the rig. Easy as pie.
This next video shows the use of the BIG rolling ramp (the “Rapid Jack”) that you can use when you need to change a flat tire. It will lift one tire (of a two or three axle system) almost 6″. The video also shows other uses of either type of these ramps. I bought one Rapid Jack for use if I ever have a flat tire on my trailer.
Because the axles on my Escape trailer are so close together, I cut a portion off the small nose end of one of the normal size ramps so I could fit a ramp under both tires on one side of the trailer. Lots of folks have done that with no problem, me too.
I love these Andersen ramps. On the rare occassion when I need to lift one side of the trailer more than 4″, then I use the static blocks, or just a couple of boards on which I place the Andersen rolling ramps.
Ok, the next blog post will continue on with my camping trip to Mossyrock … coming soon!! Keep level-headed, use Andersen levelers! 🙂
Great explanations. Thanks, Ann. My brain is no longer twisting and turning. 🙂
Thanks, David. Glad your brain is now quiet. 🙂
Wow. I couldn’t figure it out before, but how simple! If I had a trailer I’d be buying these for sure! I remember when we camped across the country in the 60s and 70s. Dad used a pile of 2x4s to level us…and that’s, I guess, what I’ve assumed people were still using!
I’m sure glad that helped, Dawn. Sometimes it’s hard to match up a video with real-life stuff. These ramps are so wonderful.
Wow, yes! I’d forgotten. My folks used boards too back in the 60s, that’s all there was that we knew about. And they worked just fine, and they were free. I still carry 2x6s in case I need them, even with the plastic blocks, and even with the red ramps. Sometimes the tried-and-true work just perfectly.
Love those ramps, we’re buying some! so much easier than trying to line up 5 or 6 feet of those plastics blocks and hope that your trailer and your truck are in perfect alignment so the back tire on the trailer doesn’t go off to one side far enough that it falls off those plastic blocks. thank you!
Janey
Exactly! Can’t tell you how many times the back wheel/tire of my dual axle trailer fell off one side of a long 5-6 foot line of those yellow plastic blocks, because I didn’t have the trailer and truck in PERFECT alignment. Grrrr! 🙂
Excellent videos. I’d seen them online but you never know who to believe. Except that I sure believe everyone here who has seen them and used them and recommends them. I’m so tired of lining up the plastic blocks! and as Janey says, sometimes the truck and trailer are at a bit of an angle so the trailer doesn’t back straight, it turns/curves and then falls off the plastic blocks. No harm done, but you have to pull forward again and re-set every one of the plastic blocks and hope THIS TIME that everything lines up. I’m buying red rolling ramps. 🙂
Me too, Susan. The plastic blocks are a tad better than boards, but not much, and lining the plastic blocks up is a pain. Glad you are joining the “red rolling ramp” society. 🙂 Let us know how it goes.
We’ve been camping with a trailer and a truck for many years. We used wood boards first (like Dawn’s folks probably did), then we bought the plastic blocks (and hated them), and we actually dumped some of the plastic blocks but kept a few with use with the wood boards. But last year we bought those same red rolling ramps from Andersen that Ann talks about. We love them! We ended up buying two fo the larger Rapid Jack ramps because our tires/axles are far enough apart to use two of them and those ramps will lift almost 6 inches. Sounds like your trailer, Ann, has tires too close together to use two Rapid Jacks, bummer. This is super info!!!
Wanda, you made me think this through even more. Besides the two regular 4″ rolling ramps, I did buy one large Rapid Jack ramp (lifts almost 6″) for changing a flat tire, but then why not buy two of them in case I need to lift the entire rear axle or the entire front axle? The cost is nothing compared to the time and trouble to figure out how to lift an axle with those yellow blocks or the boards. As well, using a manual jack to jack up the trailer/RV is dangerous if you don’t know the exact jacking point of your rig. AND, if you have only a foot or two behind you, that means you don’t have room to back onto a long set of plastic blocks. Ok yep I’m buying a second 6″ Rapid Jack red rolling ramp. You folks are the best. 🙂