Jt Strongarm Stabilizers

I posted these over in the other forum but I thought they would be easier to see here without having to hunt through all the pics.

Don't give me any slack about my tires. THe wide angle camera lens has the picture distorted at the edges.

I forgot to mention that I went to Lowe's and bought a short piece of 3/8" pipe so I could put a little torque on the T nuts. I just give them a quarter turn after snugin them up.

That pic does make it look like you've got some serious Wheel Camber angle going on ,,,,,,,,

Big Dave wrote:I posted these over in the other forum but I thought they would be easier to see here without having to hunt through all the pics.

Don't give me any slack about my tires. THe wide angle camera lens has the picture distorted at the edges.

How well do they work? I've been looking at those myself. But I'm a show me kind of guy. Every time we go camping, I look for someone that has them to see for myself. I'd look for them at the RV show, by the CA show is not until October.

THey are fantastic. I'm a pretty heavy guy and I've got to really try to get it to move. Me and the wife can get frisky and the mini blinds don't even sway.

I just installed my Ultra-Fab stablizers this weekend and what a great improvement. The Ultra-Fab version is the one sold at Camping World. Installation took about three hours more or less because I didn't watch the clock. Did find one issue that was not mentioned previously; driver side front stablizer cannot fully retract because of the dual battery boxes. It clears enough but it would be nice to retract fully. Oh well, if it bottoms out I have bigger problems!! :bounce:

davemartinez wrote:I just installed my Ultra-Fab stablizers this weekend and what a great improvement. The Ultra-Fab version is the one sold at Camping World. Installation took about three hours more or less because I didn't watch the clock. Did find one issue that was not mentioned previously; driver side front stablizer cannot fully retract because of the dual battery boxes. It clears enough but it would be nice to retract fully. Oh well, if it bottoms out I have bigger problems!! :bounce:

Did you mean these? http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus/index.cfm/Outdoor-and-RV-Accessories/Tow-Center-Of-America/RV-Jacks--Leveling/The-Eliminator-Strut-Stabilizer-System/skunum=35782

Mark,

Shooter just installed the JT's also. I'm sure he will be joining in to tell you his opinion, which im sure is good.

oldelmer1 wrote:Mark,

Shooter just installed the JT's also. I'm sure he will be joining in to tell you his opinion, which im sure is good.

I just wanted to see if what I found at Camping World was the same thing he was talking about. Both are the same price, either from CW or RVW, ~$300.

Mark,

Those are the ones I installed. Same as the JT's just a different name :cyclops:

Big Dave,

Being a dad of four boys who play baseball, I don't have much time to figure out the installation process. We have the 2006 32QBBS. Would you mind illustrating the installation with each picture? What problems will I experience and do the rods line up to the frame in the front and rear? And is there a difference with the JT stabilzers vs the ones at Camping World?

By the way, I had the Trail Air Shackle kit installed along with balancing the tires and it made a whole lot of difference.

Flyfish6
Joey

Flyfish6 wrote:Big Dave,

Being a dad of four boys who play baseball, I don't have much time to figure out the installation process. We have the 2006 32QBBS. Would you mind illustrating the installation with each picture? What problems will I experience and do the rods line up to the frame in the front and rear? And is there a difference with the JT stabilzers vs the ones at Camping World?

By the way, I had the Trail Air Shackle kit installed along with balancing the tires and it made a whole lot of difference.

Flyfish6
Joey

I don't think there is much of a difference between the Jt's and the one's sold at Camping World. Same principle but they probably use different parts and pieces to accomplish the same thing.

It's pretty easy if you buy the Jt's. They provide the measurements just make your marks and drill the appropriate size holes. Everything is designed to pivot to allow for different models of RV's.

I don't know what else to tell ya other than get your boys to help with fetching tools and handing you stuff.

Big Dave,

Thanks, I'll do that but I will minimize the assitance of my sons-they are 11, 9, 8, & 6 and sometimes provide too much help. And do the stablizers really reduce the bounce of your rig?

The pricture of the rear, are the bars mounted to the bumper or the frame?

Joey

Flyfish6 wrote:Big Dave,

Thanks, I'll do that but I will minimize the assitance of my sons-they are 11, 9, 8, & 6 and sometimes provide too much help. And do the stablizers really reduce the bounce of your rig?

The pricture of the rear, are the bars mounted to the bumper or the frame?

Joey

Welcome Joey,
I actually made a new cross member to mount the rear stabilizers, but the bumper will work as well. You need to check the location of your grey water drain pipe on the driver's side of the coach, if it is within 30" of the front (measured from back side) legs you probably need to make a spacer like I had to do on ours. See the link below for the modifications.

Flyfish6 wrote:Big Dave,

Thanks, I'll do that but I will minimize the assitance of my sons-they are 11, 9, 8, & 6 and sometimes provide too much help. And do the stablizers really reduce the bounce of your rig?

The pricture of the rear, are the bars mounted to the bumper or the frame?

Joey

I mounted mine to the bumper. Once in use they work against each other and just use the bumper as a stable connection point.

It helps with the bounce but that depends on how much weight you get off of your tires. It helps more with side to side and back and forth sway.

When I first installed mine I pushed on the side of the Cat and had it moving pretty good but once I locked the bars down I couldn't get it to move at all.

OK guys ... you sold me.

I looked around the web today for the JT Strongarms. Don't mean to be dense, but I hate to order something and have to send it back. So ... I have a couple of questions.

The JTRV web site spells it out the I need the SJS-100J (Greater than 58" front and telescoping rear). But when looking to order, I can't find what it is I need. All use their own part numbers and none of the descriptions match up. For example ...
1) All of the types at RVW say they are for scissor jacks
2) The ones on Tweety's reference a FJS100-S/T (What the heck are those !!!)

Other sites specifically note that they are for electric landing gear, which I can't imagine are any different than hydraulic.

Am I just trying to make this too complicated? Like I said, I hate to order off the web, wait a week, and then go thru the trouble of having to send it back.

Thanks for the help ...

SJS100-S is the model I got. The "S" is for scissor jacks in rear.

It works, so I assume it is the correct one.


Steve

SJS-100S is what I bought, the distance between the front landing jacks on our Camper is 59". I bought RVW #15-0363. I bought from them because they had the Lynx Levelers for a good price and I wanted another set.

Steve,

Looks like you have the same unit I have. Those rear jacks aren't scissor type, but they're not telescoping type either really. But if the SJS100-s works, that's good enough for me. Where did you get them?

Thanks

MrZss wrote:Steve,

Looks like you have the same unit I have. Those rear jacks aren't scissor type, but they're not telescoping type either really. But if the SJS100-s works, that's good enough for me. Where did you get them?

Thanks

Mine does have scissor jacks.........I got the "mid-2008" model, not the early and not the current.

Mine doesn't have the fancy electric stuff added to it.

I bought mine through Ebay............company called Radauto.


Steve

It's been a year since the last post, but I finally got on the bus and bought a set.

All I can say is wow! These things really work. I wish I had them in the 50-60mph winds last Labor Day weekend.

Would you guys rather use these or the A-frame stabilzer under the pin box? Or are they for different types of sway?

I'd skip the pinbox. You have to store it when not in use. These stay in place with the jacks. I can push on the pinbox and it doesn't move.

The pinbox tripods don't work as well as a set of the JTs. The rear stabilizers alone made a huge difference to control the rear.

I uses a tripod king pin stabilizer for the first few years. It worked great, but still not as good as the JT's. And it took up room when not is use.

Our 09 Cat came with the stablilzers which worked (past tense) well. Today, as we were pulling out of a parking lot in Idaho Falls, Idaho the "dip" was apparantely deeper than it looked and we ripped the whole stabilizer off the camper. It was hanging, twisted and we were in the middle of the street - thankfully a side street. As Darrell climbed under the camper, I ran for the tool box and a nice young man stopped to help. They pulled it free, cut the wire to the electric motor and I picked up parts and pieces and we threw them into the camper. As we were traveling north to Yellowstone, I got on the cell phone and started calling RV repair shops. We found one in Rexburg, Idaho and the gentleman there said he would take the unit to his shop this week-end and straighten the twisted metal and order a few of the missing/broken pieces from Forest River.

We start work at Yellowstone on Monday so, we'll have to bring the camper back to him when it has it ready for installation.

Will keep you informed.

Considering we have been full timing for just about a year now, and this is the "worst" thing to happen I'm not too upset. Of course, I won't speak for my husband!!!

I won't speak for my husband!!!

He didn't drive the harley through the wall did he ?

Ya'lls adventure sounds pretty awesome. I didn't know ya'll we're gonna be working at yellowstone.... That should keep some interesting stories going on here. you gotta keep us informed with that.
Sounds like the adventure of a life time for sure.

H.O.G. Hauler wrote:
We start work at Yellowstone on Monday so, we'll have to bring the camper back to him when it has it ready for installation.

You will also have to keep us all informed as to where your gonna be in Yellowstone. I'm sure lots of members plan on visiting Yellowstone this year. I'm sure we'll all be glad to meet up with you....

Anyone in Yellowstone this summer - give me a hollar. We're in the West Yellowstone Entrance. We've been driving thru the past 2 days and have a zillion pictures already. Today we spotted 2 bears in 2 different locations. One of them crossed the street right in front of us.

Jo-Ann

Jo-Ann,

Good luck with getting the Cat repaired and I hope y'all have a very eventful time in Yellowstone. I hope to make it there one of these days.

So back onto the JTs once again... anyone know if they work with the electric rear jacks? I emailed a lady who sells these http://www.plugitright.com/RVStabilizerPage2.html and this system looks very nice as well and possibly less expensive. She said that in her experience, the electric rear jacks really don't need them as they don't have a lot of sway in comparison to non-electric. Any thoughts or comments??

Thanks!