Flat tire jack question

[Justbass11]

 On my last fishing misadventure in which my wife’s friend broke my jig rod (the one that had the eyelet problem), the back of the boat filling up with water (yes the drain plug was in) it’s amazing how the big waves can almost sink an aluminum boat just sitting on the beach. Good thing boats have a bilge pump and of course a lot of praying to Jesus for it not sinking. Oh and my phone getting wet in a plastic bag that wasn’t sealed all the way as well as my wallet and whatever I had in the bag. If that wasn’t bad enough, as I was pulling into the neighborhood about to back my boat into my driveway. I noticed a flat tire starting on the trailer. And the hits just kept coming.

Now to my question, does it matter where I put the jack to raise the trailer to change the tire? Thanks for your input.  
One more thing, yes it was a big learning experience and I hope not to make the same mistakes again. 

[WRB]

The SeaSense Easy lift jack works OK or a scissor type jack if that is what you have.

Brake loose the lug nuts a turn before lifting.

When you beach your aluminum boat point the bow out and lift the stern onto the beach if boat wakes an issue.

Tom

[GreenPig]

Jack goes under the axle, not the trailer tubing.

[gulfcaptain]

Just make sure you put the jack on the frame

[Justbass11]

@WRB yes I learned a valuable lesson the hard way

[gulfcaptain]

3 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Jack goes under the axle, not the trailer tubing.

I put it on my frame,  then again I have a square tubular frame tandem axle trailer. Rather lift from the frame then from the axle that's held on with u-bolts and possibly bend the axle jacking up my trailer. Then again can use 2 pieces of wood and drive onto it to get one tire up off the ground to change too.

[Way2slow]

A couple of things I find helpful. 

Have the trailer connected to the vehicle, that keeps the tongue from lifting when you don't want it to and the trailer rolling off the jack.  

Break the lugs loose before jacking it up.

Placing the jack under the axle is not always that easy but if you can, that usually works best.  Placing it under the frame can sometimes cause problems with being able to get it high enough for the tire to clear the ground.   With the trailer connected to the vehicle, you can place the jack on the frame in front of the axle and that helps get a little more height.  You can't do that if it's not connected to vehicle. 

I have never tried one, but on small single axle trailer one of those things you put on the axle that uses a cam action to lift the trailer might be handy. 

Actually, in over 60 years of hauling boats around, I've never had to jack a trailer up that was not in my yard/driveway, and there I usually try to use my roll around hydraulic floor jack.  Sometimes that's not always possible because of where the trailer might be sitting, and that jack is heavy and hard to move around off a hard surface.

 

[GaryH]

If you have a tandem axle this works great.

[Bird]

11 hours ago, Justbass11 said:

 

Now to my question, does it matter where I put the jack to raise the trailer to change the tire? Thanks for your input. 

Yes, place the jack under the axle as close to the wheel as possible.

[TOXIC]

Totally depends on the trailer and the weight of the boat.  On my dual axle torsion suspension trailer, the one sure fire way to ruin an axle is to Jack the trailer up by it.  Never, never, never jack a torsion axle trailer up on the axle.  I’m assuming this may hold true for others as well.  I would place a call to either the dealer or manufacturer of your trailer to make sure. 

[WRB]

It helps to read the OP’s original post, he stated his aluminum boat was beached and swamped with water from waves.

Then he noticed a flat tire on his trailer returning home.

How this thread became a how to jack up a dual axil heavy trailer may be helpful but off topic.

Tom

[TOXIC]

48 minutes ago, WRB said:

It helps to read the OP’s original post, he stated his aluminum boat was beached and swamped with water from waves.

Then he noticed a flat tire on his trailer returning home.

How this thread became a how to jack up a dual axil heavy trailer may be helpful but off topic.

Tom

Well, there’s some pretty heavy multi species aluminum boats and there’s some aluminum boats on torsion axles.  Boat weight doesn’t matter on a torsion axle.  Single or double and I’ll bet you a bag of Senkos, most trailer manufacturers don’t recommend jacking any trailer up on the axle.  

[WRB]

No issue with single axle boat trailers, 5” # 301 works for me😎

Tom