Fixes and Fails - Jack pads

When we first started in Grain Valley, we were in a site that was gravel and the jack pads did OK, but tended to sink into the gravel a bit.  When we visited our son in Houston, I didn't look real close and the jack was right on the edge of the concrete pad, so it didn't just sink, it slipped off the edge and bent the pad. After replacing the pad, I was looking for a solution, that would also support the weight of the RV (13 tons), I decided to take a 2x4 cut into 8 - 12" pieces and screw them together on their sides to create a pad that was about 12" x 12" and 3 1/2" thick.  All four of them probably cost $20 total. After our trip up to the Northeast, I decided that I needed to un-screw them, add liquid nails and then re-screw them. 

That work fairly well until we setup in Carthage, where it was really wet and a couple of the pads sank into the gravel and basically fell apart.  So, we pulled the jacks back up, scraped a lot of gravel into the holes, re-screwed and re-positioned the pads and tried again.  They seemed to hold, but they did not look good.

So, when we got back to Grain Valley and I added more screws, Ann insisted that I find something else.  After looking online, I found a company that sells pads for out-riggers on cranes and has a line for RVs.  https://rvjackpads.com/

I went with the 4 of the 15" ones that are 1 1/2" thick and when Ann drove the RV, I swapped them in for the wooden ones.  Each of them is rated to carry the full weight of the RV and they are guaranteed not to break.  Of course, they cost more than 10 times what I had in the homemade ones, so I hope they last.

Full disclaimer: I did not receive any financial compensation for this post, though I did receive a koozie with my order.

Pat