Camco 44540 Trailer Stabilizer Jack Pads, Set of 2

If you've ever set up on a soft campsite or a gravel launch area and watched a stabilizer jack slowly sink into the ground, you already know why these pads exist. The Camco 44540 FasTen Big Block Jack Pads give the foot of your jack a wide, flat platform to press against instead of bare dirt. Each pad is 17-1/4 inches wide and 12-1/2 inches deep, so the load from your trailer spreads across a big footprint rather than concentrating on a small metal foot. That's the whole trick to keeping a jack from digging in.

They work with just about any jack you'd find on a trailer or RV. Stack jacks, tongue jacks, scissor jacks, swing-down stabilizers, fifth-wheel stabilizers, even the arms on some awnings. If it has a foot that lands on the ground, one of these pads goes under it. There's no drilling and no hardware to fuss with. You drop the pad where the jack foot will land, lower the jack onto it, and you're done. Some folks tape the pad to the foot for travel so it stays put, but that's optional.

The material matters more than you'd think. These are molded from a rugged polymer, not wood, so they don't soak up water, rot, splinter, or grow mold sitting in a wet trailer compartment. Boaters who store a rig near saltwater tend to like that. Wood blocks swell and fall apart after a season of damp. Polymer just wipes clean. The 2-1/4 inch height also gives you a little lift off the ground, which helps when you're parked on wet clay or a low spot that likes to hold water.

Where do they earn their keep? Soft ground, mostly. Sand at the ramp, loose gravel, wet grass at a campsite, spongy clay after rain. On a boat trailer, they're handy under the tongue jack when you drop the boat in storage or leave it sitting between trips. On an RV or fifth wheel, they go under each stabilizer so the whole rig stops rocking every time someone walks across the floor. The wide 17-1/4 inch face covers most 2x2 and round jack feet without any overhang, so you're not balancing a small foot on the edge of a small block.

A couple of honest notes from people who use them hard. For a single-axle trailer, a set of two usually covers the jacks you care about. If you've got a dual-axle setup with more stabilizer points, you'll want a second set to do them all. On a steep or uneven site, some folks slide a leveling block or a piece of 2x4 underneath the pad to pick up extra height, which works fine. And center the jack foot on the pad. If you set it off to one edge and then load it hard, it can shift, same as any block would.

Think about the last time you set up in the dark after a long tow. The ground's uneven, maybe a little soft, and you just want the trailer to sit still. That's the moment these pay off. Drop a pad, lower the jack, and the rig settles instead of creeping down an inch overnight. First-timers and full-time RVers both end up carrying a set, because the fix for a sinking jack is almost always more surface area under the foot.

The set includes two pads. They stack flat for storage, so they tuck into a trailer compartment or the bed of a truck without taking up much room. For about the cost of a couple of pieces of lumber that'll be junk by next year, you get a pair of pads that'll ride along trip after trip. Simple gear that does one job and does it well. Keep a set in the truck and you'll stop hunting for a flat rock or a scrap of plywood every time you park somewhere soft.