Best Jack Stands for Tiny House

Tiny houses on wheels need to be leveled, raised, and held in place every time you park in a new location. Not only does this ensure that your house remains stable and avoids swaying, but it also keeps your springs and tires healthy for the long weeks or months that you keep your house parked. And for this, you will need top quality jack stands to keep your house in place.

The best jack stands that we recommend for tiny houses are:

1. Camco Olympian Aluminum Stack Jacks
2. Performance Tool W41022 3 Ton (6 Ton) Capacity Jack Stand Set
3. Cartman 3 Ton Jack Stands
4. Torin Big Red Aluminum Jack Stands
5. Alltrade Powerbuilt 640912 Jack with Jack Stand

In this article we will go over the best jack stands for tiny houses, what makes them the best on the market, and why it is essential to level, raise, and hold your tiny house on wheels while it is parked.

Top 5 Best Jack Stands for Tiny Houses

1) Camco Olympian Aluminum Stack Jacks

Pros	Specs
Lifts 3 tons	Camco
Incredibly lightweight	3.55 lbs
Simple, elegant design	11-17 inch adjustment

Best For: Tiny house owners who want something stylish and effective with no risk of a headache

Jack stands should be all about the simplicity and functionality. You want something you can rely on to sit on the ground, keep your tiny house in place, and stay there – what more should a jack stand do? That’s why we’ve got the Camco Olympian Aluminum Stack Jacks at number one.

With a beautiful all-aluminum design, you have a jack stand that is lighter than any other jack stand on the market with this kind of elbow grease, lifting up to 3 tons or 6000 pounds. They also keep the price lower than you would expect with its no-frills design. Overall, one of the best jack stands for tiny houses on the market.

2) Performance Tool W41022 3 Ton (6 Ton) Capacity Jack Stand Set

Pros	Specs
Average price	Performance Tool
Wide load	15.9 lbs
Sturdy steel frame	11-16 inch adjustment

Best For: Tiny house owners who want stability, durability, and an affordable, reliable 6-ton jack stand option.

Need a good classic jack stand for a good classic price? The Performance Tool W41022 3 Ton Capacity Heavy Duty Jack Stand Set stands out to us big-time for its heavy-duty reliability with a classic durable steel finish sitting atop a wide load perfect for long-term tiny house support through rain or shine.

We love this jack stand for its low price and the 6ton option, which some tiny house homeowners might prefer. You can expect these jack stands to last your tiny house for years without problem.

3) Cartman 3 Ton Jack Stands

Pros	Specs
Lifts 3 tons, 6 ton option	Cartman
Quick adjustment feature	12 lbs
Double locking pawl and tooth design	15 – 24 inch adjustment

Best For: Homeowners who can appreciate the quick adjustment mechanism.

Like the Performance Tool Jack Stand Set, the Cartman also offers a 6-ton option with outer foot pad. These stands are used in pairs, offering a greater adjustment range than most other jack stands on the market, from 15 to 24 inches and up to a 13,000-pound capacity for each stand.

Made of high-grade forged steel, and a nice planted welded design for extra stability for the outdoors, the real kicker here is the quick adjustment mechanism built within the Cartman jack stand. This means you can adjust the stand while they’re in stress, allowing you to readjust your jacked height without letting it all go. While some might think this extra feature is excessive, it can really be a lifesaver for certain times.

4) Torin Big Red Aluminum Jack Stands

Pros	Specs
High-grade aluminum	Torin
Removable support pins for security	10.2 lbs
Wide surface saddle	11 – 16 inch adjustment

Best For: Tiny house homeowners looking for a premium product with premium design, reliability, and function

What’s unique about the Torin Big Red Aluminum Jack Stands is its large foot base size, of about 7.5” x 6.8”. What this offers is greater contact with the tiny house load, providing more natural stability and “lock” to it while keeping it lifted.

Its removable lock support system also makes it easy to set these jack stands in place, with little to no hassle with adjustment and locking. With such a large saddle, they fit nice and snug on the jacking points of your trailer.

One of the downsides of this product is its price, but if you’re looking for something expensive and premium, then this is definitely the jack stand for your tiny house. As it is made of aluminum, this jack stand is foldable, making it the perfect tiny house companion as you can easily store it in any lofted or hidden storage when not in use.

5) Alltrade Powerbuilt 640912 Jack with Jack Stand

Pros	Specs
2-in-1 jack and jack stand	Powerbuilt
Taller than usual	22.4 lbs
Wide steel base	11 - 21 inch adjustment

Best For: Tiny house homeowners who do not already have a jack, and want something durable

The Powerbuilt Alltrade 640912 Jack with Jack Stand is perhaps the most interesting jack stand on this list for one reason: it’s the only jack stand that also doubles as a jack, meaning it is also one of the best jacks for a tiny house.

If you are looking to save space and have your jack and jack stand in one, then this would be the jack stand for you (however you might still need more than one jack stand for the weight of a tiny house).

As a bulky product, it can be difficult to store this in a tiny house, but it also offers greater height than most of its counterparts, allowing for a greater ease for leveling your home in even the most uneven terrain. This can be a great jack stand to act as your base stand, partnered with other lesser stands around the trailer.

Leveling a Tiny House

Why Should You Level Your Tiny House?

Many tiny house families are first-timers in mobile homes, which is why we often hear tiny house owners asking why they should level their tiny house on wheels after they park in a new area. After all, if you are coming from living in houses built on permanent foundations, leveling a house is not something you ever have to think about.

But truthfully, there are many reasons why you would want to level your house and why jack stands should always be part of your tiny house plans. For example:

• Swaying: An unleveled tiny house will always feel like it is swaying as you and your family walk around. This is because tiny house trailers are resting on the springs of the trailer, which are less obvious when the trailer is in motion but can be annoying when it is parked.
• Unbalanced: Aside from being unbalanced on your feet, your entire home will be unbalanced as well. No matter how much you try to find level ground, most of the time the ground you park on will not be completely level. This means items will roll off your tables, your cabinets and doors will swing on their own, things falling from the loft, and more.

How Do You Level a House with Jacks?

There are three crucial tools involved with leveling a house with jacks:

• A tool to level it (a carpenter’s level)
• A tool to jack it up or lift it from the ground
• A tool to support it in place after it has been jacked up

Level

Before anything else, you want to make sure you have a proper carpenter’s level available. Trying to “eye” the leveling process of your tiny house will just cause you a headache.

If a carpenter’s level is impossible to produce at the moment, then try using a pen, ball, or marble; however, nothing can truly replace the preciseness of a level, so make sure to purchase one and store it in your tiny house at all times.

While adjusting your jacks, you will want to continuously use the level to check the balance of your tiny house. Make sure to check both directions (side-to-side and front-to-back) in multiple locations around the tiny house, to ensure a steady flatness throughout the home.

Jack

Many tiny house homeowners recommend a scissors jack because this is what they are used to; in some cases, they will even have the scissors jack welded directly to the trailer frame itself. The scissor jack is then placed on a concrete block or other foundation to keep it stable for weeks or months at a time.

But tiny house experts advise otherwise: the scissors jack is not the recommended type of jack for tiny houses. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Scissor jacks just aren’t very strong. They are more susceptible to toppling than other, more specialized jacks
• Scissor jacks were not made for long-term use. While they are fine for tire changes in a car, or jacking up trailers parked for a weekend, they were never intended for the long-term stress of a tiny house parked for weeks or months at a time. Many tiny house homeowners report scissor jacks collapsing after long-term stress
• Welded scissor jacks allow tiny house homeowners zero flexibility with jack placement. You have to position your trailer with the jack in mind, rather than moving the jack freely around the terrain
• It is difficult to keep the scissor jack at a 90-degree angle with the trailer if you level with it, requiring another tool to jack up the trailer before setting the scissor jack in position

So what type of jack should you use instead? Any jack that isn’t a scissor jack should do fine, but we recommend hydraulic SUV jacks. Efficient, strong, and easy to carry around, there are virtually no downsides to the hydraulic SUV jack.

Support

After raising your tiny house to the proper level – front-to-back and side-to-side – you will want to keep it in place with jack stands. Make sure to use jack stands with sufficient weight tolerance for your tiny house.

If your ground is dirt or unsteady, it is recommended to acquire footings (concrete blocks are fine, but professionally-manufactured footings are more reliable) to act as holds for your jack stands. It is not necessary for a jack stand to sit on every corner of your tiny house; this depends entirely on your elevation requirements, as other corners that need less height can be supported fine with footings alone.

In some cases, it is recommended that you raise and support your tiny house trailer high enough to keep your wheels off the ground. There are a number of reasons why you would want to do this:

• You allow the trailer’s springs to rest by putting the weight of the house on the jack stands rather than the springs
• You will have access to the tires, spinning them instead of letting dry rot settle in through the dirt and preventing flat spots from developing
• You add an extra layer of security to your home – no one will be able to easily drive away with your tiny house if your wheels are off the ground (and even removed)

If extra stability is needed, you can include extra items such as stabilizer jacks to keep your tiny house settled from swaying.

Are There Alternatives to Jacks for Leveling a Tiny House?

Jacks will always the easiest and best option to lift and raise a tiny house on wheels while leveling it and setting it for a long-term parking situation. No matter your tiny house plans, jacks and jack stands are a clear necessity.

While there are items that can help stabilize and level the tiny house after it has been lifted (such as wheel chocks and stabilizer jacks), the jack is still the best way to lift and raise it in the first place, and a jack stand is always necessary to keep it in place for the long-haul.