Hi all!After 3 years towing our 19' Jayco Hybrid using the Equalizer Hitch, our tongue jack finally gave in.First, it happened that I could not use the electric motor to lift the tongue anymore. But: using the manual crank luckily still worked.So I ordered a manual replacement, and received it a couple days before our most recent trip this weekend. Did not have time to install the jack before the trip, unfortunately. Everything went fine during the trip using the manual crank, except when getting back home, everything is 100% stuck. Jack won't go anywhere. Good time to replace it, LOL. So taking it apart, I see stripped gears. The original electric jack had a capacity of 3,500 lbs, the new manual one is 5K lbs. Hopefully it will last longer.What I have to do is raise the rear of the truck with the jack at least a little bit each time I engage / disengage the Equilizer bars. I suspect that this is what overloaded the jack and finally stripped the gears. Any good way around that?I know my tongue weight is right around 600lbs (measured), but of course lifting the rear of the truck until I can engage/disengage the Equalizer bars is an unknown amount of extra weight.Am I doing something wrong here?Thanks for any help!

I wonder if getting a larger oversized jack will help. What did you have on that broke?

A 3500 lb jack should have handled the HTT with ease including lifting the rear of the truck (that is what they are supposed to do). You are going to hate the manual jack after using a powered jack. You were doing it correctly, the jack should not have failed

My 2500 Atwood lifted a heaver truck and trailer for the 7 years I owned it. You didn't do anything wrong.

Here are the sad remains of my 3,500lbs jack. Note the stripped gear ....

Never heard of anyone replacing their electric tongue jack with a manual one before. Just get a new electric one. You were using it correctly and it shouldn't have failed.What brand was the electric one?

Equalizer Hitch and Tongue Jack | Good Sam Community

Ron3rd
Explorer III
Jul 08, 2014
I used a manual jack for 10 years with no issues. My new trailer has an Atwood power jack which I like but I would be fine with either one. The power jack makes it easier for the wife to assist.
f150camper
Explorer
Jul 08, 2014
So now we just came back from the second camping trip with the manual jack. I see no problem with it whatsoever.
One thing I realized today (it took a while to get there): With the manual jack, I can now completely lower my trucks tail gate. With the electric jack, the gate had to be held at 45 degrees or so. That alone makes this change worth it, not even talking about the money saved and capacity gained!
goducks10
Explorer
May 29, 2014
I can relate somewhat to the OP. Our 1st TT had a tongue weight around 500+lbs IIRC. It had a manual jack. Wasn't really that bad. In fact I never even considered getting an elec jack. Spring forward and we got a bigger TT with a 900-950lb TW. Yikes, the manual jack was a PITA. Especially on those hot 90 deg days. That's when I decided an electric jack was needed. It really depends on how heavy the TW is. I have a manual jack on my utility trailer that has a 100lb or so TW. That's nothing for a manual jack. So somewhere there's a line to draw as far as weight and convenience goes IMO.
W_E_BGood
Explorer
May 29, 2014
f150camper...I had a Barker 3500 lifting my 6,000-dry Keystone Outback and 1K/10K Equal-i-zer WDH on a Tundra, lifting the combo the same way as you describe. The Barker took a dump at less than 2 years old, Barker fixed/replaced it at no charge. So far, no repeat problems.
Huntindog
Explorer
May 29, 2014
f150camper wrote:
I am perfectly fine with a manual jack, for several reasons:
- it takes all of two minutes to raise/lower the tongue. I have that much time, I don't mind. Have done manual jacks all my life.
- Effort? I don't mind the "exercise". :)
- Manual is less expensive, lower tongue weight, and has fewer things to go wrong with.
- We dry camp probably 80% of the time, and now I don't need to worry about having power left for the jack. The manual jack is much easier to move than the electric one with no power.

All in all, I am very happy with the manual one. At the price of $42, it was an easy decision. Has an almost 50% higher capacity also. Easy to change back should I ever decide to do so, I left the cable as is (just took the fuse out).MY TW is north of 1400#s, and I often hitch up in 115 degree heat.... I will never use a manual jack again.
BTW, my jack is the Atwood 3500 heavy duty. It picks up my Truck, a 1 ton dually crewcab AND trailer, Often with over 3500#s of "stuff" in the truck bed.

I can't tell from the pick just what brand yours is, other than it is NOT an Atwood. It is one of the side motor mount ones.. Maybe a Lippert?

Not sure what brand it was.
f150camper
Explorer
May 28, 2014
I am perfectly fine with a manual jack, for several reasons:
- it takes all of two minutes to raise/lower the tongue. I have that much time, I don't mind. Have done manual jacks all my life.
- Effort? I don't mind the "exercise". :)
- Manual is less expensive, lower tongue weight, and has fewer things to go wrong with.
- We dry camp probably 80% of the time, and now I don't need to worry about having power left for the jack. The manual jack is much easier to move than the electric one with no power.

All in all, I am very happy with the manual one. At the price of $42, it was an easy decision. Has an almost 50% higher capacity also. Easy to change back should I ever decide to do so, I left the cable as is (just took the fuse out).

Not sure what brand it was.
pappcam
Explorer
May 28, 2014
Never heard of anyone replacing their electric tongue jack with a manual one before. Just get a new electric one. You were using it correctly and it shouldn't have failed.

What brand was the electric one?
f150camper
Explorer
May 28, 2014
Here are the sad remains of my 3,500lbs jack. Note the stripped gear ....
coolbreeze01
Explorer
May 27, 2014
My 2500 Atwood lifted a heaver truck and trailer for the 7 years I owned it. You didn't do anything wrong.
fla-gypsy
Explorer
May 27, 2014
A 3500 lb jack should have handled the HTT with ease including lifting the rear of the truck (that is what they are supposed to do). You are going to hate the manual jack after using a powered jack. You were doing it correctly, the jack should not have failed