Tongue jack collapsed, TT nose crashed down - ouch!
After 3 weeks of wonderful holidays, had to pack up yesterday and drive home.
Looking at the skies, dark grey rolling in, better hit the road soon.
Usual stuff, put things away, disconnect services and all that.
Retracted the stabilizer jacks, backed the truck close to the tongue, leaving just enough room for me to stand and operate the crank. Nose has to be fairly high to get it on the ball so I start cranking.
Meanwhile, the skies opened up big time and I'm getting soaked.
This thing has been giving me some issues starting on this trip. Crank has a tight spot part way up. Even posted a thread here about lubing it as it was getting hard to crank.
And another thread about suggestions for an electric jack replacement.
Well, I had it up almost high enough to get it on the hitch when suddenly, with no warning, BAM!!! The jack failed and the nose of the TT came crashing down onto the landing block. This happened so blinking fast and sudden, there was no time to react. It was on the ground right now! Wow, just wow. It fell about a foot.
Took me about an hour and a half with a bottle jack and a bunch of wood blocks to pick it up and get it hitched.
And the thing I am most thankful about is that when I do this, I ALWAYS position my feet, body, hands in such a way that if something happens, I am out of the way. Years of doing this paid off, no injury to me because I stay right out of the way. Sure did startle the heck out of me though.... This could have done some serious damage to me.
Got home last night, parked out front and went out and bought a replacement today. After 3 weeks off work and spending a bunch on the vacation, a fancy electric jack isn't in the budget yet. Bought another hand crank.
Perhaps a little warning to others, pay attention to your tongue jack, if it's starting to bind, don't fool around, replace it!
Looking at the skies, dark grey rolling in, better hit the road soon.
Usual stuff, put things away, disconnect services and all that.
Retracted the stabilizer jacks, backed the truck close to the tongue, leaving just enough room for me to stand and operate the crank. Nose has to be fairly high to get it on the ball so I start cranking.
Meanwhile, the skies opened up big time and I'm getting soaked.
This thing has been giving me some issues starting on this trip. Crank has a tight spot part way up. Even posted a thread here about lubing it as it was getting hard to crank.
And another thread about suggestions for an electric jack replacement.
Well, I had it up almost high enough to get it on the hitch when suddenly, with no warning, BAM!!! The jack failed and the nose of the TT came crashing down onto the landing block. This happened so blinking fast and sudden, there was no time to react. It was on the ground right now! Wow, just wow. It fell about a foot.
Took me about an hour and a half with a bottle jack and a bunch of wood blocks to pick it up and get it hitched.
And the thing I am most thankful about is that when I do this, I ALWAYS position my feet, body, hands in such a way that if something happens, I am out of the way. Years of doing this paid off, no injury to me because I stay right out of the way. Sure did startle the heck out of me though.... This could have done some serious damage to me.
Got home last night, parked out front and went out and bought a replacement today. After 3 weeks off work and spending a bunch on the vacation, a fancy electric jack isn't in the budget yet. Bought another hand crank.
Perhaps a little warning to others, pay attention to your tongue jack, if it's starting to bind, don't fool around, replace it!
