2005 Arctic fox 1150

work2much wrote:

Bedlam wrote:
I'm not sure if you had blocks under your jacks - It looks like they were sinking in the lawn. I used 4x6 blocks on soft ground and nothing on pavement or gravel other than the stock feet.

+1 We have to take our jacks all the way to the warning lines on the front so I set the jacks on big 4x6 blocks like you do seven though the legs can't sink being on concrete. I just don't like pushing anything to max.

Feel bad for poster though. That's hard to look at.

Had blocks under it and sold ground. It was sometime so the grass was getting long which is why it looks like it's sunk a bit.

There is a design flaw in the system and the jackass failed. Nothing I did other than looked at it go timber on the truck.

GeoBoy wrote:
Joe, does your Vacationer have slide-outs?

Nope but I understand the problem. There's not much support in the side wings below the slide. All you have the do is install a piece of steel square or rectangle tube, thick stuff not thin, that runs from the front corner to the rear corner and attach it to the Stable Lift. Now the lift transfers stress to the corners where it needs to be. Problem solved.
I did exactly that, it's easy and works great. My support brace does flex a little between the rear corner and the rear of the Stable Lift, a span of four or five feet, I may do some doubling or triangulating to make it even more solid.

There's no pre-made "kit" that you can order, sometimes you have to do a little custom work. Any welding shop could do this mod if you haven't got the place or tools for it.

If I were still using corner jacks, I'd run some steel flat stock from the rear corner jack mounts along the camper side to the front jack mounting bracket, then across the front to the other front corner bracket, then back down the other side to the other rear bracket. I believe that would go a long way toward keeping them from ripping out.

They all feel solid when the camper is brand new, age and that leak down the inside of the wall you didn't know about right away eventually weaken them.

The 2005 Arctic Fox 1150 had a factory design issue with the front jack frame mounting points.
AF offered a "retro-fit" that reinforced the front jack mounting corners after a few reported failures.

Bedlam wrote:
I'm not sure if you had blocks under your jacks - It looks like they were sinking in the lawn. I used 4x6 blocks on soft ground and nothing on pavement or gravel other than the stock feet.

+1 We have to take our jacks all the way to the warning lines on the front so I set the jacks on big 4x6 blocks like you do seven though the legs can't sink being on concrete. I just don't like pushing anything to max.

Feel bad for poster though. That's hard to look at.

Troutguy wrote:
BBVD,

Your first photo link doesn't work.
Why are bashing Happijacs or are you bashing all corner jacks in general? I personally haven't any any problems with my HJs and they've been on my TC for eleven years.. I've only had to replace one part, a Torrington bearing in that time. I disassemble them every two years and relube them.
Are HJs the best .......probably not but mine have lasted and have been reliable.
I'm not a paid spokesman for HJ.......Do you have an affiliation with Stable Lift as I see this is your first post?

I've put in the addresses of the images... just copy and paste the address in the browser.

I'm not affiliated with anyone. You can see my annoyed wife in one of the pictures going "We just got this thing!"

HappiJack is a flawed system. Titan is awesome, Atwood has a good quality heavy duty corner jack. Overall, the HappiJack system was designed 20+ years ago before sliders were a thing and campers were 2500-3000 lbs. Now a single, dual or even triple slide campers can be 4500 lbs or more. Other manufacturers have adapted to a better system and HappiJack has not.

Simply put, if you remember your high school physics class, round is better than square regarding load bearing structures, especially when considering side shifting loads. HappiJack is a square tube and as you can see from the first picture it collapsed along the flat side due to a slight shift on the center of gravity.

I'm actually a proponent of anything that will keep my family safe. Stable Lift is an incredible product and because the corners are destroyed on my camper that's the only system that will work from here on out. I will say this, I was looking at it before this happened and I would have switched over sooner if I was more aware of the safety and reliability issues regarding the HappiJack system on the camper.

If used properly, most corner systems will be great but HJ is not one of those. As I said, due to the jack system design and the sheer weight of the AF 1140 and 1150 campers all you're doing is playing with borrowed time until one of those collapses on you.

My Rieco Titan jacks had to lift my Arctic Fox over 42" to clear my flat bed deck. It is possible with better corner jacks. I'm not sure if you had blocks under your jacks - It looks like they were sinking in the lawn. I used 4x6 blocks on soft ground and nothing on pavement or gravel other than the stock feet.

BBVD,

Your first photo link doesn't work.
Why are bashing Happijacs or are you bashing all corner jacks in general? I personally haven't any any problems with my HJs and they've been on my TC for eleven years.. I've only had to replace one part, a Torrington bearing in that time. I disassemble them every two years and relube them.
Are HJs the best .......probably not but mine have lasted and have been reliable.
I'm not a paid spokesman for HJ.......Do you have an affiliation with Stable Lift as I see this is your first post?

While I am a newbie here I'd like to quickly quell the discussion between (UN)HappiJack system and Stable Lift.

I have a 2001 Arctic Fox 1140 and a 2006 F350 Crew Cab FX4. The truck was purchased before the camper so in all honesty I didn't know that the offroad package would cause the issue but even without it the lift of the camper is in the upper 20" range which makes those toothpicks unstable as heck. In order to get the camper of the truck I'd have to get 32"+ extension on the jacks making them wobbly and scary. Forget trying to unload during any kind of a breeze or on the ground that was more than 1" difference between the front and the back corners. Take a look at the pictures I've attached and you will notice what ultimately happened with the standard jack system.

All you have to do is do a basic search about the HappiJack and see people's horror stories about the damage done. I'm not the only one that's experienced this and if you have the standard HappiJack system you will experience the same fate eventually. The odds are not in your favor. At least upgrade to a heavy duty Atwood system if you want corner jacks.

The Culprit! Front right jack failed and the rest is history.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jr0li5q83jlv2sb/ProShot_20160806_130121~01.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ofns5h4vadse20m/ProShot_20160806_100712~01.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yawyre06nvddlcy/ProShot_20160806_130112~01.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5w8geq6pj3nbhi3/ProShot_20160806_134858~01.jpg?dl=0

So, if you would like to discuss further why the corner jack system is flawed when you lift a 4,000lbs+ camper 30" or more in the air, I'd urge you to take a look at the pictures and wonder what would you do if your truck and camper were totaled? Then send me a PM and we'll have a chat.

burningman, I have no idea as to why you take exception to my post. My post was directed to all of us that have posted on this thread trying to help the OP. The OP made one post.

Wayne (Mr. Moderator)

No.
I was speaking to the poster just prior to me, not to myself, directly on-topic, with some useful info and experience, Mr. Moderator.