Camper jacks....Electric or Manual???

I have hydraulic jacks and have never considered replacing them. It's just not that big of a deal to me.

Run100, I like your two major points, your next camper will have electric and does your car have a crank handle. Well put!

I'm not afraid to do manual labor - I dug all the trenches by hand when putting irrigation throughout our yard, painted the entire house by hand and the list goes on. However, these were projects with a definite start and end point.

When it comes to the camper, electric jacks all the way. We received great advice when debating elec-vs-manual on our first camper. The gentleman said, no matter which jacks we got on the first camper, our next would have electric jacks. Point taken, we got electric and never looked back. In addition, if the weather is a bit questionable, or you're not feeling up to par, do you really want to tinker with manual jacks. I figure they stopped putting hand cranks on the front of cars many decades ago, so why would I want to crank camper jacks by hand???

Still, I respect those that choose the manual method. They're definitely committed.

I have had hydraulic, which I would never want to use again.
Our current camper came with manual HappiJacs which I used an electric drill for a number of seasons and then got the electric motors. Is it worth the $800 upgrade? I think so. I never liked doing a corner at a time so always got one of my children or my wife to help and went from front to back in pairs. They were never pleased to help. We just got back from camping; my DW asked if I needed any help and I said no. She went in the house and took a shower and I unloaded the camper. Happy wife - happy life ;)

When raising my camper it is seldom on flat ground so I have to raise the two jacks on one side more than the other and the front two higher than the ones in the rear. Easy to do with a single remote control that lets me raise all 4 at the same time or just the front or rear pair or an individual jack.

If I had to do it manually each time I would never take it off at a campsite and be reluctant to take it off when I got home. I get more use of my pickup both when camping and at home by removing the camper.

Anyone who pays full retail for "options" on a camper is throwing their money away. I prefer to negotiate. As for resale I would not even go to look at a used camper that did not have electric jacks.

Mine came with manual jacks.

Would I drop $1500 for electrics? Heck no, that's almost what the camper's worth!

Would I turn up my nose at a camper with electric jacks out of some ill-conceived notion of manliness? Heck no, I'm as lazy as the next guy.

The kicker: Would I pay extra for electric jacks? There's the toughie. Given that I only load/unload 1-2 times a year and I leave the camper setting high, I'd probably go with manual jacks.

It only takes 4 trips around the camper to unload. First trip is to run the jacks down to the ground with a drill. Second, third, and fourth time around is 10, 10, 10, 20, 10, 10, 20, 10, 10, 20, 10 10, and the camper is up. By throwing 20 turns to the 4th jack and every 3rd jack after that, I add an extra round in without actually walking around the camper!

I vote electric. If the budget doesn't cover it for the initial purchase, make sure the camper is at least pre-wired for electric jacks. That way after you get tired of having to walk around the camper turning each jack a few turns each time as you raise then lower the camper it's a fairly easy upgrade. Of course if you plan to load the camper and leave it on the truck most of the time, than manual may not be an issue.

I lower my TC to near the ground each time. With an electric jack setup, you can do multiple corners at once or all at once.

If you are leaving up in the air, I can see why manual wouldn't be that big of a deal. As someone else said, I didn't know that anyone was selling regular size campers with manual jacks.

I have had both, the current camper being the only one with electrics. I prefer the electric for a couple of reasons. The biggest is my truck is the daily driver and that includes the day before I leave. It is sure nice to come home from being at work all day and have the electric to load the camper on my tall 1 ton, or come home late from a long weekend of camping and have to unload the camper so I can go to work the next day. I usually load/unload by myself and the electric saves me many steps.

ELECTRIC. No contest.