Electric tongue jack...Dead battery????

moresmoke wrote:
Should work off the tow vehicle power. Had a rental this summer that had no battery on it, and was able to run the jack and slide off the truck.

No battery? No emergency trailer brake activation should the trailer break away from the tow vehicle. Very rare occasion, but still not a good situation.

Electric tongue jacks should be standard equipment on all but the smallest trailers, in my opinion. It can be operated with jumpers off the tow vehicle or by the manufacturer provided crank in an emergency.

I fitted my hand crank jack with a rod coupler. Use the driver drill to raise and lower. If I get stuck with a dead battery I can always use a ratchet. Best of both worlds.

Have used an electric drill in the same situation, worked well. I forget what size socket it took but there was a rubber plug on top of the electric tongue jack that pops out to expose the hex stub so you can attach the socket.

My cranking days are over.
The only thing "cranky" was my wife (and me).

I remember Kentucky in August
98 degrees, 98% humidity.
End of an 8 hour tow and mosquitoes.
Camping is suppose to be fun.

After my crack jack failed, I replaced with an electric. I thought having an electric would be nice. Now that I have an electric, I think about how nice it is every time I use it.

Yes, hooking to the TV will energize the jack. As to the utility of as tongue jack, I would not consider owning a trailer that did not have one. They make it easy to hook up spring bars, and if you think it's too slow, try turning that hand crank on a hot day with bug buzzing around, and the coupler doesn't want to go on the ball, and you gotta raise it up again...

Should work off the tow vehicle power. Had a rental this summer that had no battery on it, and was able to run the jack and slide off the truck.