Electric Tongue jack failures
In the 4 years that I have owned my TT, I have had to replace the Electric Tongue Jack twice... Both of these units were Imported Units that I bought on the Auction site... Enough is Enough of those.....
Forum Discussion
There are two basic designs. The side motor mounts, IE: Barker, Ultra Fab, etc. And the top motor mount, which I believe is Atwood only.
The side motor jack has several disadvantages.
First is the hand crank backup hole. It is the top of the housing. On many TTs this will prevent one from hand cranking a complete revolution as it will hit the propane tanks. So hand cranking would mean a half turn, remove crank turn it 180 degrees reinsert crank turn it 180 degrees and keep repeating that process. Very tedious
The main reason for a hand crank backup is not so much for a motor failure, but a dead battery.
Then the crank hole being on the top of the housing needs a plug of some type to keep water out of the motor.
The side motor jacks have several other protrusions in the housing for the switches as well. All of which rely on seals to keep the water out. The seals do fail and water does get into the motor.
This is such a problem that Barker was for a time GIVING free covers away to those that asked.. Quite a few here on this forum got them.
Which is why so many rave about them.
This style jack really needs to be covered.
The side motor is also more likely to interfere with opening the tailgate. Owners report that turning the jack sideways fixes that problem. But then the hitch light doesn't point in the right direction.. Of course owners report that they don't use the light anyways as it is under the cover... My concern here would be if the light were to be turned on accidently and since it is under the cover not be noticed... This could result in a dead battery... See previous hand crank concern.
The Atwood has none of these issues. The roof of the housing is a solid one piece with NO pentrations. So no need to cover it. The top mount means that opening the tailgate is more likely and the light shines where it is supposed to. The hand crank fits in the front similar to a manual jack and cranks just like one with no chance of propane tank interference.
The side motor jack has several disadvantages.
First is the hand crank backup hole. It is the top of the housing. On many TTs this will prevent one from hand cranking a complete revolution as it will hit the propane tanks. So hand cranking would mean a half turn, remove crank turn it 180 degrees reinsert crank turn it 180 degrees and keep repeating that process. Very tedious
The main reason for a hand crank backup is not so much for a motor failure, but a dead battery.
Then the crank hole being on the top of the housing needs a plug of some type to keep water out of the motor.
The side motor jacks have several other protrusions in the housing for the switches as well. All of which rely on seals to keep the water out. The seals do fail and water does get into the motor.
This is such a problem that Barker was for a time GIVING free covers away to those that asked.. Quite a few here on this forum got them.
Which is why so many rave about them.
This style jack really needs to be covered.
The side motor is also more likely to interfere with opening the tailgate. Owners report that turning the jack sideways fixes that problem. But then the hitch light doesn't point in the right direction.. Of course owners report that they don't use the light anyways as it is under the cover... My concern here would be if the light were to be turned on accidently and since it is under the cover not be noticed... This could result in a dead battery... See previous hand crank concern.
The Atwood has none of these issues. The roof of the housing is a solid one piece with NO pentrations. So no need to cover it. The top mount means that opening the tailgate is more likely and the light shines where it is supposed to. The hand crank fits in the front similar to a manual jack and cranks just like one with no chance of propane tank interference.
