HappiJac #5
Well, HappiJac strikes again! Raised the camper today so I could put it on the truck, the left front jack made a loud squelching sound and took off some big chunks of the powder coat on the inner tub...
Forum Discussion
Moose10 wrote:Glacier D wrote:bigfootford wrote:
When you say you did maintenance... did you fully disassemble them and lube the worm shaft and Nut/ball?
Jim
No I did not disassemble the jacks, did the maintenance stated in the manual. That is wax the jacks, put a few drops of oil in the capped hole near the top of the jack and fully extend the jacks once a year.
Glacier D,
What happened to your jack does sound like what some others have said in that the inner tube had some lateral stress on it causing it to bind.
After removing one of my HJ's due to water intrusion causing rust in the motor and blowing the fuse, I can say with confidence that the drops of oil in the capped hole does absolutely nothing to increase longevity of the jack....stop wasting your oil;)
When I rebuilt mine I completely sealed the housing with silicone before re-mounting the jack. The main place for water to enter the housing is where the two wires enter.
There's also an excellent write-up in the forums detailing proper HJ maintenance....can't remember who posted it so just do a search.
Thanks Moose. Yes, understand the water in the motor issue. I sealed mine too (where the wires come in) and took the top of the motor case off and lubed the gears with white lithium grease (did this a few years ago). I never blew any fuses, but last year my motors just started to run slower and sloooower until they wouldn't turn anymore. Got rebuilt motors this last year and last 2 rebuilt motors arrived with the sealant where the wires enter the motor peeling back and not holding to the wires. Just poor quality control there. I sealed up all my wires with sealant that is working a lot better than the stuff HJ used.
Agree with you on the inner tube, however, the powder coat was scrapped off on multiple sides (3) so I think its another defect on the Jack. Just wondering, why haven't we seen pictures and procedures for taking apart and rebuilding the other 2 brands of camper jacks? Got to question that!
I leave for Boise next week for fire season (private contractor) I can use the owners shop and hopefully rebuild that jack. I still think they are pure garbage though.
