Happijac failed while driving down the interstate!

I had a roll pin break on my 4600s jack wont move either way. Had reico-titans on a camper I had in the 90s, they had a wire spring on the bottom of the leg that went around the foot to hold them up. Did have a leg come down on the road when didn't bother to put them on.

HMS Beagle wrote:
If you are concerned about someone messing with the lever, it is easily removed. Its only purpose is to disengage the gear motor if you need to wind the jacks by hand - again a rare event, and you can wind the jacks by hand back driving the gear motor without much additional effort in the event you ever need to.

On the 4600 model jacks, releasing the lever allows you to push the jacks down by stepping on the foot rather than using the slow, noisy motors. I use the levers every time I lower them.

RichieC wrote:
You can never tell when parked in a parking lot, or campground, when some jerk kid on a bike might come by and just do a try out - flipping the lever.
Xnorp (RIP) made a clip ring mod to prevent his jack legs from extending.
Its something that the manufacturer should do to.

Funny thing, the original Happijacs on my first 1998 Bigfoot had a spring latch: you wind the leg up completely and two spring loaded buttons inside the leg would engage holes in the outer leg, locking the jack up. When I replaced one of the jacks (rusted up) the holes were still there but no buttons. Now, no holes. So they had that idea once but gave it up.

I will say after using the feature once or twice I quit using it. It was a pain to have to go unlatch these while running each jack down, if you forgot then the gear motor would labor to a halt, can't be good for it.

In practice, the jacks work fine without any latches. It is a very rare event that they come down on their own, this is the first one I've heard about and it was due to a broken part. If you are concerned about someone messing with the lever, it is easily removed. Its only purpose is to disengage the gear motor if you need to wind the jacks by hand - again a rare event, and you can wind the jacks by hand back driving the gear motor without much additional effort in the event you ever need to.

Regarding the steps on the OP's TC, they are standard Northern Lite steps. I just took delivery of a new NL 10-2 CD SE which was ordered in February and built in May. It had the exact same steps. Would think that you could order them from a Northern Lite dealer.

Jim

You can never tell when parked in a parking lot, or campground, when some jerk kid on a bike might come by and just do a try out - flipping the lever.
Xnorp (RIP) made a clip ring mod to prevent his jack legs from extending.
Its something that the manufacturer should do to.

silversand wrote:
....the flip side of this is: we ALL want to know that this is happening with nearly-new Happijac jacks. The reason is abundantly clear to me why everyone with a truck camper would want to know this: an un-planned dead dropped jack whilst driving down the highway (or any road) could easily rip the side of your camper off, and kill someone driving behind you. That's why EVERYONE should know what happened (along with the model number of the jack it happened with).

Now, the other side of this is: should the OP discuss this with the manufacturer? Sure. This is the 1st contact I would make if this happened to me.

Warranty:

Happijac seems to have a liberal warranty based on anecdotal Posts I've read here on this Forum.

If you want to see how we secure our HJs, PM me.

I totally agree with the above statement.
My only point was that if you really have a problems you should address your problem to the source (manufacturer).
I agree it is fine to alert others who might have the same product.

Quick trip wrote:
I think 1mtnman was wrong to post their reply.
Also they should apologize to the OP.
But the OP was correct in their response!
Good Luck & Drive Safe!

For a life safety issue like this; it is always best to call (not email) the manufacturer. But there is nothing wrong with also asking the question on this forum. Actually it is a good thing since the post may alert others owners to the possibility of their jack failing in the same way.

Brad

I think 1mtnman was wrong to post their reply.
Also they should apologize to the OP.
But the OP was correct in their response!
Good Luck & Drive Safe!

If the roll pin is broken, then I could certainly see it unwinding. Jack wouldn't lift the camper either? With properly functioning jacks, this won't be a concern, they will stay where you put them.

I raise them until only about an inch of the inner leg is exposed. This is just before any bottoming of the screw or clicking of the safety clutch. I can see no reason to wind them right to the top. There have been some opinions in the past about an internal O-ring that might keep water out if you wind them right up, but if you have had one apart you know that is incorrect.

You should also read this....they are not going to give you this info either.http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/22881036.cfm
Depending on the model...as with this jack, if the pin was to fail, and I really don't see how it could, the whole inner leg would drop out. No doubt this would cause some major damage to a TC. There are the type of jack that has a quick drop leg and I have heard of that failing. If you were to have one of these types, I certainly would hold it in place with something as a backup. One of those ideas they can't take back and now as time goes by the fails are coming. Know your jacks!....Chrisnkaty...you as a new member can ask all the questions you want...this is reason we are here, to share information and learn. Don't be swayed by any one person that wants to ruin the party. Hope you get the info you need here and your troubles get resolved.