HappiJac maintenance
The two HappiJacs on the drivers side of my Outfitter truck camper had not been off in 10 years. They only were used twice per year, and the last time they were used, one was so stiff that the electric motor would not move the foot. I could barely move it manually, so some maintenance was overdue. Getting them off and into the basement for winter repair work was in order, but despite liberal application of Blaster over many days, 3 studs were snapped off. If you have any intention of ever removing your HappiJacs, I suggest you take off the nuts, put grease on the threads, and replace with stainless steel nuts, and back these nuts off, then re-tighten, perhaps every 6 months. Later, I drilled out the broken studs, threaded, inserted threaded rod, then took the tube to a weld shop and had the rod tacked on.
The HappiJac disassembly instructions posted by KKELLER14K, and found in the TCU section of these pages were very useful and saved a lot of time. One addition to them that I would make is to extend the foot as far as you can prior to disassembling the mechanism. Why? Because if yours is as stiff as mine, it will make the disassembly easier. I had to use a Come-Along winch to pull the foot out of the tube.
I found a lot of rust, stiff grease, dirt and water inside the tube, but the worst was in the bottom foot of the tube. I attempted to clean the tube by running a wire brush thru, but that was not effective. A strip of 50 grit sandpaper was glued to a 1" x 48" long steel angle iron and run up the tube. This was more effective in removing rust, but has to be repeated several times with fresh sandpaper. The bottom foot of the tube was additionally cleaned with a wood rasp. While everything was apart, the foot and tube were wire brushed and sanded to remove paint & rust, then primed and spray painted. A grease fitting was installed thru the thick part of the tube about half way down.
With everything painted and lubricated, it was time for re-assembly, but this was not so easy because even despite my attempted cleaning of the inside of the tube, the foot did not slide smoothly up into the tube. To solve this, I ground the edges off the floating steel plate thru which the screw extends. The foot and screw were liberally greased.
I am guessing that water gets into the tube thru the gap between the motor and tube, so a liberal quantity of grease was placed into that space above the welded-in plate and below the steel gears. It can't hurt.
I hate seeing the rust on my camper, so the mounting brackets were removed, sanded clean, primed and painted, but rather than re-use the rusty steel screws, new stainless screws were used to mount. With things repaired and installed, and the weather getting better, it's time to start going out again. Maybe the two passengers-side HappiJacs get rebuilt next winter.
The HappiJac disassembly instructions posted by KKELLER14K, and found in the TCU section of these pages were very useful and saved a lot of time. One addition to them that I would make is to extend the foot as far as you can prior to disassembling the mechanism. Why? Because if yours is as stiff as mine, it will make the disassembly easier. I had to use a Come-Along winch to pull the foot out of the tube.
I found a lot of rust, stiff grease, dirt and water inside the tube, but the worst was in the bottom foot of the tube. I attempted to clean the tube by running a wire brush thru, but that was not effective. A strip of 50 grit sandpaper was glued to a 1" x 48" long steel angle iron and run up the tube. This was more effective in removing rust, but has to be repeated several times with fresh sandpaper. The bottom foot of the tube was additionally cleaned with a wood rasp. While everything was apart, the foot and tube were wire brushed and sanded to remove paint & rust, then primed and spray painted. A grease fitting was installed thru the thick part of the tube about half way down.
With everything painted and lubricated, it was time for re-assembly, but this was not so easy because even despite my attempted cleaning of the inside of the tube, the foot did not slide smoothly up into the tube. To solve this, I ground the edges off the floating steel plate thru which the screw extends. The foot and screw were liberally greased.
I am guessing that water gets into the tube thru the gap between the motor and tube, so a liberal quantity of grease was placed into that space above the welded-in plate and below the steel gears. It can't hurt.
I hate seeing the rust on my camper, so the mounting brackets were removed, sanded clean, primed and painted, but rather than re-use the rusty steel screws, new stainless screws were used to mount. With things repaired and installed, and the weather getting better, it's time to start going out again. Maybe the two passengers-side HappiJacs get rebuilt next winter.
