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RVhiker
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Sep 02, 2015

Lippert Electric Rear Sabilizer Jack

The Lippert electric rear stabilizer jack on my Jayco 2011 fifth wheel has quit working properly. Here's the symptoms:

1) Jack works normally when lowering.
2) Jack makes a grinding/ratcheting sound when attempting to raise it and will not raise at all using the electric motor.
3) Jack lowers and raises easily using the manual crank.

I think the gears in the motor head are damaged. Could it be anything else? But why would the gears work normally in one direction, but not the other?
  • Sounds like you've got it figured out just fine. Yes, it could definitely work one way and not the other. The weight would help take the pressure off the gears and they would work, but with the motor having to lift the weight, the gears no longer mesh well enough to do the job.

    Please post back with your solution since I wonder how long my motor/gearbox will last on my toyhauler.
  • Definitely the motor gearbox. I took the motor loose and the gearbox shaft will spin with power one way, and just grinds the other way. It was easy to remove; just four allen screws hold it on.

    I think the proximate cause is that we were not careful enough when raising up the jack; when it is raised all the way up, it is up against metal stops, a hard stop. If the switch is held at that point, all that can happen is that the motor stalls or the gears grind; there ain't no clutch. On the way down, you are just raising against the RV springs which does not make a hard stop until you've really raised the jacks way too far. Also, we have used our trailer a lot; I'm certain that the stabilizer jacks have been cycled well over a couple of hundred times.

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