Time to replace front electric Jack

[DinTulsa]

My 7 year old electric Jack will barely lift my trailer, and it makes a grinding popping sound. The battery is good and it’s plugged into a 50amp outlet.

So that said, I’m going to start hitting the 3 bolts with penetrating oil. Is there anything special to replacing a Jack other than a couple electrical wires and unbolting 3 bolts?

[valhalla360]

Gdetrailer wrote:
Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

That's the way my Dad felt until my brothers graduated high school and he had to do the cranking.

Of course, sounds like the electric part of the OP's unit is fine but the gears are failing (which can happen with a hand crank unit).

My Dad's after market unit was working fine 20yr on when he passed away and we sold his trailer. I had a 20yr old 5th wheel with the original electric motors.

If yo like exercise, go for it but assuming you don't abuse it, reliability isn't a big selling point for going manual.

[C_Schomer]

Mine are 14 y.o. and going strong.

[Camper445]

Gdetrailer wrote:


Name any electric tongue jack brand that lasts more than 10 yrs..

Bulldog Products.

[Grit_dog]

Thanks GDE for de-railing another thread!
Just can’t help it, eh?

[ktmrfs]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Camper445 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

Wondering why you do not reply to these threads using stamps and the USPS. :?

Stamps and USPS might be a bit faster and more reliable than this forum software which "came over on the Mayflower" :B

Name any electric tongue jack brand that lasts more than 10 yrs..

Pretty much all of them use cheap plastic gears which break and fail, water and moisture gets into the motor and switches causing it to fail or short, fuses blow. Very few if any electric jacks now days give you a manual option so when it breaks, you will be stuck somewhere trying to figure out how to get the tongue up or down..

A plain manual tongue jack as long as you keep it greased will easily outlive the life of your trailer several times over.. And by the way some manual tongue jacks can be easily adapted to your favorite cordless drill at a far lower cost than a new electric jack.

Simplicity sometimes trumps "technology" when it comes to long life and reliability.

The barker ball screw on my 2004 trailer is still working fine and get's used probably 100+ times/year.

The barker ball screw on my 2010 trailer is still working fine and has to lift 1500lbs + and again gets used 100+ times/year.

The Atwood acme screw jack on my sons work trailer get's used almost every week, was installed in 2010 and is still working fine.

In the 25+ years we've been trailer camping along with many friends I've never encountered a case with a fellow camper where an electric tongue jack failed. Nor have I had any fail.

[Gdetrailer]

Camper445 wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

Wondering why you do not reply to these threads using stamps and the USPS. :?

Stamps and USPS might be a bit faster and more reliable than this forum software which "came over on the Mayflower" :B

Name any electric tongue jack brand that lasts more than 10 yrs..

Pretty much all of them use cheap plastic gears which break and fail, water and moisture gets into the motor and switches causing it to fail or short, fuses blow. Very few if any electric jacks now days give you a manual option so when it breaks, you will be stuck somewhere trying to figure out how to get the tongue up or down..

A plain manual tongue jack as long as you keep it greased will easily outlive the life of your trailer several times over.. And by the way some manual tongue jacks can be easily adapted to your favorite cordless drill at a far lower cost than a new electric jack.

Simplicity sometimes trumps "technology" when it comes to long life and reliability.

[Gdetrailer]

ktmrfs wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:
Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

Just be aware, there is several different diameters of the jack tube, if you get one too large and you will have to bore out the hole the jack goes through and possibly drill new bolt holes.

rather not be lifting a 1500lb tongue load with a manual jack. Wouldn't have a travel trailer w/o an electric jack, let's me enjoy more time camping, quicker to unhook, quicker to hook up. But to each his own.

Tongue weight on my travel trailer is right around 1000 lbs fully loaded and ready to go.. Another 500 lbs on the tongue isn't all that big of a jump.. You should try my 18ft 10K flatbed trailer with 4K lbs of fire wood and almost 4K lbs worth of tractor at the same time..

The workout keeps you healthy.

[Camper445]

Gdetrailer wrote:
Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

Wondering why you do not reply to these threads using stamps and the USPS. :?

[C_Schomer]

My 07 Atwood jacks had plenty of grease in the gear heads and I drilled 1/8” holes towards the top of the tubes and I sprayed gear lube on the screws until it dripped out the bottoms. No more dragging. Craig

[Grit_dog]

Gdetrailer wrote:
Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

Lol.

[ktmrfs]

Gdetrailer wrote:
Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

Just be aware, there is several different diameters of the jack tube, if you get one too large and you will have to bore out the hole the jack goes through and possibly drill new bolt holes.

rather not be lifting a 1500lb tongue load with a manual jack. Wouldn't have a travel trailer w/o an electric jack, let's me enjoy more time camping, quicker to unhook, quicker to hook up. But to each his own.

[ktmrfs]

do yourself a favor and buy a ball screw rather than acme screw jack. Costs a bit more but much better at lifting load. And likely much longer lasting.

[Gdetrailer]

Modern problems.

Makes me glad that I have a 40yr old trailer with original standard manual jack and it still works..

Just be aware, there is several different diameters of the jack tube, if you get one too large and you will have to bore out the hole the jack goes through and possibly drill new bolt holes.

[Lwiddis]

Consider a drill operated jack.