2005 Arctic fox 1150

[todsme]

Looking at truck Jack's as upgraded.

[BBVD]

Troutguy wrote:
BBVD,

Your first photo link doesn't work.
Why are bashing Happijacs or are you bashing all corner jacks in general? I personally haven't any any problems with my HJs and they've been on my TC for eleven years.. I've only had to replace one part, a Torrington bearing in that time. I disassemble them every two years and relube them.
Are HJs the best .......probably not but mine have lasted and have been reliable.
I'm not a paid spokesman for HJ.......Do you have an affiliation with Stable Lift as I see this is your first post?

I've put in the addresses of the images... just copy and paste the address in the browser.

I'm not affiliated with anyone. You can see my annoyed wife in one of the pictures going "We just got this thing!"

HappiJack is a flawed system. Titan is awesome, Atwood has a good quality heavy duty corner jack. Overall, the HappiJack system was designed 20+ years ago before sliders were a thing and campers were 2500-3000 lbs. Now a single, dual or even triple slide campers can be 4500 lbs or more. Other manufacturers have adapted to a better system and HappiJack has not.

Simply put, if you remember your high school physics class, round is better than square regarding load bearing structures, especially when considering side shifting loads. HappiJack is a square tube and as you can see from the first picture it collapsed along the flat side due to a slight shift on the center of gravity.

I'm actually a proponent of anything that will keep my family safe. Stable Lift is an incredible product and because the corners are destroyed on my camper that's the only system that will work from here on out. I will say this, I was looking at it before this happened and I would have switched over sooner if I was more aware of the safety and reliability issues regarding the HappiJack system on the camper.

If used properly, most corner systems will be great but HJ is not one of those. As I said, due to the jack system design and the sheer weight of the AF 1140 and 1150 campers all you're doing is playing with borrowed time until one of those collapses on you.

[Bedlam]

My Rieco Titan jacks had to lift my Arctic Fox over 42" to clear my flat bed deck. It is possible with better corner jacks. I'm not sure if you had blocks under your jacks - It looks like they were sinking in the lawn. I used 4x6 blocks on soft ground and nothing on pavement or gravel other than the stock feet.

[Troutguy]

BBVD,

Your first photo link doesn't work.
Why are bashing Happijacs or are you bashing all corner jacks in general? I personally haven't any any problems with my HJs and they've been on my TC for eleven years.. I've only had to replace one part, a Torrington bearing in that time. I disassemble them every two years and relube them.
Are HJs the best .......probably not but mine have lasted and have been reliable.
I'm not a paid spokesman for HJ.......Do you have an affiliation with Stable Lift as I see this is your first post?

[BBVD]

While I am a newbie here I'd like to quickly quell the discussion between (UN)HappiJack system and Stable Lift.

I have a 2001 Arctic Fox 1140 and a 2006 F350 Crew Cab FX4. The truck was purchased before the camper so in all honesty I didn't know that the offroad package would cause the issue but even without it the lift of the camper is in the upper 20" range which makes those toothpicks unstable as heck. In order to get the camper of the truck I'd have to get 32"+ extension on the jacks making them wobbly and scary. Forget trying to unload during any kind of a breeze or on the ground that was more than 1" difference between the front and the back corners. Take a look at the pictures I've attached and you will notice what ultimately happened with the standard jack system.

All you have to do is do a basic search about the HappiJack and see people's horror stories about the damage done. I'm not the only one that's experienced this and if you have the standard HappiJack system you will experience the same fate eventually. The odds are not in your favor. At least upgrade to a heavy duty Atwood system if you want corner jacks.

The Culprit! Front right jack failed and the rest is history.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jr0li5q83jlv2sb/ProShot_20160806_130121~01.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ofns5h4vadse20m/ProShot_20160806_100712~01.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yawyre06nvddlcy/ProShot_20160806_130112~01.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5w8geq6pj3nbhi3/ProShot_20160806_134858~01.jpg?dl=0

So, if you would like to discuss further why the corner jack system is flawed when you lift a 4,000lbs+ camper 30" or more in the air, I'd urge you to take a look at the pictures and wonder what would you do if your truck and camper were totaled? Then send me a PM and we'll have a chat.

[Reddog1]

burningman, I have no idea as to why you take exception to my post. My post was directed to all of us that have posted on this thread trying to help the OP. The OP made one post.

Wayne (Mr. Moderator)

[burningman]

No.
I was speaking to the poster just prior to me, not to myself, directly on-topic, with some useful info and experience, Mr. Moderator.

[Reddog1]

The OP has made no posts after the first one. Isn't responding kinda like talking to yourself? Especially when you need more information?

Wayne

[burningman]

Reinstalling your corner jacks is an OK emergency step, but I think in the long run just adding some rectangle-tube steel from your front jack brackets to your rear ones won't add any more weight than the jacks would. All I did was weld some angle iron to each end and bolt it on where the jacks bolt on. Then you transfer a bunch of the weight to where it's designed to be.
It's my opinion this is a good idea no matter what condition your camper is in.

[AnEv942]

I think I might reinstall the rear jacks to help support weight when offloaded, at least until a fix is applied. Still use the stablelift for raising and lowering.
Never occurred to me using stablelift on a slide wall-but makes sense, the bowing, all the weight rearward being applied in the middle. Few if any full wall slides or even partials have any real structure under slide.

[tmartin000]

KKELLER14K wrote:
Well I am all in for something that works well... and if it is affordable. I was still trying to understand how this would work for a DRW without it hanging out to far...does anyone have a picture?

here

[Reddog1]

jimh425, I missed the OP asking for opinions on how a Stable-Lift looks.

hedge, I will accept you have no experience with it. Perhaps you would ask more questions, and make fewer statement on the subject.

Additional off topic post will be deleted.

Folks, the OP post:

Our 2007 Arctic Fox 1140db has severe convex bowing under slide out! The Stable load system only supports camper in between the dual ram slide assembly . As camper has full wall slide ,when off truck causes upward bowing of camper under slide-out.No cracks to filon exterior.Camper has no other issues (water tight,NO delamination.). Removed Happijac electric jacks; not up to task of such a heavy camper.DRW setup , properly installed.Help. What should I do?

Wayne
Moderator

[tmartin000]

Here are a few.

[hedge]

I have no experience with it, it just seems to solve a problem that doesn't exist for me. With my wireless remote I honestly can't see how it could be improved upon or made easier. It looks like the stable lift also needs a level spot to unload which I don't need for my jacks.

Maybe if I had a bigger camper I'd have some problem with the jacks but for now I don't.

Call it vanity if you want but yes looks are important to me, It's the same reason I could never drive a Dodge/Ram... looking forward to the body redesign so maybe they'll be back on my options list. I honestly don't give an inkling of what others think of me or my truck but I like what I like.

[KKELLER14K]

Well I am all in for something that works well... and if it is affordable. I was still trying to understand how this would work for a DRW without it hanging out to far...does anyone have a picture?

[jimh406]

I think it's perfectly valid to make decisions based on how something looks. Of course, there are other examples such as the choice of truck and chassis vs pickup bed. Some like decals and some don't. I'm sure there are other examples, and that's ok.