Atwood Jack clunking....

[Bert_the_Welder]

Anyone else have this? It's a rhythmic clunk sound when operating. Sound and severity seem to vary depending on camper angle.
Thanks!

[tuna_fisher]

Just went thru that, very little on the net in reguards to Atwoods. Ended up buying new Rieco Titan jacks, of course I use manual jacks so it was under a grand. Sold my 3 good Atwoods easy to re coop some $$ Could have bought 1 jack but then 2 different cranks and such. I will say the Atwoods seemed a lot better quality than the Rieco Titans plus the features of Atwoods with the auto down when you just step on them to extend, Glad I got a drill set up.

[Bert_the_Welder]

AnEv942 wrote:
Yes kohldads post was very good, showing disassembly of the Atwood jack. however pics missing. Might PM him, unless he sees this thread, possibly might have access to old pictures.
http://www.rvtechlibrary.com/chassis/atwood_jacks.pdf , starting page 26, shows but not 'how to'. Parts if needed likely difficult if even possible.

Thanks AnEv! I hadn't come across that doc with the exploded view, so thanks for that. Yeah, bit of a shame so many project pics got lost on here.
I used to just save bookmarks of how-to's, manuals, etc. but find more and more I save them to my hard drive. Too many things lost that were so useful.

[Bert_the_Welder]

joerg68 wrote:
The Google brought up this old thread:
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26917562.cfm
Maybe it helps you to gain confidence. My own philosophy with these things usually is, if someone assembled it before, it can be assembled again.
As long as the problem is in the motor head, you should always be able to manually extend/retract. Just have the crank with you, or an electric drill with the right bit.

Thanks Joerg. I think I'll try hand cranking each. If I get the clunk, I'll know it's not just the motor. I have a feeling it's the bevel gear, based on the sound. If I was a brave man, I'd open them up, see if there's teeth broken. Measure it and see if it's an available size/type. If not, I could at least grind the broken edges a bit smoother, possibly helping then mesh better with less catching, causing the noise........
(Devil on my shoulder is telling me to let them break, giving more impetus to the Mrs. to get a new rig.....)
Thank you!

[AnEv942]

Yes kohldads post was very good, showing disassembly of the Atwood jack. however pics missing. Might PM him, unless he sees this thread, possibly might have access to old pictures.
http://www.rvtechlibrary.com/chassis/atwood_jacks.pdf , starting page 26, shows but not 'how to'. Parts if needed likely difficult if even possible.

[joerg68]

The Google brought up this old thread:
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26917562.cfm
Maybe it helps you to gain confidence. My own philosophy with these things usually is, if someone assembled it before, it can be assembled again.
As long as the problem is in the motor head, you should always be able to manually extend/retract. Just have the crank with you, or an electric drill with the right bit.

[Bert_the_Welder]

joerg68 wrote:
Front or rear? If front, a quick mitigation might be to exchange with a rear jack (if interchangeable). It won't fix anything, but take away some load from the clunking jack.
Could be a kink in the threaded rod, or a worn cog in the gear drive, or...
Sounds like disassembly / rebuild will be needed. You might try to lubricate first and see if it gets any better. But I have no idea how any of that is done in an Atwood jack.

Danke Joerg.
That's a good idea, however, it's all of them, so far as I can tell. I do suspect it's a piece of a gear tooth has come off. It has a regularly timed pattern like a metronome. I'm weary of taking them apart or off for fear of them not going together again. But Mrs. wants to go camping and wants to be able to take it off when there to tour around. Adding extra excitement is that "there" is out in the booney's.
Her reality of the potential of not getting it back on the truck is very different then mine..... :h
And the TC is so old and close to being tote, new jacks would be more then the thing is worth, likely.
Damned if I do, damned if I don't

[joerg68]

Front or rear? If front, a quick mitigation might be to exchange with a rear jack (if interchangeable). It won't fix anything, but take away some load from the clunking jack.
Could be a kink in the threaded rod, or a worn cog in the gear drive, or...
Sounds like disassembly / rebuild will be needed. You might try to lubricate first and see if it gets any better. But I have no idea how any of that is done in an Atwood jack.