Electric TC camper jack conversion

[gwwing2]

I have a Palomino Bronco 1251 that is prewired for electric jacks. Prewired meaning there are outlets for each Reico/Titan jack at the corners and the wires end up in a bundle near the battery. Currently I use the KISS system of cranking the jacks up with my electric drill. My wife thinks its probably good exercise for me, running around to each jack and raising (or lowering) a couple inches until I get the camper to the level I want. since I load and unload the camper by myself I am wondering if a conversion to electrics is worth the expense and possibly more problems with additional things that can go wrong. I also wonder if there is an advantage of the Happyjak over the Rieco systems. It almost looks like the savings of a total new install of electric jacks over kits could be recouped by selling the manual jacks. Other then the running around, the reason for considering electric is, I assume, would prevent the possibility of putting twisting forces on the camper during un/load. My site for storing the camper is not fully level so there are some issues there. I do store it on a frame with 8 adjustable jacks to keep it level. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Beyer]

adventureseeker714 wrote:
My camper is a "one off" and home made and wasn't wired for jacks. After doing the dance of running corner to corner, I'd had enough. I ran the wiring on the outside of the camper in metal electrical conduit so it blends in the the raw aluminum of the camper bottom. Paid full pop for the Reico jacks and hooked it all up. It looks very clean, you can hardly notice it and it make ALL of the difference in the world loading and unloading. Such a breeze to load the camper up and drop it that I wondered why the builder didn't prewire it in the first place.

I know this is an old post, but I just bought a travel lite camper that does not appear to be pre-wired for electric jacks (not sure what it looks like). Does anyone have a link on how to wire up Atwood electric jacks on a camper that was not pre-wired. I found the jacks for $1350 (plus shipping) for a set on eBay.
I have searched, but no luck yet.
Thanks.

[turboo]

Driftwood132 wrote:
I found 4 Atwood jacks on Craigslist ,the guy wanted 500 for them and even had a free ride to his town to pick them up. Even gave me the brackets for them .I did not need them ,I found out that Atwood and Rico used the same brackets so I did not need them. I had to wire them up ,these are not the wireless remote type ,but if I get my daughter to help we can have the TC off the truck in less then 5 min. Wiring them up was challenging .I just hated drilling small holes to run the wire. All in all I'm glad I bought them . I sold the manual ones to someone on here needing them for a TC he is restoring.

Good job! I'll keep an eye out

[Driftwood132]

I found 4 Atwood jacks on Craigslist ,the guy wanted 500 for them and even had a free ride to his town to pick them up. Even gave me the brackets for them .I did not need them ,I found out that Atwood and Rico used the same brackets so I did not need them. I had to wire them up ,these are not the wireless remote type ,but if I get my daughter to help we can have the TC off the truck in less then 5 min. Wiring them up was challenging .I just hated drilling small holes to run the wire. All in all I'm glad I bought them . I sold the manual ones to someone on here needing them for a TC he is restoring.

[Camp__Forrest__]

mountainkowboy wrote:
I went from pump jacks to electric.............I will NEVER go back.

We have hydraulics too. Raising them gets annoying. The nice thing is that they extend to the ground in a second and lowering the camper is super easy. Raising it from ground level takes about a week so it is either on the truck or on barrels.

[albackore]

For me, the upgrade to Electric Remote Jacks was the best investment so far. It makes putting the camper on the truck and taking it off that much easier. I don't even break a sweat! 🙂 If I know I'm travelling for more than 5 days or so, I remove the jacks to save some weight which I offset by other******I end up taking on those longer trips. I love them! I sold my four used manuals for $600 on Craigslist.

[FreeLanceing]

I fail to see the need, just more to go wrong. Extra weight as well. I admit I am a minimalist. I removed my roof top air and sold it. Put in a skylight. If I had electrics I would probably sell them too. I don't get the satalite dish on a camper either. I do need a toilet, shower, place to sleep. Beyound that I can do without. I do not have air at home either. I keep my house at 55 at night 62 on weekends in the winter. Just me and 2 dogs so I can have it my way. Its not about money as I pay for everything I buy no loans. I just buy what I really need, and do without the rest. I know I am in the minority, not going to change.

[turboo]

where can a person find some used jacks?

[gwwing2]

Being raised in Alaska and having to figure out solutions to challenges like this, I thought I had come up with maybe a way to power the jacks using corded drills with temporary mounting brackets. My wife, having had to listen to my whining about the jacks, strongly suggested to just get the power conversions and be done with it. So I found the set at Dyers http://www.dyersonline.com/rieco-titan-wireless-remote-electric-conversion-kit.html and the circuit breaker. $1287 total. Found another site for $10 less for the jacks but no circuit breaker. Should get these in a few days. Figured my temporary lash-up could be half to two thirds the cost if I went with Harbor Freight cheap. Might be hard to explain however, if I had to return a broken item and explain I was using it to elevate a camper. I think dropping the TC while using the improvised method to "save" some bucks would tend to make for an unpleasant day. Thanks for all the response on my questions. The reply's were informative and helpful.

Tim
Reno, NV

[Reddog1]

Sometimes it is cheaper to buy a older TC with Elec Jacks, switch the jacks and resale the TC you just bought.

I went whole hog. My TC (1988) had hydraulic jacks, when I bought it. I paid $1000 for the TC. I replaced the jacks with a Stable Lift ($2500). That was about eight years ago. I am still pleased with my lift.

Wayne

[adventureseeker]

My camper is a "one off" and home made and wasn't wired for jacks. After doing the dance of running corner to corner, I'd had enough. I ran the wiring on the outside of the camper in metal electrical conduit so it blends in the the raw aluminum of the camper bottom. Paid full pop for the Reico jacks and hooked it all up. It looks very clean, you can hardly notice it and it make ALL of the difference in the world loading and unloading. Such a breeze to load the camper up and drop it that I wondered why the builder didn't prewire it in the first place.

[hedge]

I'd like to do mine too but it isn't prewired, does that make it a non-starter or is it possible to fish the wires? Looks like it could be tough on the left corner where the shower stall is.

[jchall]

mountainkowboy wrote:
Used from $600 and up.....new $1300 and up.

I am in the same situation as gwwing and want to convert to electric jacks, but can't justify spending ~$1500.00 for a new electric conversion when I paid just a little more than twice that when I bought the camper 5 years ago. I have searched for used and haven't had any luck in finding them, where can I find used parts such as this?

[garryk6]

I have the hand crank reico Titan 2000 lb tripod jacks. Is there a electric conversion for the manual jacks? My jacks were new when I bought the TC...
Garry in Kodiak

[albackore]

Just did this last week on my Lance 825 TC.

Purchased it with Atwood manual jacks. The camper was pre-wired. Ended up buying a new set of Atwood Electrics with the Wireless Remote from PantherRV for about $1600. Last weekend I hand-cranked up my camper (for the last time), set it down inside my truck bed and began the swap out. It was much easier than I thought it would be other than the jacks being heavy. I installed the main controller and connected the wires with some shrink-wrap connectors. I did need to buy some heavier gauge wire to connect the power cable as it didn't quite reach to the block, but everything else went smoothly. I can now raise and lower any or all legs from a wireless remote. Oh, one of the main reasons I stayed with Atwoods even though they were a bit more pricey is that exterior power receptacles on the Lance are designed for Atwoods. The Happijacs (and maybe the Reico) have their own propriety connector and although it wouldn't have taken 'that' long to change out, it's just one more thing I would have had to do for the install.

Before I purchased the Atwoods, I did do some research on other brand jacks. One thing to note specifically for you if you are considering the Happijacs is that the company just came out with a new model which has a ZINC plated inner tube instead of the painted inner tube which has caused some problems from what I hear. The new model numbers are 4160, 4560, and 4660. The “60” on the end designates the new jacks. You can read about that here: http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/happijac-announces-next-generation--jacks/