Help! One of my jacks won't retract or extend!

[RamblinAnne]

So I've had issues with my happijacs since day 1. It's partially my own fault - I never properly cared for them. One in particular always seizes up and I have to bust out the manual crank. It's a pain but it works. Except for today. When going to raise the camper up so that I could load it on to the truck, even the manual crank failed. I was going at it and I felt the gear slip and now it just spins and spins and does not lower down or raise up. What do I do??

I took the motor off but can't really get to the actual jack mechanism without taking the whole jack off the the camper. Which I can't do since the camper is not supported by the truck. (I do have it supported by some homemade saw horses - 2 EAZlift telescoping jacks with some 2x4s going across to support).

Most importantly, I want to get the camper back on the truck ASAP. I will feel a lot more comfortable working on the jacks once the camper is on the truck. My biggest fear is being stuck somewhere and not being able to take my home with me so first things first, I gotta get the camper on the truck. But how do I do this with only 3 working jacks?? (It's the front right jack that isn't working).

Any prompt advice would be much appreciated! If you can't tell, I'm slightly panicked by the idea that the two pieces of my home won't come together. Thanks everyone!

[Grit_dog]

OMG, that’s the advice that is sooo weird about this site......
OP has a bad FRONT jack and the camper won’t stand on 1 front jack period end of story unless ya seriously ballasted in the rear.

[Eric_Lisa]

RamblinAnne wrote:

2- Am I REALLY okay raising up the camper on 3 legs only?

Happens all the time for me. When lowering, the left rear always retracts quicker than the other three, so I end up on three legs. I wouldn't go climbing around in it that way, and I will lower that leg back down before moving the truck or anything.

I wouldn't do it routinely, but if I was in a pinch I would feel safe raising it on three legs and carefully slipping the truck underneath.

IIRC, early campers only had three legs.

HTH,
-Eric

[Bedlam]

You can keep your HappiJac controller and wire in new Rieco Titan or Atwood jacks on all four corners. Both of the other brands are more reliable than your current ones, but both will require you drill new holes in your camper brackets due to different spacing and replacing square to round clamps in the lower rear mounts.

[CAJW]

Camco EAZ Lifts are rated at 5,000 lbs. per pair, so yes, you should be fine using those for temporary support, but as noted above, using a wider board (i.e. 2x12) would help distribute the weight. Reico-Titan replacements would be my recommendation, but be aware that the gearing ( rate of raising/lowering) may be different than your existing Happy jacks. It would mean you’d have to toggle between the two different brands to play catch up to keep the camper level.

[JimK-NY]

If you are in a hurry, you might want to try Tweety's. Last year when I was in a hurry, they shipped the same day and I had them in less than 48 hours. The sales rep explained the changes and the new part number.

[Grit_dog]

The other 3 jacks won’t hold up the camper unless it’s extremely heavy in back. Check it out by trying to raise the other front jack 99% chance the camper just tips to that corner.
Since it’s off the truck, you can raise the corner you need to by jacking up under the front corner on the bottom that sits in the bed.
I removed a front Jack this way. I just used a floor jack and a post with a good sized board on top to distribute the load on that corner. It seemed very stable not sketchy. Caveat, it was on level concrete.
Honestly, I’d first take the motor off and see if you can fix the shear pin, but if the worm gear is really corroded it may not move.

[RamblinAnne]

Grit dog wrote:
Unless you know how to repair it, want to tear it apart and learn the quickest and easiest way I surmise is buy a new jack, jack up that front corner and replace it.
Or jack up 2 corners and swap one from the rear.
That’s a bit more risky as I’ve not loaded ours with only 3 jacks. I just know it will float a rear jack regularly and seems to support well that way.

When you say "jack up that front corner", how do I go about doing that? What kind of jack do I need to lift just that one corner? Is it better to just raise the other 3 to get that one off the ground and support it underneath with my telescoping jacks? These things are rated for 6,000 lbs but they scare me a bit. Especially because I have them in their extended-most position.

[RamblinAnne]

Thanks for your responses guys.. I've calmed down a bit but I have couple of questions. For the record - I'm at work, where I live on-site. So I DO have the time to keep the camper stationary and work on it but I have a real paranoia about not being able to pick up and go at any moment. So the sooner the better for this.

1- if I take the busted jack leg off AND another to swap it out, am I okay to have it sit like this? With two legs off? I have those EAZlifts underneath like I said, but is this enough support? They only hold up the flat belly of the camper and don't go back to the overhang or out to the side as far as the jacks do. I'm guessing the best jack to take off to replace would be the back-left (the front-right is the busted one).

2- Am I REALLY okay raising up the camper on 3 legs only?

3- I might be too chicken to risk this and since I seem to always have issues with the front jacks, I might just need to suck it up and replace them. But I have concerns about sticking with HappiJac. Should I just invest in a whole new system? Or should I just buy two new front happijacs? Cost is definitely a concern and while I technically can afford a new system, I am really trying to save money. What do you guys think? 2 new Happijacs? 4 new Reico-Titans (I've heard better things)? Stable-lift (don't love the look or the price but intrigued by ease of loading)?

[Grit_dog]

Unless you know how to repair it, want to tear it apart and learn the quickest and easiest way I surmise is buy a new jack, jack up that front corner and replace it.
Or jack up 2 corners and swap one from the rear.
That’s a bit more risky as I’ve not loaded ours with only 3 jacks. I just know it will float a rear jack regularly and seems to support well that way.

[Grit_dog]

So it’s unloaded and you’re in some random spot that need to load it back up now or???
Agree you can use one of the rear jacks in front. Likely anyway. Mine will raise on 3 jacks.
You don’t need to have it on the truck to remove a jack.
You cannot move it with one missing front jack. And you cannot load it without both front jacks. Either jack up that front corner a bit and remove and replace that jack (from a rear jack if it will hold or a new one) or repair the one in place if possible.
Check what bedlam said probably the shear pin if you let them get corodded up.

[bigfootgrey]

We had lots of problems with our 4600 jacks. Finally replaced both fronts with 4800 ‘s. They are a bit longer than the 4600’s and greater lifting capacity. Check with happijac for rebuilt vs new. When Gary was still there he helped us out. Don’t know who does his job now. If you can get the 4800’s it’s worth it

[JimK-NY]

I only load and unload about once a year. As I understand it lack of use is hard on the jacks. I have also never tried to lube them. Last year trying to load for a trip, I also had one jack fail. I ordered two jacks. They arrived within a couple of days. Replacing the broken jack took only a half hour or so. I now have a spare just in case.

BTW, you should have no problem using the 3 good jacks to raise the camper and allow you to replace the broken jack. Just don't wait until you have two fail.

[wnjj]

If you can support the camper enough, take one from the back and put it where the broken one is. You should be able to load with 2 front and 1 rear jack but not the other way around.

[KKELLER14K]

Clickey

[Bedlam]

There is a shear pin between the jack leg and gear. You must have snapped it when cranking so hard. You wil need to use the three other jacks to get the camper high enough so you can load it on the truck or shore it up higher on the saw horses. Then you can take the bad jack off and see if it can be fixed or you need to replace it.