LCI electric tongue jack - fix that worked for me - some oil

[eb145]

I have had lots of frustration with the LCI Electric Tongue Jack that came with my 2 year old trailer. It looks like this:



It was so unreliable. I found if I banged on the outer tube with a steel pipe it would usually work. Recently it has been getting worse and totally failing me.

I laid down to look at the bottom part when it was last stuck - I saw the inner tube that moved up and down was slightly corroded/chalky and it was binding against the outer tube it moved through because the angle the trailer was at. Hmmm.... so I sprayed the inner tube with WD-40 and life is good - at least the jack is now 100% reliable for me (for now).

For good measure I extended the jack and put a coating of motor oil on the outside of the whole inner tube.

I guess I'll hold off on my Barker upgrade for now.

Ed

[rigpig32]

I would be interested in buying the electric motor from someone who's jack has piled up in the threads, my motor piled up in mine but the jack itself is good

[8iron]

Dman1 wrote:

Cecilt wrote:

Dman1 wrote:
Knock on wood...since August 2010 with the LCI 3500 lb jack never covered or lubricated (per the manufacturers recommendations) no issues.

Knock on wood.

It will fail it's just a matter of when. Mine failed in a year. Since it was under warranty they sent a new one for free. used for a few months and had a bad feeling it would break. It just made a funny sound when extended further than 3/4 of its maximum length. Put on a Barker 3500 18" VIP and it has been perfect and trouble free.

Well, we'll just keep on going until it does fail. At least we can always crank it manually if need be. Anyone else out there with an LCI that has worked well for them? This will be my 4th summer. I'm sure there are some longer lasting ones out there?

The problem is that the threads are prone to strip out and the manual crank won't work either!

[Cecilt]

Dman1Well, we'll just keep on going until it does fail. At least we can always crank it manually if need be. Anyone else out there with an LCI that has worked well for them? This will be my 4th summer. I'm sure there are some longer lasting ones out there?

Don't be so sure of that. When mine failed it would not even manually crank. The inner shaft just moved up and down(had to use bungee cords to keep it from falling out). I was extremly lucky that mine broke when I was disconnecting in the storage lot and it had not put enough pressure on the block before breaking. I was on the ball and was able to get the block out. Drove it to my dealer for replacement. LCI is junk. Plenty of posts on here to support this. If you want my spare LCI I'll sell it to you for $50 + shippping. Works but I don't trust it.

[8iron]

d_yarnell wrote:
Got the jack appart tonight to find threads sheared from nut. The threads were stuck in thes screw shaft. I think I can fix it. Anyone else fixed one. Any ideas where to find a nut that will work?

My LCI jack had the same problem with the nut being stripped out and I too thought I could fix it. The problem is that the nut and threaded shaft are not normal threads. They are left handed Acme threads with an abnormal number of threads per inch. I looked and looked online and found nothing that would work short of replacing the rod and nut with a more common thread and having the top of the rod machined to fit the key chuck that goes into the motor assembly. The cost of doing this was about the same as a new Barker jack and at the end of the day I would still have a crappy LCI jack.

[youroo]

d_yarnell wrote:
Got the jack appart tonight to find threads sheared from nut. The threads were stuck in thes screw shaft. I think I can fix it. Anyone else fixed one. Any ideas where to find a nut that will work?

I think it will be hard to find a (NUT) to work on the (LCI) spaceman looking jacks. Most people replace these with a (Barker)jack before they (Go Nuts)! :B Youroo!!:)

[d_yarnell]

Got the jack appart tonight to find threads sheared from nut. The threads were stuck in thes screw shaft. I think I can fix it. Anyone else fixed one. Any ideas where to find a nut that will work?

[Dman1]

Cecilt wrote:

Dman1 wrote:
Knock on wood...since August 2010 with the LCI 3500 lb jack never covered or lubricated (per the manufacturers recommendations) no issues.

Knock on wood.

It will fail it's just a matter of when. Mine failed in a year. Since it was under warranty they sent a new one for free. used for a few months and had a bad feeling it would break. It just made a funny sound when extended further than 3/4 of its maximum length. Put on a Barker 3500 18" VIP and it has been perfect and trouble free.

Well, we'll just keep on going until it does fail. At least we can always crank it manually if need be. Anyone else out there with an LCI that has worked well for them? This will be my 4th summer. I'm sure there are some longer lasting ones out there?

[Cecilt]

Dman1 wrote:
Knock on wood...since August 2010 with the LCI 3500 lb jack never covered or lubricated (per the manufacturers recommendations) no issues.

Knock on wood.

It will fail it's just a matter of when. Mine failed in a year. Since it was under warranty they sent a new one for free. used for a few months and had a bad feeling it would break. It just made a funny sound when extended further than 3/4 of its maximum length. Put on a Barker 3500 18" VIP and it has been perfect and trouble free.

[Dman1]

Knock on wood...since August 2010 with the LCI 3500 lb jack never covered or lubricated (per the manufacturers recommendations) no issues.

Knock on wood.

[8iron]

d_yarnell wrote:
I have a 2011 bullet premier 31 bh with this jack. I have used the the electric jack maybe 40 times in all. All seems to work but doesn't move up or down. Just lucky I carry a bottle jack. LCI wants $282 to replace it. I am not putting their******on my camper and will tell every one I know to watch out for their junk

You are not alone my friend

[d_yarnell]

I have a 2011 bullet premier 31 bh with this jack. I have used the the electric jack maybe 40 times in all. All seems to work but doesn't move up or down. Just lucky I carry a bottle jack. LCI wants $282 to replace it. I am not putting their******on my camper and will tell every one I know to watch out for their junk

[rigpig32]

I have an LCI power jack on my trailer and it worked just fine for the first year and a half, then my wife tried to part the trailer from the truck and ended up over extending the jack, or so I thought, as it turns out after I bought a new Atwood jack, I took the LCI apart and found that the electric motor was full of water and seized. if i can find a replacement motor i can rebuild the jack and keep it for a spare or sell it. any ideas where i can get a replacement motor? TIA

[youroo]

youroo wrote:
Buy the Barker NOW,it is a LCI trick,it is only waiting for a Worse time to fail! PS,I have a LCI spaceman looking jack laying in my shop,we could mate them and have little LCI retards! Youroo!!:)

eb145,the offer to Breed the jacks is still open,after reading many posts on Jacks I know there is a market for (LCI Retard Jacks) :B Youroo!!

[eb145]

Yes, I always chock the wheels before unhooking from the truck. I don't want the trailer to roll.

Anyway, the Barker 3500 was flawless on this weekends trip (first January trip with the trailer for me).

Ed