Power tongue jack question

[12rvjoe]

Our trailer is in storage now and I would like to lower the front a little to help the snow and water run off easier. My question is if I hook up the 7 pin from my truck to the trailer will it power the jack, the trailer battery is removed. Also does anyone know the socket size needed to lower it manually ...

Thanks,Joe

[engine31]

I was thinking through this very same issue myself not too long ago as my battery had run low, it took my 10 year old about 5 seconds to say "dad why don't you use the crank that came with it"!:S

[APT]

Use the manual crank! Every electric jack I've seen has one. Usually a standard size socket will do.

[facory]

The simplest way to lower the trailer a little is to use the hand crank. It won't take much effort to lower the tongue. Quick & easy. Forget about all the electric issues.

[12rvjoe]

Thanks everyone I was able to lower it manually with the same socket as the leveling jacks ..... 🙂

Joe

[boosTT]

Just use the manual over ride. Going down does not take much effort.

[canoe_on_top]

Jumper cables from the truck BATTERY?

[scbwr]

Why not just take a fully charged battery with you and hooh it up? Adjust traier pitch, remove battery and take it back home.

[rdrector]

Well, after looking into this more, I can see were there is a potential for an issue with the truck wiring. Call it luck I guess never having an issue. I think I will consider this in the future now.

[rdrector]

((Careful - a tongue jack can pull 20-30A under load. This is more current than the 12V vehicle-trailer wiring can handle. Obviously this shouldn't be an issue since you're LOWERING the tongue, but it could be if you overshoot or decide to adjust it back upwards.

Might it be easier to simply pull out the manual crank for the jack and not bother with the motor, if you're only dropping it a few inches?))

Not to be smart, but I don't recall hearing of this ever being an issue before. Many raise and lower their jacks all the time pulling in and out of campgrounds daily while plugged into the vehicle wiring. I have done it for years on multiple vehicles and can't say that I ever had a problem that I was aware of. Being that the truck wiring is on a fusible link anyhow, I would want to think if there was a potential dangerous excessive load draw on the wiring; then the fuse protection should kick in. I see what you are leading to, I just would think the only concern would be to continue to extend or retract the jack after it's physical distance allows causing an excessive draw.

[Timtation]

Second half of the question, socket size. Mine has a connector, seems it is not a socket, memory fails with specifics.

[GordonThree]

edit... -jinx- 🙂

ditto the above post

[rider997]

12rvjoe wrote:
Our trailer is in storage now and I would like to lower the front a little to help the snow and water run off easier. My question is if I hook up the 7 pin from my truck to the trailer will it power the jack, the trailer battery is removed. Also does anyone know the socket size needed to lower it manually ...

Thanks,Joe

Careful - a tongue jack can pull 20-30A under load. This is more current than the 12V vehicle-trailer wiring can handle. Obviously this shouldn't be an issue since you're LOWERING the tongue, but it could be if you overshoot or decide to adjust it back upwards.

Might it be easier to simply pull out the manual crank for the jack and not bother with the motor, if you're only dropping it a few inches?

[rdrector]

Depends how your jack is wired. Some are wired off the battery, and if the battery is missing then obviously it is disco'd. Some are wired internaly then your 7 pin would be ok.

Although even with the battery missing, and the jack wiring is there you can jumper the the battery leads coming out of the trailer to the jack leads then plug your 7 pin in.

Basically you can make it work very easily either way.