Rieco Titan Elect. Jack Leg Dis-assembly and/or Repair

[Carb_Cleaner]

Went to raise my camper the other night and one jack wouldn't operate, producing the click-click-click noise of the clutch release. The leg is neither fully extended, nor fully retracted, but it's the sound the motor/clutch makes when the extremes of operation limits are reached. I swapped the motor from the in-op leg to another leg and the motor works well, raising and lowering the test leg. The nice lady I talked to at Rieco Titan said I have a bent leg. The manual over-ride feature, using a 3/8 ratchet, is very, very stiff, but the in-op leg will go up and down. I needed a breaker bar on my 3/8" ratchet to turn the over-ride. That's how very stiff it is to operate. My 1/2" electric impact gun, wouldn't move it, at all. I didn't try my pneumatic impact gun. I created a blister on my hand man-handling the breaker bar to lower the jack about 2 inches. I work with my hands every day, and I don't consider them "soft", but holy moly it was tough to spin that ratchet.
So, since it's already broken, I can't hurt it. I'd like to take the leg assembly apart, if for no other reason than to see what-all is in there. I expect to see a long screw. Are there any springs or tension/compression devises I should be aware of? I may, or may not, be able to repair the leg, but I'd like to, at least, make a learning experience out of a jack that'll cost a few hundred bucks to replace.
By the way, it's a rear jack, so I managed with the 3 good jacks to get the camper on the truck Thursday evening for a Friday afternoon departure. Changed the wheels on the cargo trailer and got it hooked to the truck Thursday after work, as well, ready to load the bikes. Then, when I got home after a 14 hour day on Friday, at 9PM, the truck had a flat. Pumped it up, and it was still good Saturday morning (too cautious and tired to leave Friday night). Must have got a piece of dirt in the tire's fill (Shrader) valve when I verified tire pressure on Thursday evening. I checked the weather for our destination, and aborted the trip at 6AM Saturday morning. It just wasn't worth all the effort and drama for a 200 mile trip (one way) when we could only stay for two nights and rain was expected. We took the Harleys out on Saturday, instead, and had a fantastic day riding local. Dang shame to miss the Blue Ridge Parkway, though, and the campground is keeping my $150 deposit (made reservations in February for 3 nights). We had a good weekend, and I feel I made the right decision. Tire is still holding pressure. Stupid tire. Stupid jack.
Any suggestions about the jack, are welcome. I know the replacement jack leg is part #56312-W, single electric jack leg without motor, in white.
I hope everybody else's camping endeavors went well this weekend, and thanks to all the Veterans!

[canyonwren]

I had one of the jacks fall apart when the truck was sitting in my driveway. Looked up on internet and found that older versions have failed quite often. Called Reco and was told that it couldn't be repaired and had to be replaced. Not being a great mechanic, I purchased the replacement. Once I received the part I took the broken one off and looked it over. I believe it could be repaired and will try to do so if any of the other three fall apart.

This is the inner tube assembly:



This is the area at the top of the assembly:



This is the screw mechanism:



Hope this is some help.

[Carb_Cleaner]

Pics. Absolutely. I hope others learn something, too.
Perhaps, I'll run it through the band saw, length-wise, for a cross-section view. LOL

[Reality_Check]

Interested also... I've had the motors apart, not much to them. Got one that grinds loudly and can't figure it out. Going to send that one back.

I suspect it's coil rod (Acme thread) or similar, and like you, assume it's pretty straight forward. Take pictures... because I can't offer any thing about what to expect.

Agree; the manual on these things is brutal, even for those that spend their life wrenching/swinging hammers, etc. Had to do it once; it just laughed at the Hilti impacts. Never tried a pneumatic either.

Nice post.. glad the weekend worked out for you.