Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Broken Tongue Jack

[LaunchnRetrieve]

So I'm up early.
I hitch the trailer to the truck.
And as I leave the storage facility, a big scrape.
I know I need new shocks, so maybe the rear end is lower than usual.
Nope. This idiot forgot to raise the tongue jack all the way.:M
So I have a bent lower half.
It's Sunday. Of course it's Sunday. Why would I do this on a day when parts and help are available.
OK, enough sniveling.
What are my options?
I'm in Santa Rosa right now trying to get to Marysville.
Do I leave the jack as far up as it will go and watch out for driveway dips and fix the jack another day?
Or do I cancel my Sunday/Monday weekend and fix it Monday?
Is it as simple as it looks? 3 bolts? Or does this turn into an internal parts assembly required nightmare for the mechanically inexperienced? It's a standard sidewind tongue jack.
2003 Prowler 25J

[Clockman]

I actually had a Jetski trailer that the jack unscrewed itself while I was driving down the highway, it was bent bad by the time I had reached my destination, and had a shop sawsall it off, then fixed it when I got home..It had a horizontal mounted handle do it was possible for it to unscrew itself...

[RVcircus]

I installed a Jack-e-up over the summer and it works great. With an 1/8th of a turn I can remove the jack when driving. Our driveway is a jack killer and I was sick of removing those 3 bolts everytime I went in or our of our driveway.

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/jack-e-up-removable-jack-bracket-black/77463

[westend]

Attaboy!

[LaunchnRetrieve]

OK, the jack fiasco is over!
I'll spare you the details, but it's been a 10 hour day on the road for a trip that normally takes 3.5 hours. I did, however, get the problem resolved with a part from Camping World in Vacaville. Ian in parts department made it happen. And with all of you holding my hand I didn't give up after multiple dead ends. Thanks to you all.

[CavemanCharlie]

PeteK-Hou wrote:

LaunchnRetrieve wrote:
OK, the box wrench and a big piece of wood loosened my nuts.

That would do it for me too..

Ha Ha , that did make me laugh

I wonder if it is possible to screw these jacks all the way down until the bottom end of the jack comes off????

If so the OP could have jacked up the TT with a bottle, or floor jack, to get the TT off of the bumper and then simply kept turning the jack out until it fell apart. Then he could have removed the top part easily.

[PeteK-Hou]

LaunchnRetrieve wrote:
OK, the box wrench and a big piece of wood loosened my nuts.

That would do it for me too..

[the_happiestcam]

I did this at a CG entrance with our old camper. Jacked it up to remove the WDH bars (didn't realize you could back up with these on) and forgot to put it back down. At least the CG had been cutting down some trees, and there were logs everywhere. Rolled a large one under the tongue then used the car jack to raise it off the ball. Almost perfectly level.
NOTE - take the tongue jack with you to make sure the holes line up. I ended up having to do two trips because of this - first one was wrong, and the only one that matched was an electric. I do miss having that electric jack.

[LaunchnRetrieve]

OK it's bedtime and up early for a 2 hour drive to nearest campingworld with the jack. Nobody had a jack to fit today.
Camping world is on the way to the new storage place so everything is good.
Hopefully the new jack will slide into the old hole and it will be good as new again.
Thanks for all your help and support.
A simple problem kept simple with your help.

[West_Coast_Canu]

Get a hand grinder with a metal cut off wheel. works great!

[LarryJM]

DougE wrote:
Your car jack should be able to lift the tongue. Otherwise a cheap bottle jack from the nearest big box store.

PLEASE BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL if you do this. Using a non tongue mounted jack can easily slip off and sever toes, crush feet, etc.

Larry

[TomG2]

Use the opportunity to upgrade to an electric jack. A great improvement, especially for those with arthritis.

[jmtandem]

So I'm up early.
I hitch the trailer to the truck.
And as I leave the storage facility, a big scrape.
I know I need new shocks, so maybe the rear end is lower than usual.
Nope. This idiot forgot to raise the tongue jack all the way.
So I have a bent lower half.
It's Sunday. Of course it's Sunday. Why would I do this on a day when parts and help are available.
OK, enough sniveling.
What are my options?
I'm in Santa Rosa right now trying to get to Marysville.
Do I leave the jack as far up as it will go and watch out for driveway dips and fix the jack another day?
Or do I cancel my Sunday/Monday weekend and fix it Monday?
Is it as simple as it looks? 3 bolts? Or does this turn into an internal parts assembly required nightmare for the mechanically inexperienced? It's a standard sidewind tongue jack.
2003 Prowler 25J

You are not the first one to do that. I beat you to that punch. Cut the lower bent part and be on your way. You can always jack up the trailer tongue with any other jack like a bottle jack. I ended up replacing the entire unit later when convenient. Not a big deal.

[DougE]

Your car jack should be able to lift the tongue. Otherwise a cheap bottle jack from the nearest big box store.

[LaunchnRetrieve]

westend wrote:
Why are you trying to put the bent jack back in? If you've bent the tongue around the mounting hole, you'll need to straighten that back to original.

lol because I don't have a jack to raise the trailer to put back on the truck so that I can drive to Vacaville to get new jack. I pulled it out to see if I needed to rent a sawzall to cut the bent part. And realized too late that I should have waited until I could leave trailer on truck overnight. :S