Removing a 1969 jack

[Jamespio]

Tongue jack on my reno in progress Overlander is badly damaged, but giving me trouble on removal.

Sorry, I'm away from home and cannot find the photos I thought I took of this. So, I'm stuck with words.

I blieve this to be the original, manual jack for this trailer. It passes through the steel plate connecting the tip of the tongue (directly behind the coupler), and attaches to that steel plate with three nuts and bolts. I've removed the nuts and bolts, but cannot free the jack. It does not appear that it was welded, but I've jacked the trailer up on it, and then jumped on it with full weight, and the jack won't free.

What am I missing?

[Lumatic]

Probably just enough rust to glue it in place. It sounds like you have removed all attachment points. The hole where the trailer jack goes through the coupler is a tight fit. You might try jacking up the tongue so the tongue jack is clear and whacking the tube until it is free, WD 40 and /or a torch.

[Jamespio]

I've whacked at it a fair bit. I was starting to wonder whether I needed to apply some heat. If you were going to use a propane torch, where would you apply the heat? To the jack, or the plate it passes through?

[Lumatic]

Perhaps the damage to the jack has deformed the jack tube so that it is jammed.

I remember having a similar problem on my 71. I wondered if the jack was welded to the tongue. It was not, just really really stuck.

It you need a new jack anyway you could take the top off and unscrew the nut holding the threaded bar and the whole threaded bar should be loose allowing the inside of the jack to be removed. If you had access to a angle grinder with a cutting wheel you could cut the sucker off where the tube meets the coupler. Then you could make some vertical cuts in the tube where it goes through the coupler and continue with a hammer and chisel to get it loose. I have never done this. Maybe someone has a better idea.

Alternatively, once you get the guts out of the tongue jack you could use another jack on the A frame of the tongue to hitch up until you can get to a place with some power tools. After my experience I always carry a bottle jack for this contingency.

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by Jamespio

If you were going to use a propane torch, where would you apply the heat? To the jack, or the plate it passes through?

Jack first, coupler last in case the heat softens the coupler steel.

[sfavreau]

By any chance , are the chains still there ? you must take the ring holding them off the jack post (there is a screw)

[mrdfred]

Check to see if there is 2 plates which the jack tube goes thru. I had a similar problem, the top plate's hole was slightly larger than the lower plate. The jack was slightly bent and would not come out of the lower plate's hole. I eventually used a block of wood on the top plate, sprayed plenty of WD-40 on the jack tube and really hammered on the block of wood until it released. Once clear of the lower hole, it came out of the top easily. Hope this helps.