Airstream Newbie Needing Advice Please

[StephenBell]

Hello,

I am borrowing a great classic (77) airstream for a photo shoot this weekend and unfortunately the owner is about as knowledgeable as me.

2 questions:

The automatic jack in the front is not working. My guess is this may be due to a dead battery as the trailer has sat for a good year I'm told. Is this the likely problem and would charging the battery solve it? I'm told the battery was new.

The legs (sorry, I'm sure there is a more technical term) in the back are down and I can't quite figure out how to get them up?

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

- Steve

[Randy Gates]

Sorry to hear of your plight! The front jack usually can be cranked by hand. If it is an electric jack find the crank handle or pick one up and do it manually. My 1968 Globetrotter has no power to my new jack also. Just another thing to track down and fix. Plug in the coach and see if the battery kicks up enough to operate the rear jacks. I assume they are powered jacks. I keep my manuals in my coach, check the closet storage you never know.
Randy

[Splitrock]

My 1976 will get power for the tongue jack by plugging it in to 110 volt power, having a charged coach battery, or plugging the 7-way into the tow vehicle that has a 12 volt power line.

The leveling jacks are raised and lowered with a socket on the head of the jack screw bolt. I use a socket in a battery drill but a socket on a speed handle will work too. Trial and error to figure out which way to turn the rod.

Gary

[longdog]

If you have an electric jack on the front, I think you can power it if you plug the trailer in to shore power using an extension cord, or if you plug it in to your tow vehicle. If neither of those options works, you can take the cover off the jack and crank it by hand, using the crank that (hopefully) is somewhere in the trailer (mine is in the bumper storage).

The rear stabilizers also crank up with a crank (a different one than the jack), that should be somewhere nearby. I have seen similar cranks used to lower the spare tire on some SUV's. By the way, the stabilizers shouldn't be used to support the weight of the trailer. They are cranked down until they have a couple of pounds of resistance on the ground, to reduce sway in the trailer.

[StephenBell]

Thank you all for the advice. I did see in the manual about the hand crank but couldn't find it. I'm going to go out and search again for it now, just in case charging the battery or plugging it in doesn't work.

And I'll take a closer look at the back jacks and see if I can figure out how to bring those down.

I'll let you know if I have any other questions. Thank you very much for your generosity!!!

[DaveFL]

RichHog probably can answer all of your questions, he used to have one very similar.

[Aviator]

The rear "jacks" are stabilizers. They are raised an lowered by turning a rod with a large "bolt" type head which is above each stabilizer snug against the body of the trailer. There should be a stabilizer at each corner. There also should be a "speed wrench" in the roadside aft exterior storage compartment (at least that is where ours is stored) Good Luck