Electr. Tongue Jack Wiring??

[roessler]

The wiring has been altered so it doesn't connect to anything; some additional wiring has been wire-nutted to the leads, so there is now about 4 ft of each wire. I can operate the jack up and down by jumpering to the leads from a battery, but this isn't satisfactory for a permanent arrangement. Something odd, one of the wires has voltage on it, it will spark when brush it against a ground. Is there some concealed wiring that isn't apparent?

There are a separate pair of wires coming out the front on the curb side of the tongue A-frame, they also aren't connected to anything, just coiled up with forked terminals on the end; don't find any voltage across them.

Any ideas on what should be connected to what?

Another comment/question: would like to get a copy of the service and maintenance manual, however the Owner's manual received from Secretarial Service has poor quality illustrations, as mentioned in an earlier post elsewhere in these forums. Is the service/maint. manual of similar low-quality?

[thenewkid64]

I cannot answer the question regarding the "what wire goes where". I can tell you that I have seen varying quality on the manuals and I think it is due to the originals. They have some original manuals and some copys. It really is dependent on what they have as a master. You could always post a wanted in the for sale or wanted forum here as well as on the vintage site. Also if there is a big rally near you you can check out the Flea Market. I got a 77 original factory service manual for $10.00 at one.

Good luck on the wiring.

[uwe]

You should check and see what brand your jack is, if it is an H&H brand, they are made by Barker mfg.
Barker has a wiring diagram on their website, as wellas the instruction for setting the jack to top dead center. I had to rebuild mine, replace the wiring and micro switches, and their manual was extremely helpful.
The extra wiring you see might be for a brakeaway switch ( law in California) for the electric trailer brake, but it is best to investigaste first. I am finding the wiring in my 71 quite simple so far, so it should not be a big problem to get it figured out.
Please don't try and put wires to ground to check for voltage - sparks and flame near propane tanks are bad news. A grounded 12V wire can cause your rig to go up in flames faster than you can say "damn"!, especially if the previous owner has done away with fuses or modified the wiring in a substandard way. Please be safe!
UWE

[83Excella]

A service manual would have a wiring diagram, Secretarial services is the only place to get one unless you find one on ebay or for sale somewhere. LP GAS AND LIVE WIRES WILL KILL YOU IN AN INSTANT IF THERE IS ANY GAS AROUND, the trailer is replacable your not, if need be remove the gas bottles and cap off the lines on the trailer.

John

[Jim W]

My 77/31' has a Atwood jack. It only has one wire. The installation part of the service manual says to " Connect the 12 gauge lead-wire directly to hot lead at break-a-way switch" Hope this helps.

[uwe]

Hi Jim,

You're right, most jacls only have one wire feeding 12V to it, but inside the evil little cap on top of the jack, there are all sorts of surprises. Mine has 2 limit switches and several short lenght of wires in it, which were totally messed up when I got the trailer. I get the downloaded the manual from barkermfg.com and repaired my H&H jack.
On many jacks you must remove the head cover to use the hand crank. Mine is of that variety. The previous owner apparently used the hand crank more than the power jack, therefore the motor and jack were out of sync, not functioning properly.
Uwe

[davidz71]

I'd say that the 2 wires dangling down below with forked terminals go straight to your control panel for roadside/curbside LPG level meter. My '77 Excella 500 has a white wire and a black wire with ring terminals that used to connect to a gauge on the valve for each of my 40 gal. tanks. One tank was changed to an OPD but the other tank still has the old valve on it. Good luck finding an OPD valve with a gauge on it.

[FrankR]

More info needed.......
year, length, model, batteries, any wire colors, wire sizes.....

Wiring diagram from 1979 31 ft Land Yacht factory manual

[FrankR]

And more.......
12 volt exterior

[FrankR]

Fuses 12 volt circuits

[FrankR]

The unidentified wires maybe for propane or breakaway brakes... Wire size is important.......

Converter......drawing

[roessler]

Frank.........

Thanks for the illustrations, however nothing looks like whats in my 1976 31 ft Excella 500 with center bath. I have solved the power jack wiring, and think the suggestion that the other two wires are for propane tank level indicators are probably correct. The tanks don't have any level devices for the wires to connect to, but I can live with that.

Thanks to everyone that has responded.

Ramon

[davidz71]

Ramon,
If your control panel has the roadside/curbside rocker for LPG level, press it to one side for a reading then the other. Mine are not connected to the tanks and when I press the rocker to either side, the needle flies to the FULL side of the gauge.