Super Jack Failure

[Adiredneck]

There has been quite a few threads and posts on jacks this week; and, unfortunately, now I get to add mine...

While in a campground, a large pine that overhung my AS was giving me a lot of concern as it was clearly rotted out at the base. Campground manager agreed, and we arranged to move my trailer yesterday while he cut down the tree. Hitched up and moved OK, but after I got it back in my spot and was trying to unhitch, the H&H Super Jack made a terrible grinding noise, and the hitch dropped about a foot (it had not cleared the hitch ball, so did not drop to the ground).

I tried raising it, but it again made a grinding sound, came up a couple inches and crunched back down. After that, the motor would run smoothly, but no action in raising or lowering the jack whatsoever.

I looked at the schematic, and noticed a shear-pin that connected the motor/gearing to the pedestal shaft in an easy-to-get-to place. I always hope for the cheap, easy fix. Alas, no; the pin was fine.

I called Barker Engineering, and spoke to a fellow named Bob who said it sounded like I had stripped out the fixed nut/flange that the worm gear went through to lift and lower the pedestal. Unfortunately, the pedestal is a complete sealed unit, and has to be replaced as such. The new part is being overnighted to me on Monday; and I was able to lift the tongue with a bottle jack to unhitch the TV and set the tongue back down on some cinder blocks.

Anyone have a similar occurrence with a Super Jack? I can't think of anything I did that might have broken or weakened it; with the possible exception of having to lift the tongue and back of the TV up quite a bit to put on the bars for the Equalizer WD hitch. I don't *think* that exceeded 3500 lbs, but I don't know...

PS - Tongue weight usually runs 950 - 1000 lbs on my AS

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I understand the whole "lift the entire truck" thing with the hitch you have. Rough math:

My trailer might go up by a hundred pounds or so lifting it a few feet. Let's call that 200 lb.

My truck weighs in at about 7,000 lb. A bit over half of that is on the front axle. I likely have 3,000 lb on the back axle.

If I take the entire back of the truck up off the ground (rear tires in the air) I'd be lifting 3,000 lb (sort of, geometry messes this up a bit). Let's call it 2500 lb and move on.

I don't get the tries off the ground, the rear axle and drive are all still on the ground. About all I'm lifting is the truck structure and frame. Let's say that's about 1/3 of the total.

Net, if I go crazy, I'm lifting about 2,000 lb. It might be 3,000 but I really doubt that it is. To get to 4,000 I'd have to get the rear tires off the ground. That never happens.

Is that rough math with quite a few holes in it? - sure. Is it close enough? I think it is.

Bob

[Adiredneck]

Bob,

I was thinking along the same lines as your rough math. My TV weighs in heavier, as it is a Ram 3500 Crew Cab Long Bed, and at full travel weight coming up on this trip the CAT scale showed 4900lbs on front axle, 5760lbs on rear, and 6540lbs on trailer axles. I've weighed my tongue several times with my Sherline scale when loaded, and it usually comes in around 950 - 1,000lbs. After I've set the hitch on the ball, and raise it to put on the Equalizer bars, even if I figure in the 1,000lb tongue weight, I don't think that I'm putting another ton or more on to lift the hitch that extra 6 inches. Can't really say for sure, though...

Might just be that Loki decided my camping life was going too smoothly, and decided to strip a gear or two.

Still curious if anyone has had a similar failure...

Tim

[Mollysdad]

My biased conclusions.
1. a 3500 lb jack is not made to lift 3500 lb. Why did they call it that? Because it's bigger than the 2500 lb. one they sold.
2. A bottle jack is a valuable accessory.
3. I'm still a fan of wood blocks. JIK.

[Adiredneck]

Yup. I had some blocking; getting more and adding a stout bottle jack to the onboard toolbox!

[paiceman]

We have used 4x4 wood blocks for over 40 years. Jack seldom needs to move more than a foot or so to reach the blocks. Seems to make a difference.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I guess I find it a bit tough to see how blocks impact the ability of the jack's lift mechanism to handle weight. Lifting 10" or 20" places the same strain on the gears and post either way. As long as the net impact is 20" in the air the net load is equal.

Indeed not using the tongue jack and using something else is an option. I guess that you could go grab a bottle jack and use it every time you hooked up or unhitched. That seems like a major PIA.

I suspect that if your 5,000 lb jack is only rated to lift 2,000 lb, there is a note somewhere that says so. That note should be pretty easy to find. If it's not, they are vulnerable in a whole lot of ways. At the very least I'd think the competition would have a bunch of fun pointing it out. A quick Google search shows a bunch of the electric jack people specifically stating "lift capacity" when they talk about some number of thousand pounds.

Bob

[jcanavera]

Any kind of extension leg or block under the jack tube will lessen the amount of run time necessary to get the trailer to it's desired height. My new replacement jack has an extension tube foot that I can pre-adjust up or down prior to extending the jack. Quite honestly that takes away some wear and tear on the components.

In my case I have a 3/4 ton van and based on my driveway layout the van is blocking a portion of the street when I'm hooking up. This means I have to have the van packed are ready to go prior to hitching. Since I'm carrying hundreds of pounds of medical supplies, a transportation scooter for Patty, grill, generator, tools, and ground cover all in the back of the van, my jack gets a heavy workout to get the trailer and van pitched high enough to slide on my load/sway bars for my Equal-i-zer hitch. While I'm not picking the wheels up off the ground, the load is considerable. I firmly believed that with the heavy hitch weight of the Classic slide out and the full van, my super jack was probably subjected to a lot more stress which led to it's failure.

To that end I chose to go with a Husky Super Brute 5000 which is rated about 44% more capacity than the super-jack. Not only is it using screw/ball bearing technology which I believe is superior, but the components are rated for 5,000 lbs. And to put the icing on the cake it was $100 cheaper than a replacement super jack. Personally I'd recommend that if you are considering replacing a failed jack, going with a larger capacity while maybe not necessary, might give you longevity, since those jack components will be working at a much lower wear level than what they were designed for.

Jack

[Adiredneck]

Supposedly Barker has shipped the replacement post today with overnight shipping. I'll put the new post in and see how it performs - might even try putting the Equalizer bars on and off a couple times, even though I'm not going anywhere. If it seems like it is straining, I may just go ahead and order that 5,000lb jack.

I'm planning on being in this campsite for at least the next month, so now is the time to test and experiment - and prevent another failure when I'm in the boondocks somewhere!

Thanks to all for your comments and feedback!

Tim

[devilsbox]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

To that end I chose to go with a Husky Super Brute 5000 which is rated about 44% more capacity than the super-jack. Not only is it using screw/ball bearing technology which I believe is superior, but the components are rated for 5,000 lbs. And to put the icing on the cake it was $100 cheaper than a replacement super jack. Personally I'd recommend that if you are considering replacing a failed jack, going with a larger capacity while maybe not necessary, might give you longevity, since those jack components will be working at a much lower wear level than what they were designed for.

Jack

On my 2017 27FB Flying Cloud the jack is right up against the propane tank case. My concern if replacing would be the super brute not fitting in there.

Larry