Anyone use their drill to fully raise/lower the ProPride 3P jacks?

[JeffRadford]

Hey all,

Curious what others are doing when it comes to raising and lowering the jacks on the ProPride 3P hitch.

I’ve been using my Ryobi P214 18V drill with a socket adapter to speed things up, but it tends to run out of steam once the tension gets stronger near the top of the lift. At that point, I end up finishing it off manually with the ratchet. Not a huge deal, but I’d love to use the drill from start to finish — it’s just faster and way easier.

Before I invest in a stronger drill or impact driver, I wanted to ask:
• Is anyone here fully raising/lowering the jacks using a cordless drill only?
• Any risk of damaging the internal bearings or mechanisms in the jacks by doing this?
• Would love to know what drill models folks are using and if you’ve had any long-term issues.

Thanks in advance — just trying to make the hitching process a little less sweaty!

[TitusNW]

I use a Makita 18v on the low speed but I also tension the jacks before I drop the trailer jack. I don't know if I've fully tensioned after dropping the trailer jack.

Steve

[TitusNW]

When I was 10-12 yrs old and traveling with my grandparents it was my job to connect the weight distribution bars. I wasn't strong enough to get the chains hooked up unless I used the trailer jack to raise the trailer tongue a bit. If you drill doesn't have enough umph to do the job currently, you can raise the trailer a couple of inches which should give the drill enough advantage to finish the job.
Steve

[rodsterinfl]

I use a Rigid power drill 18v on low with a camco attachment- 11 years with ProPride. I get the hitch attached to the truck using the breaker bar and stinger then raise the hitch and back of truck up higher than normal using the power jack on the trailer. I premarked my breaker bar to the height needed for the jacks. I lift one jack using the drill until the outer jack housing edge is about halfway up to the mark while holding the breaker bar beside the jack vertically; do the other side then switch again until I reach the mark. Then I lower the truck and trailer onto the weight bearing hitch. There is no strain at all on or with the drill.

P.S. I dialed/tweaked the jack height by getting truck and trailer on flat ground, measuring all heights of the wheel wells at center, from ground before hitching up, then hitching up and correcting for rear sag with hitch jack adjustment. I am 1/8" above original position unhitched on my front wheel well measures on my current tow vehicle setup (Fords should never be adjusted below original measure or it can cause suspension damage). That is my maximum setting for my truck. My previous truck would dial in only to about a 1/4" higher. The front wheels are really the limiter because on Fords, you are not to go lower. It takes out most squat at that setting on the rear as well. The goal is to get as close as you can without going lower than original (at least on a Ford product). The front always raises a bit and the rear sags a bit. The tweaking mitigates that offset.

[Wazbro]

As others said take weight off with the jack.

Do not use an impact driver, the impacts can damage the jacks.

[Daquenzer]

Process to hitch:
1) Connect the stinger to the hitch, and secure.
2) Raise the hitch using the power jack to take weight off the hitch.
3) Use power drill to raise the bars to the proper height, which I have marked on the towers. Should be very easy.
4) Lower hitch all the way.

Process to unhitch:
1) Raise the hitch to take weight off the hitch.
2) Lower the bars until they can freely move with the drill.
3) Disconnect the hitch attachments so I can pull the stinger out.
4) Lower the hitch to the place where I can disengage the hitch with no pressure. (About 22 inches from the top of the hitch receiver to the ground.) Often the stinger then pulls away from the main hitch when at the correct height.
5) Slowly drive out.

P.S. Make sure the wheels are completely secure with blocks.

The newer towers work easier than the older towers.

As said above do not use the impact drill. Once weight is on the hitch and i need to make adjustments I to do that by hand.

[JCWDCW]

Take pressure off the jacks by raising the tongue jack
I use a basic 12 V drill to take the jacks up to specified position'
If you have a hammer drill it will likely do it without the tongue jack

[Fungus]

Yes.

DEWALT cordless angle drill. Same socket as the stabilizers. Same battery as all my other cordless gear, including the DEWALT tire inflator.

[Gleverett]

Do not use the hammer setting on your drill for raising or lowering the bars. It has been know to break the pins in the jacks. used my drill for over 10 years with no problem.

[Al and Missy]

I use my Ryobi ONE drill in low speed/high torque mode after I raise the tongue jack to lower the trailer. It slows down as I get to where I want it, but the only time it really lugs is when the charge is too low. My mark is the top of the clutch collar on the drill lining up with the bottom of the hitch jacks With the socket on a short extension touching the frame.

[crispyboy]

Milwaukee 18v drill/driver. This goes with my all the other tools (toys) I bring such as a Milwaukee cordless fan, blower and vacuum.
As others stated raise the tongue jack more and do not use an impact driver. Impact tears things up and are very noisy in the campground.

[greghoro]

You didn’t state which version Weight Distribution Jack you have on your hitch. Maybe you didn’t realize that ProPride made a change to this aspect of the hitch. Given that your trailer is a 2025 and ProPride has been selling their hitches with v2 jacks for maybe three years now, I’m assuming you have the v2 jacks.

I’m mention this as most, if not all, of the replies you received were from people with older trailers that most likely have the v1 jack (myself included). The adjustment hex on the v1 jack comes horizontally off the side of the tower at the top while on the v2 jack it is located at the top pointing skyward. Not all v1 tips are appropriate for v2 jacks. However, raising the front of the trailer with the tongue jack, as several have mentioned, is a good starting place to see if your drill no longer bogs down.

You may want to reach out to ProPride directly, as they use a drill in some of their YouTube videos.

V1 jack
https://store.propridehitch.com/prop...reconditioned/

V2 jack
https://store.propridehitch.com/v2-w...ibution-jacks/


Greg

[ant guy]

Hi, I use my drill (any drill will do) to raise and lower my pro pride system. Just go slow and mark where you want it to end up.

[ant guy]

One other comment., when you raise your trailer jack up look for the cover to your ball to release (move a bit). Simple and that is an easy way to have a smooth release. There are a couple of videos on this. Also just measure ground to center of opening and return to that hight before you recouple.Once we started doing this everything got easy.

[Hans627]

I also use my drill to adjust the height of the jacks. But I first raise to hitch to take the pressure off of the jacks. I then adjust the jacks using home made "stop blocks". I alternate between 4" and 4 1/4" to achieve the desired amount of WD.

[Trl Wires]

I have been using my Mikita 18V for the jacks. Now if i may piggy back onto this topic as I do not see a recent posting about the pro pride hitch. Being new to any sort of weight distribution hitch (former Tow Vehicle (TV) was a 2019 F350 dually) and fearing front end separation I went with the pro pride because the sway control and weight distribution essentially are treated separately.


As suggested in the instructions I weighed the TV/Trailer (TR) combination following hitch installation. Slow day at the Cat Scales so I was able to take several weights without moving off the scales. Vehicles were loaded in typical travel conditions. One washer in tilt pin.



TV/TR No PP Steer=4,660; Drive=5,380; TR=7,100; Gross=17,140
TV/TR 5.5" Steer=4,760; Drive=5,260; TR=7,140; Gross=17,140
TV/TR 5.0" Steer=4,840; Drive=5,160; TR=7,140; Gross=17,140
TV/TR 4.5" Steer=4,880; Drive=5,100; TR=7,180; Gross=17,160
Note: V2 jacks measurement between top of linkage and bottom of upper fixed jack.


Per Ford 2024 towing guide I need 50% front axle load restoration (FALR). Truck is a 2024 F250 6.7L 4x4 159.8” WB. Trailer is a 30 FB Bunk with a tongue weight at the stinger of 1200lbs. As shown in the first two columns I needed to move 200lbs back to the steer to meet FALR recommendation. Spring bar tension between 5.0” and 4.5” seems to hit the sweet spot.


Left the tension at 4.5” for the drive home and items we always carry in the rear upper bunk flew around and dented the airstream interior. These items have ridden in that upper bunk for thousands of miles and on this same road several times. The only difference is WD and 4.5” spring bar tension.


The hitch purchased has 1400lb bars and I question if these tensioned at 4.5” are just too stiff? Should I keep the tension at 5.5” to 5.0” range? Should I remove the last tilt pin washer? Should the bars be sized for the FALR weight to be moved or the tongue weight? Should I be using 800lb or 1000lb bars? I do not need to move much weight forward, but do want to gain as much ground clearance as I can.



Hoping you guys might provide some insight.

[ROBERT CROSS]

My insight, we also started with 1400lb bars. Much too stiff.
After determining we only needed to move 720lb, I switched to 1000 lb/wd bars.
POI...You really need a CAT weight of the TV alone to get an accurate TV steering axle weight. (that's the loaded for camping target wt)


....used one on our Arrow.

The barrel is marked for different loads, and a MacGyver lock is used to keep the setting from changing while underway. (align the valve cap with the allen-head set screw and tighten.)



Bob
🇺🇸

[Trl Wires]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

My insight, we also started with 1400lb bars. Much too stiff.
After determining we only needed to move 720lb, I switched to 1000 lb/wd bars.
POI...You really need a CAT weight of the TV alone to get an accurate TV steering axle weight. (that's the loaded for camping target wt)


....used one on our Arrow.

The barrel is marked for different loads, and a MacGyver lock is used to keep the setting from changing while underway. (align the valve cap with the allen-head set screw and tighten.)

Bob
����

I thought about including TV weight, but hoped everyone would just accept my 200lbs value.


Tow Vehicle: Steer = 5,060, Drive = 3,980, Gross = 9,040



The tongue weight is whats got me questioning dropping down to 1000lb bars. I thought losing the tilt pin washer and tensioning the bars to the 5.0" or 4.5" range would give me the ground clearance and eliminate the harsh ride I seem to have experienced previously.


I reached out to Pro Pride and thus far they have been radio silent.

Respectfully,
Greg

[ROBERT CROSS]

^^^^^^^^^^

You need the TV alone (loaded for camping), weight so you can determine how much weight needs to be returned to the front "axle."

Our TV is older and doesn't have a set number from the factory
The loaded front axle weight is 3680, we return all but 100lb of that.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Trl Wires]

Apologies, thanks for your time.