Jack Won't Crank

[KatieR]

Hello! Seems the Jack on my 2001, 13-ft Scamp is frozen & is too difficult for me to raise any higher. It is soldered on the trailer tongue and seems self-contained. I put 3-in-1 oil into the small hole at the top, like a mechanic told me. The oil has traveled through and come out the bottom onto the foot. Still too tight to turn the crank. Can these Jack's be repaired? The foot looks like it will not come off to grease the shaft inside. ~~~ KatieR

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by KatieR

Hello! Seems the Jack on my 2001, 13-ft Scamp is frozen & is too difficult for me to raise any higher. It is soldered on the trailer tongue and seems self-contained. I put 3-in-1 oil into the small hole at the top, like a mechanic told me. The oil has traveled through and come out the bottom onto the foot. Still too tight to turn the crank. Can these Jack's be repaired? The foot looks like it will not come off to grease the shaft inside. ~~~ KatieR

They can be replaced quite easily. At least mine was easy to replace. On mine there's "snap ring" that allows the jack to swing up and out of the way. No undoing the "weld" to replace.

[Glenn Baglo]

Buy a new one at Walmart.

[Iowa Dave]

i would get a squirt can, not aerosol of Wrench Ease and apply it iiberally to all holes, seams and friction surfaces. might want to put some cardboard down or some oil dry. Try cranking the crank both directions. if still no joy attempt to persuade movement by tapping all around with a 2 lb ball pien hammer. Penetrating oil might take a day to creep into tight spaces.
iowa Dave

[RogerDat]

Be carful of the clamp on ones from Walmart etc. If those are over tightened or get too much side leverage when moving them on the wheel they can create crush damage to the tube of the trailer tongue.


On the other hand they can be a life saver when the trailer jack fails with the trailer still on the ball. They provide a temporary solution that allows you to get the trailer off of the hitch.


Or the bolt clamp on jack can let you get trailer on the hitch if you are taking the trailer into a shop to have the tube replaced as Byron describes. Should be a quick and easy job. Snap ring comes out, old tube comes off of swivel base, new tube goes in, snap ring goes back in to hold new tube onto swivel base.


Mine freed up with some oiling and working it back and forth. However the gears inside broke the next time I used it. I think there is some risk that by the time it seizes up it may be more prone to outright failure in the near future.

[Al and Cindy K]

PB Blaster is the best I've found for something like this. Be sure to re-lube with a light weight oil if/when it loosens up.

[Doug King]

Take a look at the side of the tube below the hitch. (where the inside and outside tube slide together). There is a indent in the outside and inside tubes. This indent is a guide to align the two tubes together. If they are not in alignment the tubes will bind together and the jack will not work. This has happened to me several times on various jacks. The groove and indent can be realigned. From the lower tube I have use a pipe wrench to realign the inside tube to make it operate freely.

[Rzrbrn]

Too bad Doug's comment was not available when my jack(s) messed up. For the life of me I could not figure out how to solve the issue so I just bought new jacks.

Had a 2K on my Casita, did the oil thing, it got too hard to jack, bought a 5K side winder, did the oil thing, it also stopped jacking, bought a third 5K and it also is getting very difficult. Driving me crazy. I have had to fully extend, so it seems reasonable that it may have come out of the track. So maybe I will work on the jack and see if I can fix it. Thanks Dave.

[Tillie and Tyler]

Hi Katie. I have 2004 Scamp. Purchased it in 2015. The front jack was not completely free in terms of movement. The extent of easy travel was very limited.
To clean: I put blocks under the hitch (and chocked the wheels) in order to allow the jack to be freely rotated. I used gear oil (80-90 w), a half a quart or more, as a rust and dried-out grease cleaner.

If memory serves, i added oil at the top, where the lever axle enters, and also along the alignment channel between the two tubes. Again, if memory serves, the jack can be place in an upside down position, which makes it really easy to fill the alignment channel with gear oil.

Adding oil a bit at a time, i moved the lever back and forth, as far as it would comfortably go, then I would stop trying to move it and add more oil...over and over again. It likely took four to eight hours over the course of two days to get the jack fully functional, but the slow and steady approach worked.

After everything was able to move freely, i removed as much gear oil as possible and used bearing grease in a grease gun to fill the tube. The jack has worked well since then. I worked the jack and kept adding bearing grease until only clean grease came out.
Prior to starting the whole process, I put heavy cardboard down to catch the oil and grease...it's a messy endeavour. The beauty of the gear oil was the container...it has a conical nozzle that makes it easy to aim and use in a controlled way.

I would rather get older equipment working rather than buy something new. I find manufacturing standards, in most cases, aren't what they used to be.
Best of luck with your trailer! cathy

[Mike_L]

I've replaced these jacks a number of times. Boondocking in the back country means lots of mud and dust. The mud and dust accumulate in the grease between the two posts of the leg of the jack and bind it up and also cause rusting.
The leg of the jack consists of two metal tubes, one inside the other. One leg is channeled to accept the ridge on the other leg. Without this set up, the inner tube would turn inside the outer one and the jack wouldn't extend. If the jack is extended too far, the inner metal tube may turn inside the outer tube and come out of alignment. Twisting the inner metal tube, without weight on it, usually corrects the situation. Careful not to mark the exterior of the inner metal tube if using a pipe wrench.

I support the front of the trailer with jack stands and remove the 3 bolts that hold the jack to the tongue of the trailer. I soak the jack in diesel fuel over night to remove the crud and then it works fine. I re-lube the leg of the jack and the crank gear mechanism and reinstall the jack.
Princess Auto had these jacks for about $30. I'm thinking next time I'll just buy a replacement. Too much work just to save $30.

[KatieR]

Thank You to each of you who replied. I haven't been back to trailer (23 miles from home), but will soon and try your tips. There is so much value to each suggestion! I will let you know how my problem gets solved.~~~KatieR