ELECTRIC TONGUE JACK

[desertmike345]

I have a Carson 10,000 lb dump trailer and want to put an electric jack on it. Carson trailers dosen't seem to think its a good idea. These are the same jacks that are on toyhaulers and travel trailers and seem to work fine. Anybody have any problems with electric jacks on dump trailers?

Thanks
Mike

 

[Diamondpilot]

I personally do not like them. My neighbor had the battery go bad on a travel trailer and could not get the jack up. The truck was still hooked to it so he could not turn it around to jump it because everything was in a bind. I personally think they are more trouble than they are worth.

Chris

 

[tawilson]

I've been thinking about putting one on my dump trailer too. Got a heavy duty battery sitting right there. Without a good battery the dump trailer is no good so I'm not worried about that. I usually have a battery jump pack nearby, especially when using the dump a lot in case the truck doesn't keep it charged. There also is a hydraulic pump sitting right there too. I was batting around the idea of adding some kind of hydraulic lift and leaving the trailer jack there.

 

[devildog1]

Atwood make an electric jack which I have on my 11,000 dry RV, I run one battery, never had an issue, but if so just plug in trailer plug and start truck. It also has an manual lug with wrench if it all s--ts the bed. I've had mine for 8 years no problems what so ever.
DevilDog

 

[BruceWard]

I would think you could power the jack directly from the +12V lead on the 7 pin connector.

All of the electric jacks I have seen have backup handles.

But it is so little work to use a standard jack that I do not see the need.

I was researching 12V jacks as a possible method of actuating a small dump trailer and believed that they could be run directly from the 40 Amp +12V provided to the trailer without needing a separate battery. I decided upon a long ram double piston bottle jack due to easier fittment.

 

[mustangsallysdad]

I have a Carson 10,000 lb dump trailer and want to put an electric jack on it. Carson trailers dosen't seem to think its a good idea. These are the same jacks that are on toyhaulers and travel trailers and seem to work fine. Anybody have any problems with electric jacks on dump trailers?

Thanks
Mike

No problems with mine...I have it powered through my trucks trailer harness and also paralelled through a switch to the winch battery on my car hauler. There's also a handle to use for mechanical override. Also replaced the breakaway battery charger with one of the small, waterproof, Battery Tender chargers and ran a lead to the + post on the winch battery so that it gets charged when towing. Works pretty slick.

 

[jwstewar]

I put a Barker 3000 on my travel trailer last summer right after I bought the trailer. It is around 1000 lb tongue weight. It works great on it. Wired directly to the 12-volt deep cycle (I know that is up for discussion) battery and it works great. This trailer because of the extreme tongue weight was rather difficult and took awhile to crank up and down. I'll never own another travel trailer w/o an electric tongue jack.

I like the one on the camper so well, I purchased a used Atwood tongue jack for $50 including shipping and put it on my 16+2 utility trailer. Right now, I've just got it hooked into the breakaway battery and it has worked fine. As soon as it warms up, I think I'm going to rewire it so that I can either run it off the truck or the breakaway battery. So far it has not had a problem, but don't want to run the battery dead and then the breakaway not work. Figure the other approach is install a larger battery and a winch.......

I also want to get one for my stock trailer. Might buy a Barker 3500 install it on the travel trailer and move the Barker 3000 to the stock trailer. It needs a new battery anyway, so I would probably just install a larger battery for not much more than just the new breakaway battery.

BTW, both of my jacks have a back-up handle. I've used them just to make sure it worked, but that is the only time I have done it.

 

[radioman]

I would think you could power the jack directly from the +12V lead on the 7 pin connector.

All of the electric jacks I have seen have backup handles.

But it is so little work to use a standard jack that I do not see the need.

I was researching 12V jacks as a possible method of actuating a small dump trailer and believed that they could be run directly from the 40 Amp +12V provided to the trailer without needing a separate battery. I decided upon a long ram double piston bottle jack due to easier fittment.

That is what I thought. not sure why diamond pilot didnt "jump it" from the rear? If the electric jacks have backup handles, then there no problem with battery goingg dead right ? its same as regular jack for what you have now- so question is whats stopping you now?

 

[Diamondpilot]

That is what I thought. not sure why diamond pilot didnt "jump it" from the rear? If the electric jacks have backup handles, then there no problem with battery goingg dead right ? its same as regular jack for what you have now- so question is whats stopping you now?

The battery went bad. It was hooked up to the 7 round plug on the F-150 they were towing it with but it keep blowing the trucks fuse. The one on their travel trailer does not have a manual backup, at least I have never seen it. Anyway it was in a bind. They tried everything to get it off the truck. Ended up have to call someone to drive 45 miles to where they were and bring a jack to lift it.

I guess I am just old school. I have been around trailers all my life and never had one but have had a few fail on friends. My boat and my uncles boat which each have about 2,000# tongue weight do not have them and they have never been a issue. My old large GN that had about 3,000# or more on the tongue never had one and I got by fine.

Chris

 

[BruceWard]

Am I the only one who has pulled the pin in the receiver hitch and driven away from a trailer. Never done so due to a jack problem but it has worked well a couple of times that the ball got stuck in the tongue.