Myrtle
North Carolina
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Joined: 01/26/2008
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Awesome thread and well done.
I will be taking down one of my jacks this weekend to see if I can repair (only 3 years old). I find I have a very bad bind and hope to be able to diagnos the problem after seeing your pic's,
Thanks,
Myrtle
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jjinatx
Austin, TX, USA
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Joined: 11/25/2003
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Well, I guess my jacks are aging - and not gracefully. When I unloaded the camper in May, one of my front jacks was really dragging and started making a popping sound as I got it raised up all the way. Same thing after I pulled the truck out and lowered down on to the stand. Had keep all the weight off it to get it to retract down to stand height. Decided I really needed to disassemble it and check it out, but put it off until today. Well, today it is totally frozen up.
Took it off and disassembled it. Acme rod portion that I can see is totally dry and rusted. Sprayed it with Blaster and letting it soak now. I guess the popping noise is from the gear slipping over the pin?
-jj
Current Rig: 2017 F350 Crew Cab Short Bed 4X4 Powerstroke, 2018 Grand Design Reflection 29RS. Dearly Departed: 2003 GMC Sierra 3500 Dually, 2002 Bigfoot 25C10.6.
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KKELLER14K
BEAVERTON OREGON
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You are correct jjinatx, you do not have to take off the ring unless it is easier to clean it up as you did. Are you saying yours doesn't have caps?? They seal on the outer part of the socket housing. There is a small lip that the caps snap over..check yours to see if it has the lip. You should really get that taken care of. 54suds has a great cut away veiw..as I had mentioned, oiling the socket has nothing to do with the screw drive part. If you pull the pin on the upper shaft the whole leg slips out of the jack if you feel it needs to be re lubed.
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54suds
adk mts.
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here's a jack that has been cut open to show the areas you lubed. also there's another shaft alinement assembly at the bottom of the threaded shaft
![[image]](http://i846.photobucket.com/albums/ab27/suds54/8%203%202008-174.jpg)
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2021 Chev 6.6 duramax ltz DBL cab,drw,4x/torklift tdn's,
1999 Bigfoot 1011
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jjinatx
Austin, TX, USA
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KKELLER14K,
Thanks for the great instructions & pics. I had one jack dragging. If I tried lifting with all four jacks at the same time, the LED on the tethered remote would turn red. I ended up loading the camper by alternating between front and back jacks.
My jacks are old - the camper is a 2002, and it does not have the oiler holes inside the handcrank sockets. I shot some WD-40 around the socket and tried the jack again and it was considerably more free running.
Even though I store my camper under a carport cover, this particular jacks gets a lot of sun & rain on it. I followed the first part of your instructions and popped the socket out with the jack still attached to the camper. The socket was rusted and pitted - not shiny like your picture. Definitely because I could never oil it because no hole.
I chucked the socket shaft into my drill press and held some plumber's emory cloth around it while it spun. This got the rust and pitting off. Then I polished it on my buffer wheel with white rouge. Then, back to the drill press and drilled a 1/8" oiler hole into the socket. Smeared some new white lithium grease on the socket and gears and put it back together. Works like new again.
Then I went and did the same to the other rear jack. After having done the first one, it only took a few minutes to get the socket out. This one was shiny, so I just drilled the oiler into it, lubed it and stuck it back in.
One tip though. You don't have to remove the white plastic ring to get the socket out. In fact,it is better to leave it on. Mine is so old it cracked when I pried it off. Fortunately it stayed together and I was able to snap it back on.
I see you can buy some plastic caps that cover the socket. Do they just plug into the crank socket? Will they keep water from getting in between the socket and journal?
-jj
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Neverhappy
Europe
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Joined: 11/07/2003
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Happijac website : what to lube
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wnjj
Cornelius, Oregon
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bb_94401 wrote:There is something I don't quite get about the clinch spring. Can someone help me out with my thinking?
It seems to function in one direction to tighten down on the cyclinder that mates against the square thrust plate? The added friction of the cyclinder against the plate then adds resistance to prevent the worm gear from freewheeling under the weight of the camper and slowly lowering the jack? So in this case it would seem that friction is good and little lubricant would be a good thing and that is why there is no needle bearing there.
When turning the gear to raise the camper, the spring would unwind and the cyclinder would not rotate. However when turning the gear to lower the camper the spring would lock tightly and spin the cyclinder against the square thrust plate. With no or little lubrication, gauling of the parts would occur in this direction.
So if you lubricate it really well, it may freewheel? If you don't, it gauls and won't rotate in one direction. Then when the roller needle bearing fails it gauls in both direction without lubricant. Do I have this right?
To put this is perspective, has freewheeling been a problem for people who have rebuilt their jacks and heavily greased the mating faces of the square thrust plate and the cyclinder?
It would seem that with electric motor driven jacks, there is added resistance to freewheeling vs. the manual jacks.
Seems I've read more gauling, noisy, locked up jacks vs. freewheeling jacks and collapsed campers. Does this reflect the relative value / risk cost of jacks vs. cost of camper.
You have it 100% correct. The cylinder and and square plate form a brake which operates in only the "lowering" direction because of the 1-way spring clutch. In the raising direction the needle bearing turns. Like any brakes some wear is normal. The worse wear is lowering the camper with the camper's weight on it. Once the jacks leave the ground (when loading up), the slack in the assembly pretty much unloads the brake anyway. So the more you lower your camper all the way down the more wear your jacks will probably see.
I'd rather service a noisy one than "improve" the design and make the brake fail. With a motor connected it really can't backspin but I have and love the quick release option and will gladly put up with the brake system to keep it. HJ may be covering their butts in case someone pulls a motor without supporting the camper on models without the release lever.
I don't know if there's much to improve unless there's a small round clutch friction disc you could drop in there?
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bb_94401
Columbia Falls. MT
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Joined: 09/13/2008
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There is something I don't quite get about the clinch spring. Can someone help me out with my thinking?
It seems to function in one direction to tighten down on the cyclinder that mates against the square thrust plate? The added friction of the cyclinder against the plate then adds resistance to prevent the worm gear from freewheeling under the weight of the camper and slowly lowering the jack? So in this case it would seem that friction is good and little lubricant would be a good thing and that is why there is no needle bearing there.
When turning the gear to raise the camper, the spring would unwind and the cyclinder would not rotate. However when turning the gear to lower the camper the spring would lock tightly and spin the cyclinder against the square thrust plate. With no or little lubrication, gauling of the parts would occur in this direction.
So if you lubricate it really well, it may freewheel? If you don't, it gauls and won't rotate in one direction. Then when the roller needle bearing fails it gauls in both direction without lubricant. Do I have this right?
To put this is perspective, has freewheeling been a problem for people who have rebuilt their jacks and heavily greased the mating faces of the square thrust plate and the cyclinder?
It would seem that with electric motor driven jacks, there is added resistance to freewheeling vs. the manual jacks.
Seems I've read more gauling, noisy, locked up jacks vs. freewheeling jacks and collapsed campers. Does this reflect the relative value / risk cost of jacks vs. cost of camper.
'05 Ram 3500, 4x4, DRW, LB, 6spd man, CTD, PRXB exhaust brake, Roadmaster bar
'01 Corsair 10'8" - 4,200 lbs., Xantrex XADC 80A, Link 20, 4-Lifeline GPL-4CT, PowerGate Isolater, 2 AWG wire, PI 30A EMS, 2 Honda EU2000i, parallel kit, ext. duration tank.
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quail48
on truck
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Joined: 06/21/2009
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Hi Keller, The lower leg is retained by the brass plate & worm gear that is peened in the top of lower leg... Mine was not done well as it pulled free by me trying to drop leg with the release lever... The worm gear screws into this plate... I don't believe you had this in your pic's... I don't have a way to peen it so am thinking of drilling for roll pins as it could come out during use & needs to B taken off to reinstall it...
If others R like that (not well peened) the leg could come down at any time... I have drilled a hole at the bottom & put a screw in each jack to prevent any coming down. NOTE with remote!!
P.S. This was/is a smooth operating jack...
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3 tons
NV.
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FYI, I spoke to Gary at Happy-Jac today and he said that the jack screws on the 4500/4600 series are permanatly lubricated at the factory and a change in lubricant can allow foreign contamination to enter into the bearing area rendering damage to the jack. This thread is focused on the 4150 model only.
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