Trailer tongue jack issue

Jeff Reardon

Jeff Reardon

Well-known member
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Any experts on trailer tongue jacks here?

I bought a gently used but fairly old trailer this spring, and it's the first I've had with a tongue jack. As a guy with all small boats, I've always just propped the trailer tongue up on a saw horse or an old chair.

I love the convenience of the jack, but it's quit working. As I crank the jack, the entire lower portion of the jack spins, and the hard rubber wheel drills a hole into the gravel floor of my boat shed, without extending at all. It also no longer retracts if I crank the other way.

I don't think these are terribly expensive to replace, but I'd rather explore repair options if there are simple things I could check.

Thoughts?
 
Jeff,

It's probably has corrosion inside the screw tube. Sometimes there is a hole in the top that you can squirt oil into. The last time this happened to me I proped the tongue up on a block and spun the jack 180 degrees so the wheel was up. Then drizzel oil down between the inside and outside tube. It gets messy so let it drain where it won't get all over your garage floor. If I remember right I just used motor oil but just about anything would work.
 
Jeff, Seriously? Put your foot against the wheel. I have to do this all the time. There is so little tongue weight with the small boats, the hard plastic low friction wheels spin all the time.

Scott
 
Scott, are you implying that I'd an idiot? You may be right . . . lol

I'll give it a try--but I don't think that's the problem.
 
Jeff, No, not an Idiot, but sometimes the easy answer is the best. If the jack is seized or rusted badly enough that your foot can't keep the wheel from turning, its time to soak in lube and screw it from one extreme to the other a bunch of times to work the rust loose. I've had to replace them before and one I'm still using has damaged gears or a centers distance issue as it sometimes cranks without changing height and I can feel the "skipping". I should probably replace before another winter sets in.

Good luck!
Scott
 
Scott, you read my mind. I've only done it a cocuple of times years ago at night with a net out of a boat but I have some crab traps itching to get wet. Is it still a little early?
 
Try taking the load off the jack and see if it will crank out all the way giving you 2 pieces. Then just follow the rust, clean and grease the gears. Some have a plastic cap on top with a nut on the inside that you have to remove to take the jack apart.
 
Well, the crank still turns, but even with no weight on it all I can get it do is spin. Time for a new one, I guess.

I'd be in for the blue crabs, too, but so far they are not one of the species that has moved into the Gulf of Maine. Southern Maine is starting to see species like tautog, though, and a bunch of other crustaceans seem to be shifting north. Green crab have beat the snot out of our clam flats.
 
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