Electric Tongue Jack Won't Work

aaronwalls · 02-05-2018, 07:46 PM

First of all, new to the forum. I have searched high and low online for answers to this, no success. I am hoping to learn how my camper is wired, what jacks are wired to what power sources, because it seems the scissor jacks and tongue jacks are wired to different power sources.

My wife and I recently purchased a 2015 31BKIS from my deceased father-in-law's estate.

It has an electric tongue jack that worked when we hitched it up and drove it home. It was plugged into a 30-amp receptacle at this time. When I got home, the camper was not plugged into the house, but it was plugged into the truck's 7-pin harness, and the scissor jacks lowered without a problem. When I tried to lower the tongue jack, nothing.

I plugged the camper into the house, again, nothing. I cannot get the jack to lower. I tried to manually lower it with the wrench tool, and it won't budge.

HELP!

CedarCreekWoody · 02-05-2018, 07:57 PM

It is powered by the 12 volt battery on the trailer, which the converter recharges when connected to 120 volt shore power. There is usually an inline fuse in the power cord to the tongue jack. Check it.

**Mr. Dan** · 02-05-2018, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronwalls

First of all, new to the forum. I have searched high and low online for answers to this, no success. I am hoping to learn how my camper is wired, what jacks are wired to what power sources, because it seems the scissor jacks and tongue jacks are wired to different power sources.

My wife and I recently purchased a 2015 31BKIS from my deceased father-in-law's estate.

It has an electric tongue jack that worked when we hitched it up and drove it home. It was plugged into a 30-amp receptacle at this time. When I got home, the camper was not plugged into the house, but it was plugged into the truck's 7-pin harness, and the scissor jacks lowered without a problem. When I tried to lower the tongue jack, nothing.

I plugged the camper into the house, again, nothing. I cannot get the jack to lower. I tried to manually lower it with the wrench tool, and it won't budge.

HELP!

I had a plan to write that a tongue jack is wired directly to your battery, that it therefore operates on 12v (not necessary to plug it into the house if the battery is hot), that there is an inline fuse in the positive wire from the battery to the jack, that the jack's ground is through the bolts that hold it to the trailer tongue ........... but your last statement indicates something other (assuming you were turning the jack handle in the correct direction). Now, I'm a little stumped.

updhaul · 02-05-2018, 08:06 PM

All of the front jacks I've dealt with were replacements and were direct wired to a fused line directly to battery. Get a volt meter, check fuses and look for and clean battery connections especially the ground to frame. Start simple, disconnect from truck, check voltage at battery terminals, then fuses and connections remove clean and re-tighten. Battery terminals are frequent-offenders and may work when loose for low loads and not work for higher loads like jacks.

cavie · 02-05-2018, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronwalls

First of all, new to the forum. I have searched high and low online for answers to this, no success. I am hoping to learn how my camper is wired, what jacks are wired to what power sources, because it seems the scissor jacks and tongue jacks are wired to different power sources.

My wife and I recently purchased a 2015 31BKIS from my deceased father-in-law's estate.

It has an electric tongue jack that worked when we hitched it up and drove it home. It was plugged into a 30-amp receptacle at this time. When I got home, the camper was not plugged into the house, but it was plugged into the truck's 7-pin harness, and the scissor jacks lowered without a problem. When I tried to lower the tongue jack, nothing.

I plugged the camper into the house, again, nothing. I cannot get the jack to lower. I tried to manually lower it with the wrench tool, and it won't budge.

HELP!

Turn it the other way.

aaronwalls · 02-05-2018, 08:10 PM

One of the (many) things that has me confused about this is that when I plugged the camper up to the house, the scissor jacks worked, but the tongue jack did not.

Are the scissor jacks wired to a different power source? If so, why? That seems really stupid.

cavie · 02-05-2018, 08:20 PM

I'm gonna throw out a guess here and assume that when you hooked up, you brought the jack too far into its stop point and did not release the switch in time and blew the fuse. see if you can find it. As for why you can't manually drop it I have no clue. Is it in the fully locked down position? Some sort of Lockout? never had one.

Sfry · 02-05-2018, 08:42 PM

Both jacks probably go directly to the battery through separate wires and fuses you may have a bad fuse or a bad battery

EdJunior · 02-05-2018, 08:47 PM

I put on my own electric jack when I had my TT, and as noted, it is wired directly to the battery, with an inline fuse along the way. Find that fuse and see if it blew. My bets are that it has.

aaronwalls · 02-05-2018, 08:48 PM

OK; I got it to work. It was a blown fuse. I would not have fixed this without y'all's help. Thanks a bunch!

A couple more questions.

1) The 30-amp fuse that blew was larger than the one I replaced it with. I made the new, smaller one fit. Will that be a problem?

2) Did I blow the fuse by raising the jack too high? How do I avoid this in the future?

3) I believe my father-in-law never used the manual jack. I think it is rusted up. I sprayed it with some PB Blaster (which always worked with my old Jeep to break up rust), but I could not get it to budge. I hope to never need it again, but it would be nice to know I could get it to work if I needed it to.

Again; thanks for all your help! I look forward to being a part of this forum!

**Mr. Dan** · 02-05-2018, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronwalls

OK; I got it to work. It was a blown fuse. I would not have fixed this without y'all's help. Thanks a bunch!

A couple more questions.

1) The 30-amp fuse that blew was larger than the one I replaced it with. I made the new, smaller one fit. Will that be a problem? Do you mean larger in amps protected or in physical width? If it's the same amperage coverage and you got it stuck in the slot enough to get it to work, you're OK. I wouldn't change the amp rating from standard (assuming standard wasn't replaced by your F-I-L).

2) Did I blow the fuse by raising the jack too high? How do I avoid this in the future? Maybe you did. I had that issue with my 5th wheel front jacks if I raised the trailer to its jack's locks. I was advised by a member here to replace the fuse with an auto-reset (circuit breaker type) fuse from an auto parts store. THEN I made a pencil mark on the jack beyond which I would not pass.

3) I believe my father-in-law never used the manual jack. I think it is rusted up. I sprayed it with some PB Blaster (which always worked with my old Jeep to break up rust), but I could not get it to budge. I hope to never need it again, but it would be nice to know I could get it to work if I needed it to. Some people put a bucket, etc., over their jack motor/head to keep water from soaking in. I had to do that with my last bumper pull trailer.

Again; thanks for all your help! I look forward to being a part of this forum!

Hey, great! Thanks for reporting back. I'll make my guesses to your questions in text like this.

cavie · 02-05-2018, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronwalls

OK; I got it to work. It was a blown fuse. I would not have fixed this without y'all's help. Thanks a bunch!

A couple more questions.

1) The 30-amp fuse that blew was larger than the one I replaced it with. I made the new, smaller one fit. Will that be a problem?

2) Did I blow the fuse by raising the jack too high? How do I avoid this in the future?

3) I believe my father-in-law never used the manual jack. I think it is rusted up. I sprayed it with some PB Blaster (which always worked with my old Jeep to break up rust), but I could not get it to budge. I hope to never need it again, but it would be nice to know I could get it to work if I needed it to.

Again; thanks for all your help! I look forward to being a part of this forum!

Yes this is a problem depending on how lower you went. Replace it with another 30 provided 30 was the correct one. SEE YOUR OWNERS MANUAL.

if you cant judge a stop point of how fast to release the button, paint a white line on the stand.

take the weight off the stand and continue to try to move the jack back and forth with the wrench.

Sfry · 02-05-2018, 10:44 PM

1. Go back to the 30 amp 2. Maybe 3. Keep working on it it might loosen up

aaronwalls · 02-05-2018, 11:26 PM

Final clarification: I replaced the 30-amp fuse with another 30-amp fuse. The new fuse is not as wide as the old one, but the same amperage. Reading the feedback, it seems I'm OK in doing this? It was all I had on hand and I needed to free up my truck.

andymil · 02-05-2018, 11:33 PM

Just to repeat what others have said, install the correct fuse and don’t run the jack until it jams.

emm-dee · 02-06-2018, 12:16 AM

A 30amp fuse is a 30 amp fuse regardless of size. There are four commonly used fuse sizes, assuming you are using the blade type. Usually a fuse can be used in a receptacle which is one size wider. The only problem with that is the poor fit MAY vibrate around enough to cause arcing. Good enough for a temporary fix to get home but should be replaced with the proper width fuse ASAP. In the case of the tongue jack you could install the smaller fuse (same amperage), set the jack as needed and then remove the fuse until you get the proper width version.

wota57 · 02-06-2018, 03:32 PM

I started having trouble with mine last year too on my ROO233s. Blew a fuse in the main positive power line. If you blow a fuse, there is a reason why. Another poster mentioned a limit switch issue. I found a circuit diagram for mine online, but could not find any info on whether this (fully retracted end of travel) switch is adjustable or if not, where I might be able to get a proper replacement switch. It continues to happen, but I put a line on the jack post leg so I have a visual target mark. Now I know when to let off on the retract switch and stop before reaching the travel end limit, hitting the hard physical end of stroke, and overloading the motor with the resultant fuse blow. Not sure if my power tongue Jack was an original accessory or if previous owner added later as I bought my ROO second hand as it was a trade in on new one.

allenthompson · 02-06-2018, 06:58 PM

Without reading the responses of other ... more than likely you have an inline 30 amp fuse. Mine blows every time I bring it all the up as far as it will go. I always try to stop short. Check the fuse

Jim in Halifax · 02-06-2018, 07:16 PM

I had a tongue jack one time and I extended it out to the max......slipped a cog...could not get it to go down.....Had to remove it and take it into my shop and wiggle it until I got it to engage....J

**Mr. Dan** · 02-06-2018, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allenthompson

Without reading the responses of other ... more than likely you have an inline 30 amp fuse. Mine blows every time I bring it all the up as far as it will go. I always try to stop short. Check the fuse

He did. He replaced it. He got his jack to work. He reported same. He was advised of methods of stopping short of motor lock.

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