Tongue Jack Mod

[Pooneil]

I have gotten tired of the handle on the tongue jack banging on the propane cover when leveling the camper. The normal work around is to lean into the cover a bit to move it out of the way, something that may have contributed to my recent unpleasantness. Since I normally use a drill to level, the handle was superfluous most of the time and a mod was in order.

I located a coupling screw that used a 3/4 wrench. I chose this so it would be compatible with the drill attachment that also works with the Bal Leveler and the stabilizers. My friendly local hardware store had a thinner wall coupling nut that would have required extensive work, but I found the properly sized one at a nearby orange box store. On my own, with no help around, after a long search, down a long aisle.

Here are the various parts.
Jack Mod Parts by b2220128, on Flickr


The first thing was to remove the bolt holding the jack handle on, discovering in the process that it is metric and both my 10MM socket and box wrench are missing.

Then I drilled out the center of the coupling nut so it would fit over the jack handle post. This ate up two 1/2 inch drill bits that had come in index boxes, including one "Titanium" Dewalt bit. So it was off to the store for an $19 Ridgid bit that cut through rest in seconds. I should have paid $10 more and bought the Ridgid index set.

Not having a drill press, I used a vice to hold the nut and drilled a free hand 1/4 inch hole all the way through both sides, in two stages. Being free hand it was not quite lined up so it ultimately needed widening for the pin to fit. The hole in the post also needed a bit of widening to convert from the metric bolt hole for the 1/4 inch pin that I had on hand. A 3/16 pin would be better.

With that done, the pin fit thought and it was installed on the camper, ready to use.

Jack Mod with Drill by b2220128, on Flickr

Of course the drill may stay at home sometimes or run out of power, so options are still needed. I could of course use the 3/4 ratcheting wrench I carry or even the breaker bar. But the easiest and quickest seems to be to use the original handle.

Jack Mod with Handle by b2220128, on Flickr

The only change needed is to find a shorter pin.

[MinneweeseMI]

I did this when we first got our A122S. You're right about the part being hard to locate; at our home improvement store (the orange one) it's by the threaded rods, not with the rest of the fasteners.

We have been using this for a year now and the cordless drill has never run down so that it would not raise the tongue when it's time to go home. We have a 3/4" box wrench just in case, but have never needed it.

Highly recommended.

[Pooneil]

They are placed in a logical area. However there are also threaded rods displayed on posts in front of the more common fasteners that catch one's eye walking down the aisle.

I'd buy more from the local store except, even with the frustration of a corporate policy of poor customer service (not the fault of the guys in the orange aprons), this experience is typical. With the broader selection at the orange store I ultimately found exactly what was needed and the price was 1/3 less.