Atwood power jack

5950 Views 10 Replies 5 Participants Last post by ctfortner, Apr 15, 2008

mailfire99

Discussion Starter · Mar 25, 2008

Has anyone installed or used the atwood power jack? I read about them and it has my interest. I guess its just more of a lazy thing for me, but :shrug:

It also states they are designed to work with equalizer bars.

Thoughts?

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terri01p

· #2 · Mar 25, 2008

My dh in our ever loving quest to make things easier for us installed an atwood jack about three summers ago, it was easy or trust me he wouldn't have done it, he found instructions online how to do it.

Not sure what you mean by being designed to use with equalizer bars. Of course I'm just coming off of the flu so I'm not on top of my game.

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heruide

· #3 · Mar 26, 2008

terri01p said:
Not sure what you mean by being designed to use with equalizer bars. Of course I'm just coming off of the flu so I'm not on top of my game.

It was either a reference to general or specifically the Equal-i-zer® Weight Distribution Hitch bars.

For those of us with folding trailers, we have found various uses for 18 volt cordless drills. This includes raising/lowering the roof, stabilizers, single axle BAL levelers and of course tongue jacks.

Ruide

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ctfortner

· #4 · Mar 26, 2008

I considered getting an atwood, but did read a few negative things about it. I think this would be related to the trailer weight, but some said it wasnt always up to the task and would really make a lot of noise when it was at its peak.

A cheaper route is doing it the way ruide mentioned. I have not personally used this yet for the tongue jack, but it works great for the stabilizer jacks, and they sell an attachment just for that.

Great pics by the way Ruide, you have a lot of good informative and organized pictures!

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heruide

· #5 · Mar 26, 2008

ctfortner said:
Great pics by the way Ruide, you have a lot of good informative and organized pictures!

Thank you very much for the kind words. I've been told I'm long winded so since a picture is worth a thousands words, I've used them to keep my posts short. :10220:

But seriously, I always amazed how quickly you can get a thought across if you can share a picture.

OK sorry for the highjack... now back to power tools :yippie:
Ruide

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mikey

· #6 · Mar 26, 2008

Yeah, thats great Ruide, the pics are worth a lot. Really helps when explaining things. I have used the drill for the stabilizer jacks, never thought of using it for the tongue jack, great idea.

So did you have to make something to fit that, or do they sell an attachment for that too?

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heruide

· #7 · Mar 26, 2008

Thanks Mikey. I had to make an adapter to fit over the stem of the tongue jack. Here is a close up of the adapter. From the top down it consists of:

1. 1/4" hex to 1/2" adapter that is in the drill's chuck
2. 1/2" to 3/8" adapter for the 13mm socket
3. 13mm socket with a hole drilled for the tongue jack

Note - you can use a 1/2 long neck socket instead of the 13mm. Also you could use a 1/4" hex to 3/8" adapter in the drill's chuck, but all the other sockets I use are 1/2" so I actually keep items 2 and 3 above together on the tongue jack.

Also if I forget my drill or if the battery was depleted, I can use either a socket wrench or remove the 13mm socket and replace the orginal tongue jack handle and I'm back in business.

Hope this helps.

Ruide

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ctfortner

· #8 · Apr 7, 2008

Thanks for the info Ruide.

However, my jack is different, could I still do something similar?

Here is the type of jack I have.

Window Vehicle Automotive tire Motor vehicle Air travel

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heruide

· #9 · Apr 7, 2008

Ctfortner, I think I've seen those jacks on trailers in the storage area where I park my PUP. I'll check them out this weekend and let you know what I think.

Ruide

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heruide

· #10 · Apr 15, 2008

Ctfortner, As promised I looked at several of the tongue jacks that are similar to yours and I suspect that you could probably modify it to use a drill. You would have to cut off the handle leaving a stub, drill a hole in the stub and bolt on a socket and then the drill would work.

However, I say "probably" as I've never used a tongue jack like this and I would want to pull it apart to be sure it would work.

Ruide

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ctfortner

· #11 · Apr 15, 2008

Hey, thanks for the info Ruide, appreicate you looking into it.

I was afraid of that, I didnt see any other good way to do it. I will probably stick with it like it is, since we may try to upgrade next year or two. Its really not that bad doing it manually, but if it could be done easier (without cutting), I would probably do it.

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