Posted 2013-05-10 11:27 PM (#151897) Subject: Learned something new today!
Member
Posts: 7
Location: Charlo, MT
I have an electric jack with a backup manual crank on my 5 horse LQ trailer, Today I learned that the manual crank that came with the system doesn't actually fit the system.
My cabin batteries were due for replacement at the end of last season, so rather then buying new batteries just to sit through the winter, I elected to wait until spring. I skipped my fall maintenance because of the scheduled replacement. Foaling season has us a bit distracted and I haven't picked up those batteries yet. My wife needed the big trailer last weekend, so I charged the old batteries and hooked it up to the truck. I knew hooking up the trailer that those batteries were about gone, the jack seemed to be lagging a bit, but I new all that before I started so no big deal. I didn't think that the jack needs a lot more power to lift the trailer than to drop it on to the truck. So there she has sat for a couple days while I tried to get batteries, that I had let go over the winter, to take enough charge so that I could lift the trailer off the truck.
I decided this afternoon to give up on the old batteries and pulled out the hand crank. Sure enough the crank fit where it was supposed to but the holes for the pin didn't line up. I messed with it for a bit before I decided it just wasn't going to work. Tomorrows project is to take the pieces apart and drill some holes to make it work right.
I have solved my problem with some jumper cables, but it just bugs me that I have been checking to make sure I had that crank, and spare pins before every trip for five years, and never once tried it to see if it worked. This wont be a hard fix, but if I was on the side of the road somewhere i would be in a real jam.
Posted 2013-05-11 11:44 AM (#151907 - in reply to #151897) Subject: RE: Learned something new today!
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 379 Location: Missouri
Well at least you didn't learn your spare tire doesn't fit like my father-in-law. Seems the trailer came with the correct diameter but the wrong offset so the lug nuts wouldn't thread on. Needless to say he was pissed.
Posted 2013-05-17 10:32 AM (#152090 - in reply to #151897) Subject: RE: Learned something new today!
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 385 Location: high desert, CA.
Probably not nessesary to add, BUT....in all my vehicles I have a cross rim wrench I have bought from either Pep Boys, or NAPA. It fits 4 different sizes of lugs, and I have used it on trucks cars, and on my trailers.Several times I have come across folks who have some dinky original equipment wrench, that won't undo or re-torque the lugs, as it is too small and no leverage. At least one time, I had to help a gal get her trailer back out from a parking spot in the forest. She had parked her rig, and it rained pretty good. somehow she did not notice the tire had gone almost flat, and could not get the tire lugs loose to change it. That meant the cross rim was able to get enoguh leverage to break the lugs loose, and I changed her wheel. ..Of course she had also sunk into the soil with the other tires, so we had to pull like a train with the two trucks to get her back out, and up the road to pavement. It is best to include a good aftermarket cross rim to your truck.
Posted 2013-05-17 9:28 PM (#152102 - in reply to #151897) Subject: RE: Learned something new today!
Expert
Posts: 5870 Location: western PA
We keep a 4 way wrench in the truck which fits all our trailers' lug nuts. However, the first time I tried to use it to remove the two nuts on each SIMMs, I found that the wrench's largest size was too small for these nuts. It turns out that they are the same size as the anode rods on our hot water heaters, for which I keep a socket and ratchet in our tool box.
Learned something new today!
