Posted 2013-07-14 10:46 AM (#153349) Subject: Gooseneck Trailer Winch help
Member
Posts: 49 Location: Central Florida
I have a 2005 Bee 4 horse slant trailer with 3' short wall.
I hitched up the trailer today. It was going down just fine, but then when it was almost on the ball, it suddenly dropped and landed on the back of my truck dropping about 3 inches. Scared the peedoodles out of me. Trucks ok and luckily it landed right on the ball.
My problem is now that the foot won't go up or down at all. My son, relatively handy with tractors and such, took the cap off the top of the winch. The gears in the top seem to be fine. He said what has likely happened is the gear in the bottom of the housing stripped and needs to be replaced.
The entire foot assembly is welded into the trailer.
So my question is, can I just buy the guts for the inside and replace them or do I have to purchase a whole new assembly? I don't happen to have a welder.
I looked at my local RV center and the jacks they have are for bumper pulls and nothing appearing heavy duty enough for this trailer. Is there a special term for this gooseneck Jack and I'm not using the right words to find it?
I emailed Bee trailers to talk to them about it, but my experience in the past is that their customer service seems to have less than good bedside manner. I guess they are graded by how short their answers are. If I buy a trailer brand new in the future, I'll sure take a harder look at the customer service aspect of it.
Posted 2013-07-14 3:15 PM (#153350 - in reply to #153349) Subject: RE: Gooseneck Trailer Winch help
Veteran
Posts: 175 Location: Florida
They are usually referred to as a gooseneck 'square' jack. Kind of unusual that it is stuck in its current position. Dropping it on the ball when not perfectly centered should not cause a problem. Have you tried to raise the trailer a bit with another jack to take the weight off the foot, then try to raise/lower the jack foot ? Also, instead of trying to go throught the trailer mfr, is there a manufacturer label on the jack like 'Bulldog' which is one of the more popular manufacturers of these. Might want to go directly to them to see if you can replace the internals without removing the whole tube. I believe TSC even carries these. Can't find the pic of the internals, but they are rather simple. Just not sure you'd have enough room above it to remove the internal tube and gears, depending on the problem. The bulldog products.net site does have some repair parts listed, depending on your mfr and model.
Posted 2013-07-14 8:09 PM (#153356 - in reply to #153349) Subject: RE: Gooseneck Trailer Winch help
Member
Posts: 49 Location: Central Florida
The trailer is a mid 90's bee model. It's been painted, scraped, repainted and even the label with the VIN number is no longer there. Bee, for some reason, didn't have the wherewithal to actually stamp the VIN into the frame anywhere. Good times. The hitch is welded on completely. There are no bolts other than the cap at the top of the jack. It is currently sitting on my truck with no weight on the foot. I can tow down the road right now with no problems. The foot part slides up when I pull the pin, but when I turn the handle, the upper part (sorry I dont know all of the technical names for the parts of these jacks. If there was a diagram with part names ...) does not go up or down. If I turn the handle it turns easy and after about 5 or 6 turns it gets super hard, then it suddenly gets easy again. The big steel tube square that contains the gears is welded to the front of the trailer completely down both sides. Looks OEM to me. We've kept it greased and the top gears look great.It's too dark now, but I'll get photos tomorrow and post them. Appreciate the help from everyone, including the person who sent me a private message. I love this forum and send fellow trailer friends here all the time because you guys are so incredibly helpful.
Posted 2013-07-14 11:13 PM (#153357 - in reply to #153349) Subject: RE: Gooseneck Trailer Winch help
Regular
Posts: 79 Location: Alberta Canada
My nephew had the exact same thing happen to him. I fixed it for him, purchased a new jack, about 150$ here in Canada, took an angle grinder and ground off old welds holding leg on trailer, then welded on new jack with a mig welder. I would suggest purchasing your own jack, if your have angle grinder take old jack off yourself, and if you can weld new one on or take to local fabrication shop to weld. Make sure your place some pretty good sized beams 4x4 ro 6x6 under trailer once raised, and use hyd jack to raise.Ensure wheels are blocked also.
I would not suggest rebuilding old jack, as its probably seen its useful life.
Posted 2013-07-15 6:31 PM (#153368 - in reply to #153349) Subject: RE: Gooseneck Trailer Winch help
Veteran
Posts: 178 Location: Richmond, Ky
look around your local area and see if anyone does any portable welding and will come to your location, they should have all the necessary equipment on their truck to perform the job. good luck. We have a store called Tractor Supply that stocks that kind of jack in Ky. maybe you might have one local, or look for a farm supply store maybe they can help.
Gooseneck Trailer Winch help
