Camper Jack Question

[SOLER]

I just bought a '97 Lance 11. 3 foot with electric Atwood jacks. I really don't want to spend $1500 on a new set, but the front right jack is really slow. Is there a way to...

1. lube it? It is supposed to be sealed, I think.

2. adjust something?

3. replace just the motor?

4. Replace just the two front jacks, with a kit that doesn't have any extra wires or brackets, since all that stuff is still good.



I've looked around the web a little, and all I can find are whole kits. I don't need all four. Just new motors for the front is all I want.



Thanks.



SOLER

 

[duckcarvr]

I would go on line and find their web site and ask them

 

[jelag]

In most cases the jacks use one motor and a cross shaft to drive the second jack... . its common to damage the gears in one side or the other by retracting them too much or extending them too much...

You can purchase replacement gears and replace them... When I bought a 5er that was the case... Once jack was always 25% slower than the other... and looking at the way they were tied together bothered me... I went so far as to balance them to the same height 2 or 3 times before I found the bad gear...

Once they were fixed all is well... I later painted a red strip on the legs so that I know when its getting close to full up or full down.....

When I got them open I found little or no grease on the gear set, something I dealt with when it went back together.

Hope this helps...

 

[RJWEST]

Can you swap jacks to make sure it is not in the wiring??

 

[jelag]

Geez, I miss read your post... you've got 4 independent jacks, one on each corner of a camper... my thoughts were of the 2 jacks on the front of a trailer that works as the landing gear... .

Sorry about the mistake... .

On the other hand... . if the one motor is laboring, sounds like its working hard... the mechanical side could be a problem... if the jack is slow because of electrical connections look for hot spots at the connections... .

 

[SOLER]

I'll check the wiring. I also thought about swapping them around to see if it's because one side is heavier than the other. A lot of campers were designed with two jacks on one side and one on the other.



Thanks



SOLER

 

[Grizzly]

I had a Lance 11' 3" with the same jacks and never had any problems with them in the 10 years I owned the camper. I received owners guides with every appliance and mechanical and electric option. The Atwood Jack manual had a complete breakdown in case you want to rebuild the system. If you don't have the owners guide, maybe someone here could copy their's and send it to you. You can also call Lance 1 800 toll free number and talk to someone about the problem. I found them very helpful in the past.

 

[Bill Stockard]

I owned a '94 Lance 990 (11' 3") with the Atwood electric jacks for years. The dual switches for controlling the jacks were on each front jack... driver side front jack had the switch for it and the rear jack on the same side. It took one person on each side of the camper working the switches to raise the camper simultaneously. If you have this type of Atwood jacks, the problem may be in the control switches. I never had a problem since I stored our camper inside, but others did from moisture entering the switch.



Bill