This will be our second season with our 2016 16 ft Deluxe. With our first short season, I decided an electric jack was in my future.
I would welcome any advise on brand and/or size. It seems a 3,500 pound capacity should suffice, but would a bigger capacity be of any advantage?
We have the dual propane tanks with the larger battery if that is an issue
Ken & Ellen Peterson
2016 16 ft Deluxe
2010 Ford Escape
Ken,
Best thing I ever did was go to Power Tongue Jacks on my trailers, even had one on my Scamp 13.
Here are some comparisons on Power Tongue Jacks.
I've always used Barker and Atwood myself and liked both of them. 3500 is more than enough for your Scamp. It's an easy 3 bolt change out and some basic wiring, but the battery is close by.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale
I use an electric drill to deploy our stabilizers and leveling jacks. If you simply remove the small bolt on your tongue jack, that holds the crank handle in place, then take a small socket wrench that fits over the shaft of the tongue jack,and drill a hole through it so the bolt you removed can now hold the socket on the shaft. You can then use your portable electric drill to power your tongue jack. Effective and inexpensive.
This will work with the bit of mod on the tongue jack and correct bits for the stab and jack but when I tried this I found two issues come up.
One, you really have to dedicate a cordless drill that stays with the setup, otherwise I found you arrive and discover you forgot the drill on ur workbench. A decent cordless drill that will handle it is about $100 plus all the bits, so not tremendous savings. If you are a toolie and have extra cordless drill you can repurpose then no immediate outlay, but you bought it at some point so the cost is still there. You also have to purchase the drill fittings for the stabilizers which on some trailers I've had were totally different types.
Two, if you aren't really efficient and forget to keep the drill packs fully charged then you arrive and the drill doesn't have enough juice to do the job.
Both of these items I experienced occasionally and I'm pretty good about prepping trailer for departure. I do still use the drill sometimes for the stabilizers if I remember it and it's charged, but the big job is the tongue jack and it was easier to put the power tongue jack on and know it is always there. In addition, the jacks usually have a light built in that is super helpful on night arrivals, plus a bubble level that is pretty good once calibrated so you don't have to run around looking at levels.
The drill will definitely do the job once it is all configured, but it does add some issues that you don't have with a permanent power tongue jack.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale
Camping World always has sales on the tongue jacks and you will need the smallest style they advertise. We put this type on our old Scamp and it worked wonders. The best addition anyone can make to their beloved trailer. Our new Lance, by the way, came with such a jack.
<p>Doug Allen 2016 Ford F-150 2018 Lance 1575</p>
True, I did already have the drill, and one bit and maybe two sockets from Harbor Freight was very inexpensive. As to the drill being forgotten or not working, the beauty of this conversion is that you still have access to using the original hand crank by simply removing the one bolt and replacing the hand crank. What are your options if a power tongue jack quits working? The stabilizer jacks and scissor jacks both use 3/4" socket and both will operate by hank crank supplied with each when I purchased them.
Dave & Paula
Hi Dave,
All the tongue jacks come with a backup manual crank tool just in case. Usually there is a pop off top and the tool fits right over a nut and you can manually lower or raise.
This is the stabilizer socket I use in my setup kit. Like Dave says they are not an expensive add to the setup kit. If I have the drill with me I do use this occasionally on the stabilizers. You do have to be careful using this with a power drill to not over torque the stabilizers either raising or lowering as it is easy to do that with the power drill.
When I replace my cordless drill I'll definitely put my current one in the setup box so I always have it.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale