# Broken Trailer Jack - it's always something



## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

I was ecstatic last month when I picked up my new to me LQ horse trailer. 

I've been able to use it a few times and noticed last time that the power jack was struggling. 

I thought the motor was maybe going on it, as it started smoking and would just stop. Couldn't crank it manually either - so something in the actual jack must be busted. 

So, B/F took nearly the entire day yesterday - took the entire assembly off the trailer and with a lot of elbow grease took the entire jack apart. We have two broken gears and believe the main jack rod doesn't work b/c the metal is so cross-threaded. 

Has anyone had to replace a jack?? I am trying to see if I can get parts for it, but that isn't looking promising at all. To replace the entire assembly will be probably over $2k. But if the motor is good, I should just be able to replace the actual jack, correct? 

Anyone experience this and have any tips/insights?


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

I had issues with my New to Me trailer LQ trailer that I picked up last month as well. Haha why does that seem to be a trend? My "new" tires blew 150miles from the dealership(dealer made it right as the tires were actually 9 years old) and when I went camping a week and a half ago a hose on my toilet ruptured leaving me with a mess and possible need to purchase a new toilet (luckily my wonderful grandfather and his friend had spare toilet hoses and we were able to get it fixed without spending a dime) and I found out my sewage port only has one hose nub on it meaning when I empty it I have to hold the hose to the trailer, gross gross gross lol I'm looking into replacing that currently. Light popped out in the horse area, FUN STUFF haha

As for the jack, I know the first instinct is to go to a local horse trailer dealer/service center but try a place that sells campers first. The fifth wheel campers have the same types of jacks and it's A LOT cheaper. You can get MOST things for a LQ trailer at a place that deals with campers and RVs and it's usually a decent amount cheaper because the specialized word "horse" is not in front of it. I'm currently doing that with my sewage pipe.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

@Phantomcolt18, I'm sorry that you are having so many issues with your trailer!! It is always disheartening when you get something 'new' and then so many things go wrong. So far with mine, the jack has been the main issue. My fridge will also intermittently stop working, but I think blowing some air through it might help as I think maybe there might be some junk in there that prevents it from staying lit. 

Oh, I also had to go out and buy new batteries for it, but that to me isn't a huge deal. Batteries don't seem to have a great life span anyway. 

It just sucks to have spent so much money on a trailer and have all these camping plans, but then end up with just an expensive lawn ornament that can't move. 

Apparently parts for this jack are hard to come by, so it sounds like we might have to replace the entire thing.....yay.


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

cbar said:


> @Phantomcolt18, I'm sorry that you are having so many issues with your trailer!! It is always disheartening when you get something 'new' and then so many things go wrong. So far with mine, the jack has been the main issue. My fridge will also intermittently stop working, but I think blowing some air through it might help as I think maybe there might be some junk in there that prevents it from staying lit.
> 
> Oh, I also had to go out and buy new batteries for it, but that to me isn't a huge deal. Batteries don't seem to have a great life span anyway.
> 
> ...


Right? It's definitely disheartening and I found myself missing my old reliable rust bucket of a trailer (though it did need SO much more work.) There's always going to be little things but when the big things go "out of the blue" it's sometimes enough to make you want to cry (to be honest I did tear up in frustration at least once because I was so done) 

That stinks you'll have to replace the whole thing. Definitely try a camper store to see if their prices are any better. By shopping around I have saved A TON. Online is your best friend as well.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

@Phantomcolt18, I know right?? I was thinking to myself yesterday that it would have been so much easier if I'd just stuck with my old bumper pull. No fancy gadgets or anything to get broken. 

My b/f was very surprised I didn't freak out over this jack issue. Guess I'm getting more mature with dealing with these unforseen situations. I am just thankful it decided to stop working at home and not when I was out in the mountains somewhere. The trailer would have been staying behind.

So far I have called quite a few places - one being an industrial/heavy duty parts place (not specific to horse trailers). I have sent pictures of the assembly to many people, but so far only one person has been diligent about actually getting back to me. 

I have camping plans this weekend - my friend has been kind enough to offer to take my horse for me, but you don't really realize how much you rely on your trailer to carry all your junk until it's no longer functional (or rather, how much stuff we feel we need for a weekend). 

Do you mind me asking what kind of trailer you ended up getting?


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

cbar said:


> @Phantomcolt18, I know right?? I was thinking to myself yesterday that it would have been so much easier if I'd just stuck with my old bumper pull. No fancy gadgets or anything to get broken.
> 
> My b/f was very surprised I didn't freak out over this jack issue. Guess I'm getting more mature with dealing with these unforseen situations. I am just thankful it decided to stop working at home and not when I was out in the mountains somewhere. The trailer would have been staying behind.
> 
> ...


This times 100! You can't take everything with you when you're using someone else's rig haha and that is extremely frustrating. It's more the peace of mind that everything you need is where you need it rather than not having something when you need it. Can you still take your trailer but leave it attached to your truck so you don't have to use the jack? 

I ended up getting an Exiss 3H LQ. So far it seems like a solid trailer and pulls like a dream. What did you end up getting?


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

Phantomcolt18 said:


> This times 100! You can't take everything with you when you're using someone else's rig haha and that is extremely frustrating. It's more the peace of mind that everything you need is where you need it rather than not having something when you need it. Can you still take your trailer but leave it attached to your truck so you don't have to use the jack?
> 
> I ended up getting an Exiss 3H LQ. So far it seems like a solid trailer and pulls like a dream. What did you end up getting?


Haha, that's exactly it!! I guess I will be loading up all the horse gear into my little Honda CRV - so there won't be room for coolers, a tent, sleeping bags and the dogs and all their junk. 

We thought that we could hook up my trailer and just leave it hooked up all weekend, but then b/f pointed out that if I got a flat tire on my truck I'd be up *hit creek. Odds are I won't get a flat, but on the off-chance I did...I would be in a world of trouble with no way of getting the trailer off. I'm not sure I want to chance it. 

I got an older C&C 3H LQ. It's a bit big for what I needed, but I just couldn't pass it up as it had everything I was looking for. The awning is busted, and I figure next year I will get that fixed (they are fickle things - and with the wind we get, many awning's suffer).


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

cbar said:


> Haha, that's exactly it!! I guess I will be loading up all the horse gear into my little Honda CRV - so there won't be room for coolers, a tent, sleeping bags and the dogs and all their junk.
> 
> We thought that we could hook up my trailer and just leave it hooked up all weekend, but then b/f pointed out that if I got a flat tire on my truck I'd be up *hit creek. Odds are I won't get a flat, but on the off-chance I did...I would be in a world of trouble with no way of getting the trailer off. I'm not sure I want to chance it.
> 
> I got an older C&C 3H LQ. It's a bit big for what I needed, but I just couldn't pass it up as it had everything I was looking for. The awning is busted, and I figure next year I will get that fixed (they are fickle things - and with the wind we get, many awning's suffer).


Very true, very true. I get that haha my mommom likes to say that if I didn't have bad luck I'd have no luck so the flat tire is something that would happen to me!

Very nice! I've heard good things about C&C. Mine is an older model Exiss Event (I know Exiss tends to get a lot of flack for their Sport model) the previous owners before me bulletproofed this thing to the nines! Everything is solid and everything was kept so nicely it looks barely used other than normal wear and some branch rubbings on the outside. They even left all of the original paperwork for the trailer, appliances, and paperwork for all of the fortifying and enhancements that were done to it (how I found out that the tires on the trailer when I bought it were not the tires that the previous owners had on the trailer, the dealership swapped them out) Not to mention I went over this thing with a fine toothed comb. I'm planning on upgrading to Rumber flooring in the future though just for the ease of cleaning and I hate dealing with mats haha


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## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

I just googled 3500# 12v electric trailer jacks. They ranged from $81-200 at Harbor Freight, Amazon and Northern tool. I think since your B/F already has it off it would be an easy fix. Many more were listed too.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

@ksbowman, The best deal I could find was at a local hitch shop - $250 for the jack. Another industrial supplier wanted $440. The prices vary so much I am curious why? Must be the brands?? 

At any rate, I'm going to load up the old jack into the truck and take it with me, to ensure I am getting the right thing. We have to do some fabricating on it to put the electric motor back on, but that's OK I guess.


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## Rob55 (Mar 6, 2014)

Etrailer.com


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## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

cbar said:


> @*ksbowman*, The best deal I could find was at a local hitch shop - $250 for the jack. Another industrial supplier wanted $440. The prices vary so much I am curious why? Must be the brands??
> 
> At any rate, I'm going to load up the old jack into the truck and take it with me, to ensure I am getting the right thing. We have to do some fabricating on it to put the electric motor back on, but that's OK I guess.


 Those prices I quoted were with the electric motor. That's assembled and ready to put on.


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

ksbowman said:


> Those prices I quoted were with the electric motor. That's assembled and ready to put on.


For real??? The only quote I got for the jack + electric motor was for over $2000!!!! 

I am not even sure how heavy duty of a jack I need. The one fella said the one I currently have is a 10,000lb jack. I am getting mixed information everywhere I go - so to know what to buy is giving me a huge headache. 

If I could get one with the electric motor already installed that would definitely save me some work in fabrication!!


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