First trip, tongue jack quits! ARGGG!

[Msmith2054]

Looking for some help or tips. While unhooking at our site in St Augustine FL for our first trip with our new (to us) 2013 Laredo 291TG, the tongue jack stopped working with the tongue all the way up. Figured out how to manually operate it, but now trying to see if it is repairable. Neither the jack motor or light will come on like there is no power to the unit, and there are no blown fuses. Plenty of 12VDC available, but how do I get the cover off to see if power is getting to the jack motor/switches? I have a couple days to mess with it, but if all else fails, I can do it manually with my drill.

[MarcS]

Check for an inline fuse. It may have blown for some reason. Also check to see what else is not working, you may have tripped a circuit breaker on the underside of the a frame tongue of the trailer or frame.

[mfifield01]

Typically, there's a breaker that runs to the jack.

[{tpc}]

Check the ground wire and the positive wire. I thought mine stopped working one time and it was the positive wire wasn't clean or something and not making a good connection even though I had it on the battery tight. I scraped it with blade real quick and put it back on, and its be fine ever since. I am the original installer of it though, and mine runs to the battery, yours might be connected differently.

If you have a meter handy, you might be able to check on the terminals before you remove them to see if there is voltage. That could help eliminate something. I would say you could even poke through the wire if your probes are sharp enough, but the danger there is you will allow water into the wire and it can and likely will corrode at some point.

I think my husky just has some screws that hold the covers on, if you can find them. If you google yours you might find some help online with a video or something.

[JRTJH]

On the front bulkhead of the trailer (trace the positive battery cable to lead you to the exact location) you'll find two 30 amp "auto-reset DC circuit breakers". Check them for function, One will have the positive cable from your electric jack connected to it, follow that cable to check for an inline fuse, but chances are you won't find one. You will probably find either a defective circuit breaker or a loose connection to the jack cable end. Here is a picture of what you'll find at the end of the positive battery cable. There will probably be a red plastic cover on the circuit breakers to protect the terminals from getting wet.

[MarcS]

I see you have a Silverado as a TV. Make sure your truck is off when plugging/unplugging TT. My Silverado use to trip the circuit breaker every time I hooked/unhooked my TT with the truck running.

[B-O-B'03]

My jack has an in-line fuse, near the A-frame of the trailer, I usually take it out when the trailer is parked.

-Brian

[Freeheel4life]

I will simply regurgitate the same info as others. My power jack is wired directly to my battery with a dumb glass inline fuse. Blew it out in the middle of nowhere of course(2 hour round trip to nearest parts house). Now I keep a 5 pack of glass fuses in the kit. I used a bobby pin from my wife and completed the circuit as I realized it was operator error. I was extending while still hitched to take some load off of WD bars and wasn't paying attention. Started lifting truck and amp load went high.
I have never tried it but if jack gets to full extension and you keep operating switch is it possible amp load could go up and blow fuse??

[66joej]

Yes found that out the same way. Now there is a paint strip on the max up and down before the fuse blows.

[Msmith2054]

Thanks everyone. I’ll start checking these out in the morning.

[ctbruce]

Thanks everyone. I’ll start checking these out in the morning.Any luck with your jack?

[sourdough]

I'm a little late to this conversation, and yes, mine is direct wired to the battery with an inline fuse. The thing that killed mine was the rubber grommet at the top leaked water, and we had a lot of rain. It filled a little tray directly under the grommet that housed the circuit board...it fried. It was an LCI. Also, the nut for manual operation twisted right off when I tried to turn it; looked like it was made out of pewter. Asked the SM about it and he said that was a common problem with the LCI jacks. Replaced it with a 5k lb. Stromberg Carlson (whoever knew they made jacks) and it has worked fine for a little over a year but IT IS SOOOOOO slow. Good luck on getting it fixed vs replacing.

[JRTJH]

Sourdough brings up a point about water damage, usually from being rained on with many models of electric tongue jacks. One way to help prevent that (even if it is somewhat unsightly) is to take a 2 liter coke bottle (7-up is green and somewhat opaque), cut the top off and use it as a "bucket turned upside down" over the jack. That will help shed rain and most dew from the jack electric head. There are "fancy, expensive covers" but a bucket or a pop bottle works just as well. YMMV

[flybouy]

If it's the cheap OEM LCI like the one that came on mine it may be a thermal over load. Happened to me once, waited a few min and it restarted. Mine was so slow and noisy I replaced it with a Husky 5 K remote controlled unit and never looked back.

[chuckster57]

There is a recall for some LCI jacks. Don’t recall the models, but may be worth looking into if yours is LCI.

[rode2nowhere]

anyone have problem with husky 4500 jacks? my brake isn't holding or working, it freewheels when I raise it to unhook truck?

[Msmith2054]

Finally found it! It was a blown in-line fuse cleverly hidden up behind some old, brown spray foam. New 30 amp fuse and I’m back in business! Thanks folks!

[Freeheel4life]

Glad you are back to retracting and extending the easy way. Thanks for posting the results too.

[Ken / Claudia]

I learned with a truck camper that trying to run the 4 electric jacks off the batteries alone blew fuses. Learned to use only 2 at a time and not steady. Like a starter motor, run for 20 seconds or so stop and start again. Never had another fuse blow. The Tongue jack will not travel as far as a camper jack. but, point being, just do not think that switch is a light switch to turn on until your done. Let the motor rest a few seconds. It may help. I now have a electric tongue jack and run it the same.