A tale of two tongue jacks
I'm guessing I'm not the first Keystone owner to have an issue with the factory installed LCI Power tongue jack. Here's my fun experience.
When I purchased my Bullet Premier in January of 2010 it came with a factory installed LCI power tongue jack. The jack failed on the 2nd or 3rd trip with the new trailer. Seized motor. The dealer replaced it free of charge. That was in 2011. Fast forward 18 months. The jack failed again. This time, the drive mechanism failed. So I called LCI and told them the problem and tried to troubleshoot it. They said, there is no troubleshooting. You need a new one. $290. I said, "even if it is just 18 months old??". She said, "yes, unfortunately you will need to purchase a new jack".
My answer? "well, I guess if I have to purchase a new jack I will. From Barker. Have a nice day sweetheart".
I then called Barker to get a recommendation on which jack would be best suited for my trailer. I called their 800 number and received the following message, "Thank you for calling Barker Manufacturing (yada yada yada). For sales press 1, for service press 2, for accounting press 3. If you hate this automated phone crap, press zero to speak with a real person".
Of course, I pressed zero and thanked the lady for making my day with her recording (she was the same voice on the automated phone crap thingy). She transferred me to sales and apologized it I was going to be on hold for a bit since they were short staffed on Friday (Good Friday).
I got a guy in sales, told him the weight of my trailer and he recommended the jack that was best suited for my trailer. He even gave me the part number to use when ordering.
The moral of the story - well there are a few.
a) Barker makes outstanding tongue jacks. I had one on my 2007 Rockwood and it worked like a champ. One of my camping pals cracked the housing (but the jack still worked). Barker replaced it by replacing the entire jack. After 2 years of ownership, one of the switches crapped out. They replaced it free of charge. Even though I was out of warranty. Their jacks are designed, made and serviced in the USA and are rock solid
b) I love it when a company doesn't take themselves too seriously. Kudos to Barker.
c) LCI makes crappy tongue jacks in my opinion. Correction - their Chinese vendor makes crappy tongue jacks. If you do a Google search on it, you'll see lots of negative feedback on their jacks. And they do not stand by their product.
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2008 Ford Expedition EL
2011 Keystone Bullet 31BHPR
Tracking straight and true with a Hensley Arrow
Tekonsha Prodigy playing the role of brake control
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