Truck camper jacks

[wagoneer]

whats your opinion I have the hydraulic style small upside-down bottle jacks on stilts. Are they temperamental, i prefer the manual crank using a 18 volt drill with adaptor, best of both worlds electric and hydraulic.

 

[idn88]

I have never had a set but I they are promoted as easier to jack up and down than the manual type. I imagine it depends on the weight of your rig.

Not sure what kind of maintenance you must do to them. If you already have them I wouldn't see any particular reason to change them out until they stop working reliably of course.

The mechanical kind wear out over time as well - they seals go and they loose their lubrication

 

[highdesertranger]

I always preferred the hydraulic. but in the end it's up to you. seeing as you already have hydraulic why not just keep them. highdesertranger

 

[wagoneer]

That is the current plan as my funds are thinning out, when you have what you need and what you want comes around at an astounding price1! So I will play the waiting game for some rich "older" guy going electric and perhaps get a bargain. I will be doing the National Park thing on my upcoming 4 day in a row not working stretches to debug.

 

[IGBT]

I use manual Reico Titan jacks on our homebuilt truck camper.   Pretty high quality and decent price.

Why fool with electrics and potential breakdowns when you only take the camper off a few times a year?

 

[akblack10]

I have Happi-Jacks on my Bigfoot and they work very well. If you plan to take the camper on and off the truck regularly, I think electric jacks are the way to go. If you want to save money... go to an auto salvage lot and you might find an old Truck Camper from which you can cannibalize! Hand Cranking gets old!
-AK

 

[wagoneer]

Yes it's all working out keeping the hydraulics I gotta say I really like the combo inline 6 diesel with a small truck camper I am able to close the tailgate and the twin size bed is like I have in the Stix-n-Brix. Shorter than the van and no pesky converting, I will leave that to the more adventuresome On a side note Willy I gotta hand it to you you have earned a dinner on me for helping Hippie, we will meet up.

 

[Fivealive]

My first TC had crank jacks and I just used a modified socket on a power drill and it worked great! My current TC has the hydraulic ones and I hate them. They get stuck and I honestly don't trust them as much as I did the crank jacks. I wish I would have swapped the jacks before I got rid of my old camper. The cranks just seemed so simple, never needed to add fluid to them, they never got stuck, never had an issue. Plus, when using a power drill he crank style is less work then pumping the hydraulic jacks.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I know i am kind of late to this party, missed your original post  :blush:

I have four cable jacks for my camper.  They don't travel with me.  As my camper comes off only once a year for maintenance, its one less thing to get caught in brush, add weight, add wind drag, ...

 -- Spiff

 

[highdesertranger]

they do like to get caught in the brush. highdesertranger

 

[wagoneer]

all the above I did not have a choice after fussing with the hydraulics I saw the light and went looking at manual cranks wow not cheap and can only imagine the shipping cost. I dream of going down a country road and running into a garage sale and the answer is Oh those old things 10 bucks PAIR. WELL GOLLY GOSH just woke up

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Wagoneer:  your dreaming too small!

My dream is to find a EarthRoamer someone wants to dump cheap  

-- Spiff

 

[wagoneer]

Those are sweet, whats your choice in motors? This TC is small 1300 Lbs sitting on a white 95 Dodge 2500 thinking about removing the Jacks altogether.

 

[masterplumber]

Wagoneer, keep an eye out for old campers that have the jacks you want. I once bought an entire camper for $50 just for the jacks. Scrapped the rest as it was already gutted and rotten wood everywhere. It was just sitting in a person's backyard so I stopped and asked. probably could have gotten it for free, but I offered the $50.