HF jack questions

[Aaron Coffee]

I bought a HF jack and with the trailer sitting level in the garage the wheel just touchs the floor witht the jack fully retracted. Shouldn't be a problem folding it as the trailer should be light enough to lift up and swing the jack down, but my concern is if in camping the jack won't go down enough to level the trailer if the camp spot is unlevel.
Has anyone shortened a jack, if so any pointers?
Thinking of doing away with the clamps and having a 1/2 plate cut at work, and having the holes tapped, then welding it to the trailer frame and bolting the jack to that, this would allow me to raise the jack a inch or two. Would this work?
Here is the jack in question
http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/trailer-jacks/1000-lb-swing-back-trailer-jack-41005.html
Thanks
Aaron

[dh]

If you raise the mounting point of the jack on the tongue member, you may incrase the 'twist' stress on the member. Depends on how your tongue is built.

Just a thought, they make RV leveling blocks, stack them up and park on them to get closer to level. You could use them to help compensate for an unlevel sight.

[bobhenry]

I have a Fulton sidewinder much like yours and while it is worth it's weight in gold the universal mounting "Clamp" hardware is cheesy as hell.
"Barn to be wild" has a single tube 2x2 tongue and it wants to roll around the tongue. I have tightened it so tight I have distorted the jack plate where it rotates and it will only lock horizontal with a great deal of cussing and kicking. I have my welder buddy on stand by to weld me two 1 1/2" by 1 1/2" pieces of 1/8 or 3 /16 angle one on top and one on the bottom of the tongue. They will be drilled and bolted to the jack I am hoping this will draw out the bow in the jack plate and make operation a little less labor intensive.

I carry a few 2x12 boards and some scrap lumber to insert where needed to level up the trailer. Simply lay them down and back up on them with the down hill tire. To keep the wiggle factor to a minimum I build up a jack pad with a couple 2x12's and then place I stainless steel "NO slip" dog dish to lower the wheel into. The rubber ring made into the edge of the dog dish keeps it in place.

[Aaron Coffee]

I took the jack apart last night and shortened it 4 inchs today, pretty simple, pictures to follow. I decided to skip the plate wleded to the frame, because then if I decide to switch to a different jack in the future I don't have welds to grind off. Thanks for the tips, #1 is somewhat heavy (1,000 lbs) so movement doesn't seem to be a problem, but this one I'm hoping to come in around 700 pounds, so it is something to keep in mind.
Thanks
Aaron

[ARKPAT]

Arron that is good to know ... I was thinking of doing the same thing on some Atwood's side crank jacks. I have even thought of keeping the part I cut off and making a Pin-on-clamp extension wheel/foot in the end of the jack for future conveniences. The tongue is a little long when parking the trailer. I back the trailer onto a slab to park and so the tongue jack is too short because the bumper is lower by six inches ( by the bumper being nearer to the ground ) . I have been using a trick of raising the tongue with a stick ( yep they are light enough trailers =) after releasing the hitch and lift the tongue enough to rotate the jack in place upright position and lock the jack into position for storage; until next camping adventure.





Pat

[Aaron Coffee]

Here are a couple pictures,
Exploded view.

Don't have pics of reassembled unit, I took 3 inchs off of upper housing and 4 inchs off of lower tube, and 3 inchs off of screw. the hardest parts was creating the dents to hold the nut in place.

Will try to explain disassembly. Remove top cap and drive roll pin from crank, remove crank, and gear and washer, pull other gear out, remove pin thru hole in side of upper housing, at this point the lower housing should slide out, remove wheel and screw the screw shaft out thru the bottom of lower shaft. I then knocked the dents in the lower tube down enough to remove the big nut, I took the 4 inchs off of the upper part of the lower tube, I thought about cutting the wheel mount off at the wheel and shortening it there but it looked like a lot of grinding.
Sorry I don't have any pics of shrtening the jack as I got in a hurry.

[rowerwet]

I looked into doing this but I like all the extra height the current screw and tubes give me, I am going to try cutting the welds where the bracket and tube meet and getting it rewelded near the bottom of the upper tube.