Any Ideas re better jacks for TM?

Yep, I use a Ryobi 18v and as you indicte the drill will actually do the entire job if the battery charge is good. I would recommend using at least an 18v cordless drill.

[Bill]

George makes a good point. In the early days of this board, several people reported using 6-volt or 7.2-volt drills, and burning them out. These drills use HIGHER current to compensate for the LOWER voltage - but the extra current overheats them.

If you use the drill simply to lower the jacks until they are firmly on the ground, a lower voltage drill should work. But if you continue, using the drill to actually lift the TM, then you're asking for trouble with a lower voltage drill.

I can't wait to see what one of the new 24-volt drills will do! Anyone tried it?

Bill

[Bill]

To crank the jack without getting down on your knees,

I thought about putting a universal joint into the short end of the rod, but never got around to trying it. Or maybe using a flexible shaft like these.
www.mcmaster.com, then put "1083" into the Find box.
Kind of expensive ...

I just ran across a cheap ($4) flexible shaft. Go to
www.harborfreight.com and type 92631 in the Item Number box.
It looks to be somewhere between 12" and 18" long, and a 1/4" Allen wrench should pop right into the drive end.

Bill

Here's an alternative to using the drill. http://www.cumminstools.com/browse.cfm/4,1830.html
There would be some engineering to attach it to the TM frame.

Here's another with two ton jacks.
http://www.generatordepot.us/index.a...FQZtYAodCggvQw

[Bill]

These look interesting, Jim, and quite manageable. The first one, with the 1000-pound rating, is probably too light for lifting the TM, even if you mounted 4 of them in the corners. But it would be great for people like me who use the jacks only for stabilizing. The 2000-pound units would be marginal for lifting; the 4000-pound units should handle lifting quite nicely, even if there were only two of them, mounted forward of the wheel wells.

For permanent mounting to the TM frame, I would be concerned about watertightness of the motor and gearset, but that could probably be managed with some kind of boot or bag. But no one says they have to be permanently mounted - you could toss 'em in the rear of the tow vehicle, and use them for either routine stablizing/levelling, or for tire changing.

Thanks, Jim.

Bill

[rtcassel]

I have a brochure from Ultra-Fab that says that this power stabilizing system costs $650. I suppose that a trailer would need two. There is also a Power Twin which costs $750.
http://ultra-fab.com/productPages/ultra_powertwnII.htm

I thought maybe they could be mounted upside down more easily than the way they're shown. I also wondered if the cords could be cut off and plugs installed so you only plug them in when needed. They're not much more than a manual replacement jack from Liftco. Your concern about watertightness is probably well founded even though they would be all the way under the TM there's still a lot of gunk that gets on the stock jacks. Wouldn't that be kool, though, if you had all the cables going to a central console and you only had to push buttons - kind of like the big diesel pushers! Even more fun if you could wire it through a level sensor that would do everything automatically. Sort of like the hillside combines we have here in Washington that keep the cab level regardless of the terrain. I'm dreaming of course.

[Bill]

Don't stop dreaming, Jim, I think, you are onto something! As Tim noted, the commercial versions are really expensive, but a set of four of these individual jacks doesn't cost nearly as much. The upside-down mounting sounds like a good idea. You would want to attach some kind of broad base to what is now the top of each jack to distribute the load on the ground - but that's easy. Electrically, if each unit is fused at 10 amps, then cutting and extending the cables to a central control panel, probably near the hitch, is easy. Making the panel a plug-in affair, so you can carry the panel itself in the tow vehicle, is easy. I'm still concerned about weatherproofing/muckproofing the jack motor and gearset down there in the basement location, but maybe a mudflap just in front of each one would be adequate.

So who's going to volunteer to try this out? If it works, I bet TM would pick it up!

Bill

the dealer where i bought my 2720 cut the end off the hand crank & fit it to my power drill works fine