Need to replace Atwood tongue jack

[Elderdude]

Wow, Dave and Wayne, I got fuse confused. It's Miller time. Back at this tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Elderdude

Digger, I saw something under there near where the A frame tonge meets the trailor underbody that looked like two wires with caps folded neatly that I could not trace easily. I check them out again. Gee, wouldn't it be great if thats all I needed?

Take a close look. My TM has two wire nuts on the tongue used to connect the trailer brakes to the emergency breakaway switch (or whatever the heck that thing is called).

[ShrimpBurrito]

Originally Posted by M&M Hokie

Take a close look. My TM has two wire nuts on the tongue used to connect the trailer brakes to the emergency breakaway switch (or whatever the heck that thing is called).

Mark - Wasn't the breakaway switch already connected when you bought the TM?

Dave

Originally Posted by ShrimpBurrito

Mark - Wasn't the breakaway switch already connected when you bought the TM?

Dave

It was connected when delivered but via the two wire nuts of which I wrote. Did Custom RV give me a substandard install compared to everybody else?

[ShrimpBurrito]

Nope, I have those too as I just discovered. I at first thought you were saying they came disconnected. I cannot believe they used wire nuts for that. Wait, yes I can -- they also used wire nuts to attach the brake power lines to the brake magnet pigtail wires supplied by Dexter. There are only 2 advantages to doing it that way -- it's cheap and fast.

I'm going to change that soon to a more secure corrosion-resistant connection.

Dave

We originally purchased and installed our atwood electric jack on our 2000 Layton trailer.
When I sold it I removed the jack and installed it on the TM when we got it.
Wireing took 3 min. direct to the battery with a glass inline fuse. Used a grinder to remove a tiny bit of frame paint under the mounting plate for the ground wir that went around a mounting bolt.
I did have to use a grinder to very slightly enlarge the bottom hole the jack shaft went through on the TM.
The entire installation took about 30 min.
NEVER had a problem. I used it during set up without shore power.
It's a dream for hooking up the WDH. Just raise the back of the tv a couple of inches above even and the spring bars fall into place, then retract and let the spring bars take the weight.

Uncap them and check the voltage with a voltmeter. For safety sake, do this with the TM unconnected from shore power. One not after your install, My power jack uses the frame as the ground path back to the battery, I have a swing hitch which sometimes makes a less than desirable ground connection, Suggest you run a heavy ground wire from jack to the fixed portion of the frame to avoid intermittent grounds.

Art,
I have always used a electric tongue jack which I felt was worth every penny. One thing I did find out was when using a WDH the lift capacity must be at least 3500 lbs as per Atwood and other manufactures.

Elderdude, If you don’t see the single capped off wire at the front of the TM anywhere. Remove the front cover on the converter and see if there is a wire attached to the fuse labeled for the tongue jack. If there is, the other end of that wire should be some place where you can find it. I think they only do this on the slide models because of the batteries being mounted in back. ED

[Elderdude]

Digger, Dave, Mark, Bob, John, Ken and Wayne, (and or spouse thereof,) I thank you all for your input.

3500 lbs ... Minimum? What a crepe hanger, Ken! If that is true, no wonder my 1000# manual was so obstinate. My birthday present is starting to look more expensive, and more difficult to match to my2-2.25 inch tongue holes. Can I take a vote on this?

I'm convinced I can install an electric myself and I may go with the straight line back to the batteries, with a seperate ATV fuse, to the post, if I cannot find the fuse in the panel labeled jack. If I can, I'll do some more searching for that single wire. I think I did trace the two caps on the folded wires back to the break away switch, which is why I ignored them originally.