Tongue Jack Upgrade

I know several folks have mentioned it, but any one else found it pretty essential to upgrade from the manual tongue jack to an electric model? Is it worth the moola?

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by APerkins

I know several folks have mentioned it, but any one else found it pretty essential to upgrade from the manual tongue jack to an electric model? Is it worth the moola?

I went for about a season and a half with the manual jack so, no, the electric jack is not essential unless someone is in very poor physical condition. I'm in pretty good condition...my Doc says I'm in about the top 2% condition-wise of all guys over 40...but I'm super glad I converted to the electric for these reasons:

• It's a lot, lot faster to raise/lower the tongue with the electric than manually. This alone trims 1 to 3 minutes off my total time to hook or unhook.
  
  
• During hookup, if you've got a heavy duty electric (3000 lb capacity or greater), you can use it to raise the rear of the tow vehicle (with trailer attached) to a high enough position that attaching the WDH spring bars will take almost no effort or leveraging. I often can attach the spring bars without even having to use the lever tool at all. By taking tension off the spring bars during hookup this also lets you easily use a higher spring rate bar for better tongue weight distribution.
  
  
• On a hot sunny day, I don't get all sweaty doing the hookup. Here at home my driveway angles such that the truck and trailer don't have the same horizontal attitude...so it takes a lot of jack cranking to get the trailer hooked up. With the manual jack, all the cranking on a hot sunny day would get me sweaty enough that it was mandatory I took a shower and had a change of clothes before jumping in the truck to depart. With the electric, it's literally a "no sweat" proposition...just hookup and go.

[Frenchy]

I agree with Ray.

Originally Posted by APerkins

I know several folks have mentioned it, but any one else found it pretty essential to upgrade from the manual tongue jack to an electric model? Is it worth the moola?

An electric tongue jack is not a very expensive item. For the number of times that you have to raise and lower your TM's front end during a trip, it's well worth this expense - especially if you expect your wife to help you with this task (such as when you're hitching the TM up to your tow vehicle).

APerkins
I suggest you select a model with crank for those times the jack doesn't work, like you arrive with a dead battery or blown fuse. Mine has a front opening for the crank when needed. Extra cost is minimal and well worth the peace of mind. The crank turns the motor via gearbox, so it is a little harder than a moror-less jack. Mine has a light on it for hitching (or unhitching) in the dark.
Bob