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Toy hauler tongue jack landing gear

YotaAtieToo said:
Rv guys are funny

Omg, I have a 7500lb trailer behind my dually. Better get that $3k dollar octopus hitch :flipoff2:

Mean while contractors pull 14-26k lb off the bumper every day, zero octopus :flipoff2:



For real though, I always liked the uhaul design. I'd do something like that with a much larger jack.
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It's a 13k Pound trailer and the hitch was from when I BDL'd it behind my Excursion :flipoff2:

After getting that hitch used off eBay for $400 and fabricating the parts to make it work I'm around $800 into it and i won't be getting rid of it anytime soon unless I find the newer version "3P" available cheap.
This hitch was a absolute game changer for towing a giant sail.

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CarterKraft said:
It's a 13k Pound trailer and the hitch was from when I BDL'd it behind my Excursion :flipoff2:

After getting that hitch used off eBay for $400 and fabricating the parts to make it work I'm around $800 into it and i won't be getting rid of it anytime soon unless I find the newer version "3P" available cheap.
This hitch was a absolute game changer for towing a giant sail.
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Just giving you shit, travel trailers do seem to tow the worst.

Sail is probably a big factor, but also I think they're built to have minimal tongue wieght.
 
CarterKraft said:
You guys don't know me personally but this is kind of what I do... :laughing:

The more simply complicated the project gets the happier I am.
I guess it's like designing an airplane gismo, max strength to weight. It's fun to design, fun to build and really rewarding to use.
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"it's easy to build something overcomplicated, but it's incredibly difficult to build something as simple as possible"---Einstein (I think).

Always, always! strive for the simplest solution.

So you said "there's no ball to lift over, I have to pull the drawbar out of the receiver"

That sounds super fucking fun to reconnect. (or did I misunderstand you?)
 
Wow.

Found the video on the hitching procedure. They literally (probably) just finished unhitching this thing and keeping the truck straight and it still took a few tries over 4 minutes to stab the coupler in there, and that was with two people (who are very familiar with the hitch) on dead flat poured concrete inside a building out of the weather and with a clean, uncorroded hitch.

No chance of losing a finger there either. :homer:

I get how the pivot projection thing works and how beneficial it can be, but when 99.999% of the population can't even work a ratshit strap properly...



 
YotaAtieToo said:
Just giving you shit, travel trailers do seem to tow the worst.

Sail is probably a big factor, but also I think they're built to have minimal tongue wieght.
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Even ignoring tongue weight the distribution of the weight around the trailer is still shit.

Weight concentrated near the CG promotes good nimble handling. A TT is the exact opposite of that.

And the CG is pretty high up to begin with.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Even ignoring tongue weight the distribution of the weight around the trailer is still shit.

Weight concentrated near the CG promotes good nimble handling. A TT is the exact opposite of that.

And the CG is pretty high up to begin with.
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Yes.

I've posted this before:
(video should start at timestamp 4:07 for the TLDR).

 
Muckin_Slusher said:
Yes.

I've posted this before:
(video should start at timestamp 4:07 for the TLDR).

Click to expand...

I'd really like to see someone play with tongue length for a variety of loads.

My inclination is to think that no matter what your weight distribution is more tongue length will only make it better even if tong weight as measured at the ball decreases since your mass is in roughly the same place relative to the trailer axle but the tow rig has a longer lever over it.
 
arse_sidewards said:
I'd really like to see someone play with tongue length for a variety of loads.

My inclination is to think that no matter what your weight distribution is more tongue length will only make it better even if tong weight as measured at the ball decreases since your mass is in roughly the same place relative to the trailer axle but the tow rig has a longer lever over it.
Click to expand...

My new race car trailer has an extended neck. I figured it was for better/sharper turning but what you posted also makes sense.

Edit: Also has triple spread axles so sharp turning is pretty much not happening. :laughing:
 
They also have to have an extended tongue if they’re to ever be pulled by an RV, so maybe that’s why your race trailer was set up that way. I totally agree that a longer tongue should yield better stability. I’ve experienced great stability with my single-axle trailer, and attribute it partially to the extended tongue.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
Wow.

Found the video on the hitching procedure. They literally (probably) just finished unhitching this thing and keeping the truck straight and it still took a few tries over 4 minutes to stab the coupler in there, and that was with two people (who are very familiar with the hitch) on dead flat poured concrete inside a building out of the weather and with a clean, uncorroded hitch.

No chance of losing a finger there either. :homer:

I get how the pivot projection thing works and how beneficial it can be, but when 99.999% of the population can't even work a ratshit strap properly...



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I'll be honest the poor fuckers that used to do the hitching with no backup camera probably really hated their wives and kids :lmao:

I've always had a back up camera and being totally honest it's very easy to hook up to and detach from (except for Uber long jack tube bending)

The hitch head can be turned at any angle so you just aim it to the truck and back up, I'll usually stop once or have my son run the jack to adjust the height then back up until the stinger is seated or close. The OCL (over center links) can be used to pull the stinger in tight to the hitch if needed.
And since you don't have to go up and over the bell or mess with the WD arms I'd almost bets it's faster than the equalizer I had before.

You also gain infinitely adjustable weight distribution preload to easily adjust for higher/lower tongue weights, something I had getting dialed in on my equalizer.

Like I said it's a chunk of change at the jump but knowing what I know now I'd just has them add it to the purchase price back and enjoy the trip vs white knuckle all over the road experience I had before.
 
I am wrecklessy running into the job of adapting the old screw/motor to the 3.5" square jack tube.

I'll be able to incorporate a drop leg for extra length as well as the much increased strength of the big tube.

I cut off the nut from the old tube and welded it to a chunk of 1/2" plate to replace the old ball nut plate.
I would love to use the ball screw but they require brakes so they won't back drive and they drive shafts are prone to failure (why they were discontinued) so I'm gonna stick with a acme screw/motor which is proven.

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The OEM fit of the inner leg to the outer tube was sloppy as shit, crazy sloppy:barf:

That bugged the shit out of me and I had to fix that before going any further. I fabbed up a simple die to replicate the OEM dimples, it worked awesome but was fussy getting it all setup in the press.

PRO TIP! make sure the shims on the inside is in multiple pieces, I got lucky and used 2 1/2" plates and a 1/4" plate, if you make the shim exact the "dimple" will lock your die inside the tube.


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etting it dialed in

Cut out a sliver of a shim to stabilize the top of the inner tube for the drop leg, pretty dang fancy use of the plasma table:smokin:



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Had to build up and "machine" the jack lugs for the screw nut plate. Little router and flat bottom burr are it right up, worked way better than I imagined...

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Then I turned the nut plate flat to the axis of the screw, it wasn't exact I felt like after welding. Since the screw is reverse thread I reasoned I could just turn it in reverse with the tool upside down... Well it crashed the cross slide into the apron cause it was already damn near all the way out, it still works but something is not happy.

Then I figured out to switch the feed direction for reverse turning but forgot to reverse the lathe this time, that cause the nut to screw towards the tail stock the moment the cutter touched it, smoking the insert... I switched to hss bit actually upside down and got it turned down, manually with no power feed...

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That allowed me to crimp the nut plate back in the leg for the final time.
It just might work...
Need to shorten the screw to the right length so it won't run the jack tube out too far and get it all welded out. The cover looks like it will still work ok to keep the motor dryish.
I'm close to figuring out if it will actually fit on the tongue or did I just waste a bunch of time :lmao: I have not modified the new jack yet so the new jack could be reassembled and just swapped out if this is a fail.


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My trailer has hydraulics and 12v

This jack was $125. A hydraulic jack is like $500, plus prolly that in hose, fittings and a valve.
Electric jack, not sure, but ill be damned if I can't latch to a trailer ir unhook cause a battery is dead.
 
AKnate said:
My trailer has hydraulics and 12v

This jack was $125. A hydraulic jack is like $500, plus prolly that in hose, fittings and a valve.
Electric jack, not sure, but ill be damned if I can't latch to a trailer ir unhook cause a battery is dead.
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It has a mechanical over ride on top, can use a drill and 3/4 socket, ratchet or common RV 3/4" hand crank so definitely not limited to "electric " only.
 
AKnate said:
My trailer has hydraulics and 12v

This jack was $125. A hydraulic jack is like $500, plus prolly that in hose, fittings and a valve.
Click to expand...
How does $60 sound? 7000 Pound Stillwell Hydraulic Trailer Tongue Jack 325007 325017 | Stillwell | Brands | www.surpluscenter.com

AKnate said:
Electric jack, not sure, but ill be damned if I can't latch to a trailer ir unhook cause a battery is dead.
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Have it run off of the 12v charge line from the tow vehicle? Then as long as the tow vehicle has 12v and you can plug the 7 pin plug in, the trailer can be lifted/lowered.

Aaron Z
 
Just need to get a little more loom and it's done.

The foot and extension tube needs to be painted still or cold galvanized probably.
Might use the Plasma table to make a fancy lightweight 3d foot.

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