Binding trailer jack - half butt fix

[newbury]

My top crank trailer jack had been working fine, not too difficult to turn. Then fall came.
Now my enclosed 10K trailer has been sitting outside since I bought it in ~2019. I had been filling it this last year for an 800 mile trip, from Va. to Ms.
It was getting so I got serious exercise cranking it down to raise the tongue so I could get the tongue weight for a final "balance".
The jack is one of those with an enclosed top.
Looking online I need to remove it from the trailer, disassemble it, brush and grease the screw (all thread rod).
Being that I've only limited tools at my Virginia house I decided to take the EZ way out.
I dropped the "foot" off, sprayed up the tube with garage door lubricant.
Now I know I probably still need to go in and brush the thread and lay down a layer of grease, but it was a quick fix and seemed to work.

 

[bmaverick]

My top crank trailer jack had been working fine, not too difficult to turn. Then fall came.
Now my enclosed 10K trailer has been sitting outside since I bought it in ~2019. I had been filling it this last year for an 800 mile trip, from Va. to Ms.
It was getting so I got serious exercise cranking it down to raise the tongue so I could get the tongue weight for a final "balance".
The jack is one of those with an enclosed top.
Looking online I need to remove it from the trailer, disassemble it, brush and grease the screw (all thread rod).
Being that I've only limited tools at my Virginia house I decided to take the EZ way out.
I dropped the "foot" off, sprayed up the tube with garage door lubricant.
Now I know I probably still need to go in and brush the thread and lay down a layer of grease, but it was a quick fix and seemed to work.

Buy a simple zerk fitting kit from Harbor Freight. Tap a hole near the top of the cylinder. Install the zerk fitting. Now you can grease it up anytime you need to.

In a quick fix, you can spray PB Blaster with the stick wand into the near circle gap of the crank and the tube cover. PB Blaster is basically propylene glycol.

 

[newbury]

Buy a simple zerk fitting kit from Harbor Freight. Tap a hole near the top of the cylinder. Install the zerk fitting. Now you can grease it up anytime you need to.

In a quick fix, you can spray PB Blaster with the stick wand into the near circle gap of the crank and the tube cover. PB Blaster is basically propylene glycol.

The problem with the zerk approach is that there' just a relatively slim all thread rod in a a tube about 1.5 inch diameter, and the bottom of the tube does not have a cap. I could probably waste about 4 tubes of grease trying to thread the rod.
I've got no gap at the top, I had tried spraying PB B'laster in the top, it just puddles up and SLOWLY leaks in with virtually no improvement in cranking.

 

[bcp]

Bruce

 

[newbury]

Yup Bruce, that's what I figure I NEED to do, but spraying lube was a lot quicker.

 

[nisaacs]

If it is just the standard 3k, three bolt A-frame jack, get a new one.

https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Jack/etrailer/TJA-5000T-Z.html

 

[RandyT]

If it is just the standard 3k, three bolt A-frame jack, get a new one.

https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Jack/etrailer/TJA-5000T-Z.html

I picked up a couple 5K three bolt jacks at Rural King about 3 weeks ago on clearance for $29.99

 

[MTGreen]

You could crank it up, lower the tongue onto some blocks or on to your hitch, then remove the jack to grease it all without needing a second jack or specialty tools

 

[newbury]

Instead I just put it on my scale setup, took the foot off and sprayed it.

 

[Rebeldad1]

you also could simply drill a tiny hole in the top and spray lube the jack screw from the top.