Electric Jacks

[burningman]

I’ve always read that Happijacs are junk.
One thing I wasn’t happy about on my new Northern Lite was its got ‘em.
It’s onjy been used a few times, it’s a 2017, and one has already failed.
A lot of people cursed with these things actually carry a spare jack motor head as part of their normal gear.
Rather than replace one after another and deal with them failing at inopportune times, I think I’ll cut my losses and replace them all with something else.

Is there a consensus on the reliability of Atwood vs Reico Titan? Or any other particular advantage to one over the other?

I’ll eventually put my Stable-Lift on it but it’s still being used on another camper.

[K_Mac]

7 yrs. so far and no issues with my HJ's,I put a few drops of oil in top and spray legs with some silicone every trip. I do not use a lot, just enough to do the job. When I would use too much oil I could see the excess all over the legs, as I said a few drops.

[hedge]

I had one motor go bad. Since then I've covered the motors with 3-gang electrical box gaskets year round. They probably don't look that great and maybe it's placebo, not sure... but haven't had a problem since.

[Geewizard]

TxGearhead wrote:
For preventive maintenance on my Happijacks I found 1/2 gallon plastic buckets to cover the motors. Hopefully keep water intrusion to a minimum. Wind will blow them off. I used twist ties to secure the bucket bail to the motor wires.

I use gallon-size plastic bags.

Good to see another Go-Devil Surface Drive owner on here.

[Glacier_D]

My experience with HappiJac is that they are pure garbage. Granted I used my camper in the winter where the roads are salted, owned my camper 10 years and on my 3rd set of jacks and motors, 2nd motherboard and second remote. I have the newer 4800s (zinc plated) and they are just as rusted as my old 4500s and 4600s.

Don't drink their koolaide, their jacks do not hold up!

[TxGearhead]

For preventive maintenance on my Happijacks I found 1/2 gallon plastic buckets to cover the motors. Hopefully keep water intrusion to a minimum. Wind will blow them off. I used twist ties to secure the bucket bail to the motor wires.

[joerg68]

The old HJ motors were a bit sensitive to water intrusion. The new design - which looks a bit like the old Atwood - may avoid that issue, as the motors now sit at the top of the motor head.

FWIW, I had 5 HJ motors on my Outfitter Apex. One for the roof, four for the jacks. One of the jack motors was seized and thoroughly corroded after the second winter and had to be replaced. The jacks themselves and the other motors were fine.

Replacing a HJ motor is a simple DIY job, but not cheap.

[jimh406]

Not sure who sold the most, but from what I’ve heard here, it seemed Atwood had better customer service. I think that makes people more tolerant of failures.

My 13 year old jacks have had two issues. One remote controller died at about the 2-3 year mark. The switch to turn them on is intermittent. A shot of WD40 seems to get it working again.

[otrfun]

sbryan@vtbryans.com wrote:
I lost 1 HJ motor early on and otherwise they have been fine. I think it's a **** shoot on what is best. Remember that happy people don't post but people with problems do so the comments are always skewed. I suspect there are lots of happy HJ people who don't say anything (me included). One motor failure, covered under warranty, was an easy replacement and has worked fine since. JMHO

Is it possible HJ outsells the other brands? If so, it would stand to reason there might be more complaints.

Without knowing how the number of HJ problems/complaints compare proportionally with other brands makes it kinda hard to know whether HJ is actually more problematic or not.

[sbryan]

I lost 1 HJ motor early on and otherwise they have been fine. I think it's a **** shoot on what is best. Remember that happy people don't post but people with problems do so the comments are always skewed. I suspect there are lots of happy HJ people who don't say anything (me included). One motor failure, covered under warranty, was an easy replacement and has worked fine since. JMHO

[Geewizard]

I've had exactly one motor failure on my Happijacs since 2004. That's the only issue I've had.

Proper maintenance is the key with ANYTHING mechanical, IMHO.

[joerg68]

There are no more new Atwood jacks. They were bought out by HJ.
Your options are HJ or RT.
It remains to be seen if the new HJ motors are more robust/reliable.

[Grit_dog]

Seems like a waste of money.

[Kayteg1]

I have 2 TC with Atwood jacks and both systems are 18 yo.
Can't say how PO used them, but they had to be abused since all front brackets were bent when I got them.
I use the jacks tens of times when I am on my vacations and don't know (knock on the wood) what is jack problem. Even when I don't unload, I still lift the camper on jacks for stability.
My Fleetwood camper was scaled at 5500lb at some time.

[zcookiemonstar]

I have Reico Titans and one of mine sometimes does not want to work. A few manual cranks with a ratchet usually gets it to move but sometimes I have to play with it for a while. Camper it about ten years old and had this problem for a few years now. I don't have any experience with the other brands to compare.