Stop Cranking Your Arm and Replace Your Manual Tongue Jack!
One of the first few things we replaced on our Scamp travel trailer was our hand crank tongue jack. The tongue jack sits on the front of the trailer and allows one to raise and lower the ball coupler so the trailer can be attached to the tow vehicle. It didn’t take too long to understand how much cranking is required when hitching and unhitching the Scamp travel trailer! Not only can cranking over and over be repetitively hard on your arm, shoulder and joints, but it takes a lot of time and energy. It’s also the time when you want to be concentrating on other parts of the process and cranking the jack up and down can be distracting.
Our process typically works as follows: once the rear stabilizing jacks on the Scamp trailer have been raised, I crank up the front of the trailer, so that the ball receptacle is higher than the ball on our SUV. I then back up our SUV so that the ball is aligned with the receptacle. Sometimes, I have to get out of the SUV and crank up the tongue a little more to make sure it clears above the ball. Then, I back up the SUV so the ball is directly under the ball receptacle on the trailer. Then, once the alignment is perfect, I crank down the trailer tongue until the ball receptacle goes down completely over the ball and the coupler latch can be completely locked into place. When arriving at the campsite, after securing the trailer with wheel chocks, I unlock the couple latch and detach all cables connected to the SUV, and then start cranking again to raise the front of the trailer until there is plenty of room for the ball on the SUV to clear when the SUV is driven forward. When the SUV is driven forward and away from the trailer, the trailer again needs to be cranked (usually down) until the trailer is level. And, all of the above cranking processes are to be repeated when leaving the campsite and arriving back at home!
It didn’t take too long for us to realize that all the manual cranking wasn’t a fun way to enjoy our Scamp trips! Fortunately, changing the tongue jack is super simple! And, electric tongue jacks are easy to install and not too expensive! The Scamp travel trailer has just three bolts – so, it’s just a matter of securing the Scamp onto the SUV (like you are going on a trip), raising the manual jack all the way up, removing the bottom plate on the jack, unscrewing the three screws that attach the jack to the trailer, and lifting the entire assembly up and out of the jack shaft. It’s important to make sure that whatever electric tongue jack your order has the same screw hole pattern as your original screw hole pattern so that when you lower the jack into place, the screw holes match. Then, it’s just a matter of screwing down the jack into position and connecting the power cord to the battery (and possibly a ground wire). Be careful in that often Black is positive for DC power jack arrangements (and White negative) – so, it’s important to check your manual to make sure the correct color is attached to the positive battery terminal and perhaps negative terminal if required.
We ordered the Barker 32454 VIP 3500 Power Jack for our Scamp travel trailer and have been extremely satisfied with the jack and the company. This is one of the pricier power jacks, but we feel the quality is worth it and have had really good interactions with customer service when we initially had questions. The jack has performed really well and is fast and quiet. We have never had an issue with it, using it regularly for almost a year. The jack is grounded by the trailer itself by the screw plate, so only one positive wire goes to the battery.
I also had the opportunity to install a much less expensive jack for my friend Dana who has a 16’ Scamp. She chose the Weize Power Jack, which is also a 3500 lb. jack and meant for A-frame trailers like the Scamp. Installation was very similar to the Barker, except there were two connector wires. Dana reports that she has been very satisfied with this jack.
Both Barker and Weize power jacks have a manual bar which can crank the jack in case the trailer battery is depleted.
Disclaimer: You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale. These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences. However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer. It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.
