Gears for the Support Jacks on a Truck Camper

z9bmw0 · 01-19-2022, 08:33 AM

So my gears in one (of the three) jacks that support my Truck Camper have stripped out. I have the old gears removed and have not had luck (as of yet) sourcing a new gear set. Any suggestions or help would be appreciated. I love this old camper...

**JohnB** · 01-21-2022, 06:26 AM

Hi,

Many of the same companies that make truck camper jacks also make trailer power tongue jacks.

There are many of us here on the forum who know the trailer power tongue jacks, if you can provide us with a brand and model of what you have, we may be able to suggest a few places to start hunting or calling.

If there no brand/model stickers anymore, any chance of posting a few pics? We are really running a bit blind not knowing what you have or if it was original from Sunline. And even Sunline changed styles and brands over the years.

If you need help on how to post pics, just let us know, that we can help with.

John

z9bmw0 · 01-24-2022, 10:10 AM

Thanks for the response. I have attached a couple pictures of the "vintage" jacks used to support the camper. There is no name, part, or any kind of description on the jacks. Since my posting, I have ordered a set of gears that I *believe* will work based on the size and specifications located on their website (link below). Any thoughts or additional recomendations would be appreciated.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...933306S00.html

jacks.jpg

jack 2 (2).jpg

Camper.jpg

z9bmw0 · 01-25-2022, 07:35 AM

The gears I ordered will not work without modification, so still looking for any guidance. Thanks.

mainah · 01-27-2022, 07:45 AM

There are a few 5,000# square jacks out there looks like it just be a matter of a drilled and welded plate to match yours. I think finding gears maybe be a hard task I'm thinking they have been revised several times over the years. I under stand not wanting to spend $120 for the want of a couple of gears but it maybe your only answer other than a machine shop at $100 an hour to make a set!

**JohnB** · 01-29-2022, 06:37 AM

Not knowing the brand of jack makes this harder. If it was an Atwood, that makes it hard now since Atwood sold out and Lippert Components picked them up. But, Lippert also owns Happijac and it seems they push the Happijac and the Atwood sort of morphs into the background of discontinued. I have heard many of the Atwood jacks in use had to be converted to the Happijack and they did work in the same controls system. But this is for more modern day truck camper jacks. Yours look like the older generation.

Not sure what parts you need. By the Etrailer link it seems to be the bevel gears. Not sure if this helps, but it might. At work, we used a long standing power transmission parts supplier called Boston Gear who makes a lot of these kinds of parts. OEM's would incorporate them into their equipment. I use to have the hard catalogs, now everything is web based and they are still in business.

You can try here, the main site https://www.bostongear.com/

The bevel gears show up in the "Rotary drives" catalog. There a a lot of helpful reading there https://www.altraliterature.com/bran...-gear/catalogs

They make standard gears from the catalog you can buy from local power transmission supply places and they you can modify if they are not exactly what you need. You have to back into the gear diametral pitch but they have tooth profile charts that help with that, and then there are formulas you can use. A local machine shop may well know of Boston Gear and they can get them and modify if they are close enough to start with. The whole thing is cheaper if they just have to re-machine a stock BG part then hobbing the entire teeth and all.

Hope this helps and let us know what you come out with as other Sunline truck camper folks who may need the same thing in the future.

John

z9bmw0 · 01-30-2022, 03:59 PM

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. So, I purchased a Fulton Bevel Gear Kit from eTrailer (see below for details) since the shaft hole, outer diameter and pin sizes all were matches for the gears that came out of the unit. The number of teeth on the gears and gear height did NOT match (the difference in teeth did not mater since I was replacing both gears). As expected, the gears did not fit and required modification. I had to "slowly" grind the bevel off both gears to get them to align with the vertical gear's shaft holes in the square jack shafts. I removed almost all the bevel on the vertical gear getting the shaft close, but it would not line-up and go through the holes. I then began to grind off the bevel of the horizontal gear thus lowering the whole assembly assuring the gears continued to properly "mesh" eventually aligning the shaft so it fit through the square assembly. This also allowed the pin to be installed through the vertical gear so it would not spin on the shaft. This all took about 1 hour. Today, I used the repaired jack and it worked very well. So, a $19 part, some grinding, greasing, and slowly measuring repaired the unit. Hope this helps. If you have any questions, please respond... Safe travels and happy days to you all...

Fulton Bevel Gear Kit - 1,500 - 2,500 lbs
ITEM # F0933306S00
QTY: 1
$19.01

**JohnB** · 02-03-2022, 08:14 AM

Good job! and thanks for reporting back.

They say, Necessity, is the mother of invention! A guy or a gal on a mission, can get it done!