Oh no! Trouble on the Road- Tongue Jack

[PTHutch]

I've had both Barker and Atwood power tongue jacks and would agree with others that Atwood was the better of the 2.

FYI - also look at what is the manual override capability. If I remember correctly Barker it had an access opening in the top to use a crank, that's what caused potential water infiltration. The Atwood I believe had the manual override located in the front, which maintained the integrity of the unit.

Good luck.

[Digmenow]

Originally Posted by PTHutch

...The Atwood I believe had the manual override located in the front, which maintained the integrity of the unit.

Good luck.

Does that mean that the hand cranking would be vertical (up and down, free and clear) instead of horizontal (side to side, bumping the propane tank cover)?

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by Digmenow

Does that mean that the hand cranking would be vertical (up and down, free and clear) instead of horizontal (side to side, bumping the propane tank cover)?

Yes. In the industry, the vertical cranking is termed side wind, and the horizontal is called top wind. The built in level on top of the Barker comes out to reveal the socket for the handle. The old Barker H&H was just a hinged plastic cap, and while there was a collar on the top, water could still go in if the cap broke off.

I like the top wind feature of my H&H when I move my '97 around the yard with the lawn tractor, I can still crank the jack and it doesn't interfere with the back of the tractor. The handle is angled as such where it doesn't interfere with the LP tank cover at all. In any other case where I'd want to manually use the jack with a vehicle, I think I'd prefer the side wind.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Digmenow

Does that mean that the hand cranking would be vertical (up and down, free and clear) instead of horizontal (side to side, bumping the propane tank cover)?

The Atwood has the crank location in the front down buy the light on/off and extend/retract button. You insert a crank they provided on the older models into the front of the jack and then would crank the handle (handle motion) just like you are doing now on a manual jack. There is nothing to bump into the LP tank area. It works well and through a little bit of gearing you can create the full force of the jack without a lot of effort. It is mechanically geared to the ball screw drive so it is truly manual, the battery can be missing or dead, the motor died, the fuse blew etc and you still have manual.

BenB got one of the new 4,000# Atwood's I think now 1 year ago. My 3,500# one had a crank they provided. Ben's they provided a socket adapter you put into a cordless drill and crank it up and down that way. You can still put a wrench on the drill adapter if wanted and crank without drill.

[PTHutch]

Thanks Jon & John for answering Digs question on manual cranking.

It's been years since I've had either so I couldn't remember the specifics.

Hutch