Elect Stablizer crushed

[arkhillbilly]

Have a 2012 Jayco Eagle 298 rls. I know the stabilizers are to only be used for that, and not lift trailer. Have used them a couple of dozen times w/o problems, and know to stop when the motor starts to stress. In doing this a couple of weeks ago, to my suprise, the front left arm pushed in and up, thus bending the cross top piece upwards, and folding both side arms outward, and pulled the units top flange(where it is to be connected to t/t frame) inward. Now the fun part. The top flange of unit has four slots(two sets of two on each side) as does the angle iron flange that is welded to t/t frame beam. Simple enough huh? However, the Jayco worker took a short cut, for some unknown reason, and installed a single self-tapping screw into the outside slot, on each side, Thus no support in the middle, where the greatest amount of force is applied. I did buy the unit pre-owned, and am versed in their warrantys. Can the metal be bent back to shape or is it forever a total loss?

[nunyadamn]

Without a picture, I would say once bent, always bent. My guess, again without a picture, is it will just fold from now on. I don't know if you can buy just that piece, my guess is you can't, but every now and then you can run across them on these sites where someone took them off to install the hand crank type. I guess you could try to get a metal shop to make you what you need, but that could be just as expensive as a whole new jack setup.

[mike837go]

Depending on how far the bend and how thick the metal is, it can be straightened.


Will the 'fixed' metal be as strong as originally designed? NO!


1) All the affected pieces have to be hammered back into something resembling their original shape.
2) Reinforcing has to be figured into the repair
3) Cracks welded
4) Reassembled as per the stabilizer manufacturer's instructions with reinforcing to cover the weakened metal.


Not a total loss, but not a simple swap-parts repair either.

[arkhillbilly]

If you have elect stabilizer's , it would be worth your time to inspect how the factory attached them to rv. It would appear that the design calls for four bolts on each side of unit , mine has two bolts each side on rear and two self tap screws each side on front. The screws were on outside edge, thus nothing was holding the center. The load stress simply pulled the arm inward.

[ninjahbob]

Good advice and information arkhillbilly. I would follow Mike837gos advice. You should be able to repair the damage. Post a pic. if possible. Good luck with your problem.

[arkhillbilly]

So my dealer says its Jayco who installed the stabilizer, so contact them. The stabilizer mfg said to use four 8-1.25 mm carriage bolts each side, not two self-tappin screws. So Jayco says its out of warranty. Which means we may have did it very wrong, but its your problem.

[arkhillbilly]

Latest e-mail discussion with Jayco lead service person: When he informed me they are to be used to stabilize only, and and not to apply pressure ( mine are listing at 3200 lbs support on c/w and same 3200 lbs, but" to lift" on Lippart site) and thus are subject to torque movement, He then quoted the Jayco owners manual that state they are only to" contact the ground and stabilize the trailer". Guess before I reply I need to find out their meaning of stabilize. I wonder also, how Jayco expects one to even out the jacks, when one side contacts the ground first, without applying force.

[arkhillbilly]

It took a lot of calls to JAYCO service manager, and letters to company and towable div presidents, but they came thru! Everyone realized in the end it was wrong just to tack on a elect stabilizer with a total of four self-tap screws, instead of mfg required 8 each, size 8 x11/2 bolts. My t/t was two months over the 2 year warranty, and I am also the 2nd owner. I received a new stabilizer today, and I agreed to install it myself. All in all, seems like a fair deal to me. Thanks JAYCO!

[spoon059]

Good deal by Jayco. Even being outside by 2 months, it sounds like it failed due to improper installation and they should be liable, even if it was longer outside of warranty. For the cost of a couple hundred dollars they have likely made you a customer for life (or at least a customer of one more Jayco product) and potentially sway more customers over to Jayco that hear about a successful resolution.

Glad they fixed it for you, and it just reinforces that I made the right decision to buy a Jayco myself.

[Edd505]

Now if they would just fix ALL faded caps on units less than two years old no matter how many times it's been sold. It's under their two years they warranty the original owner so what difference does second owner have to do with the problem at the factory? They should just fix their units with the known problem. Don't mean to rant; glad they stepped up for you when the problem was obviously from the factory.