I recently bought a NOS trailer that was passed around from dealer to dealer in a rather un-loving way, one consequence of which was that the trailer jack, a Fulton Magnum 1200# model, came with a lean of almost 20 degrees from vertical.
If you ever try to tow your trailer with the jack down and hit something with it (which I can only speculate is what happened in the dealer's yard) the jack will try to pivot up. In the case of my trailer, it cause the 1/8" steel plate which houses the pivot pin to deform, enlarging the interlock hole. The pin, which is probably a $5 item, and which can be removed in about 2 minutes, was fine, but the piece of permanently welded plate had a hole that was about twice as large as it should be to hold the pin tightly.
I emailed Fulton, thinking it's a 2007 trailer but its still new... maybe they'll replace the part under warranty. No luck. I was told there was no way to replace the part, and that I'd need to buy a new jack.
So I pulled the jack off my trailer thinking I'd got to the marine parts store and find one with the same mounting holes, and then I noticed that the jack plate is constructed to accommodate either a 1/2" pin on one side, or a 3/8" pin on the other side. The 3/8" holes, which had never been used or impacted, were perfectly round. Since my mounting plate had 1/2" holes, and I had a perfectly good 1/2" pin, I simply enlarged the 3/8" hole to 1/2" and moved the pine. Voila, problem solved. Jack now locks tight in vertical position.
If you ever try to tow your trailer with the jack down and hit something with it (which I can only speculate is what happened in the dealer's yard) the jack will try to pivot up. In the case of my trailer, it cause the 1/8" steel plate which houses the pivot pin to deform, enlarging the interlock hole. The pin, which is probably a $5 item, and which can be removed in about 2 minutes, was fine, but the piece of permanently welded plate had a hole that was about twice as large as it should be to hold the pin tightly.
I emailed Fulton, thinking it's a 2007 trailer but its still new... maybe they'll replace the part under warranty. No luck. I was told there was no way to replace the part, and that I'd need to buy a new jack.
So I pulled the jack off my trailer thinking I'd got to the marine parts store and find one with the same mounting holes, and then I noticed that the jack plate is constructed to accommodate either a 1/2" pin on one side, or a 3/8" pin on the other side. The 3/8" holes, which had never been used or impacted, were perfectly round. Since my mounting plate had 1/2" holes, and I had a perfectly good 1/2" pin, I simply enlarged the 3/8" hole to 1/2" and moved the pine. Voila, problem solved. Jack now locks tight in vertical position.
