Rear jacks go up, but not down

jtower

Member
We had a tire blowout on the passenger side of our Heartland Sundance 5th wheel this weekend. After the incident, the rear stabilizing jacks will go up, but not down. I'm guessing a wire was pulled loose from the switch by flying debris, but can't find any obvious damage with a cursory inspection. Any thoughts?
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
I guess there's no telling where they put that switch. Mine is on the "driver's side" rear. At any rate, have you pulled the switch from the J-wrap panel to inspect it? Using an ohmmeter, you can check for voltage at the Up and Down sides of the switch. The other thing that has happened to several owners over time is that the springs for the brushes in the motor corrode away and the thing won't work. Myself, and others, have repaired this problem with a section of ball point pen spring and doing a good sealing job on the housing.

There should be a crank rod in your rig to operate the stabilizers manually. The receiver fitting for it will be on the side opposite the motor mounting and the end of the rod has a slot cut in it. If you have the standard front electric jacks, the rod is the same one for manually cranking them (or at least it used to be).
 

danemayer

Well-known member
On our stabilizers, there are only 2 wires going to the motor. The switch determines the polarity of the current flowing to the motor, which is what drives it up or down. So let me second the advice to check the wires at the switch, and also the switch itself.
 
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