Chinook RV

Silly question, but seriously, how many folks here know if their bottle jack is working properly or not?

I did not! Yesterday went to rig at storage place only to find one tire dead flat, no problem I thought, I have spare so lets change it. Problem was bottle jack may never have been used or if so it was Loooong time ago. Jack was seized and I could not raise it for the life of me. Had to take home, put in vice, and with generous amounts of penetrating oil and lots of force work it up little by little. There was fair amount of rust on piston so filed that off.

Jack is now working properly with new oil, however, if I was away from home I would have been stuck calling tow truck to help me out. Moral of the story.....make sure your bottle jack works properly. Simple maintenance can save time and frustration.

Mine was just checked in prep for our trip to Tucson in a couple of weeks. (Truth be told I checked it because I totally re-arranged the two outside storage compartments. ) I also checked the electric impact wrench I carry at the same time.

Good reminder!

I use the bottle jack a few times a year, and I have another spare jack in the closet. I think they are in good shape, because I regularly used them.

Mine is leaking and doesn't move anymore.

Checked mine for the first time 3 months ago. It worked, but was as slow as molasses in January! Switched it out for a newer jack I had in the garage. Will eventually buy a new replacement.

Thanks to this thread I checked out mine today...
1) The handle wouldn't fit in the hole. Probably never been in there.
> A 30 sec. date with the bench grinder fixed that.

2) Mechanism wouldn't budge.
> A little squirt-40 and some persuasion got it going.

3) 272 revs up, 272 revs down.
> In case you were wondering.