Trailer jack maintenance

[lfhoward]

Hi All,

The screw jack that my trailer uses to hitch/unhitch from the Jeep has recently gotten harder to turn. I’m betting it needs some grease.

It’s the military version but I’m sure maintaining it is the same. The technical manual says to remove the top plate and fill with grease.




What kind of grease works well for applications like this?

Thanks!

[featherliteCT1]

I do not know about your jack but will share what I know about grease and trailer tongue jacks.
Many greases are not compatible. If you do not know the kind of grease that is already installed, it is recommended that you clean out all the old grease before installing new grease, then stick with that kind of new grease.

If it were me, I would try to clean out the old grease and then install new water resistant, lithium based, wheel bearing grease.

As an aside, even though I have EZ Lube Dexter axles, rather than just pumping new grease into the zerk fitting, I remove the wheels, then remove all the old grease and install new grease. I was taught that procedure by our anal equipment manager who is a Purdue grad engineer (for what that is worth).

My Bulldog brand trailer tongue jack manual says:

“For side-wind models, … Apply a small amount of automotive grease to the internal gearing by removing the jack cover, or if equipped, use a needle nose applicator or standard grease gun on the lubrication point found on the side of the jack near the crank. Rotate the jack handle to distribute the grease evenly. A lightweight oil must be applied to the handle unit at both sides of the tube for side-wind models. If equipped, the axle bolt and nut assembly of the caster wheel must also be lubricated with the same light weight oil.
For top-wind models, apply a lightweight oil to the screw stem.”

[lfhoward]

Featherlite, I’m so glad I asked! It sounds like grease types being incompatible is a fairly major detail and I’m glad you told me that. I was hoping not to have to disassemble and clean the whole unit to start over but I will if I have to. I began a similar thread over in the trailer section of Steel Soldiers (a military vehicle forum) and maybe they can tell me what kind of grease the Army uses.

[lfhoward]

On the military vehicles forum I was able to get the National Stock Number of the “Automotive and Artillery Grease” that would have been used, and get some of the pertinent info about it. It turns out it has a lot of anti corrosion additives you wouldn’t find in regular civilian grease, but basically it’s a lithium base NLGI grade 2 grease. This should be enough info to find something compatible at the auto parts store. Grade 2 is basically wheel bearing grease, and it will need to be a lithium type grease.

Here’s that thread if anyone is interested:
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/landing-leg-jack-maintenance.201224/

[featherliteCT1]

Glad you found out the actual military grease specs!

As it turns out, lithium based NLGI No 2 wheel bearing grease (red), manufactured by Lubrimatic, is recommended by Dexter axle for their wheel bearings.

See

https://www.fayettedistribution.com/Dex ... 012-00.htm

Ace Hardware sells that same Lubrimatic grease.


That Lubrimatic grease is the same as Lucas Oil, red and tacky, lithium based NLGI No 2 wheel bearing grease.

Lowes sells that same Lucas grease.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Lucas-Oil-Prod ... lsrc=aw.ds

Note that the color “red” does not necessarily mean that the red greases manufactured by different manufactures has the same specs.


Regardless of the manufacturer, the key is that the grease is “wheel bearing” grease, lithium based NLGI No 2, regardless of the color.

[Tomterrific]

Turns out I just learned some about grease due to working on a vintage 1926 outboard. The #2 is how thick the grease is. You have 000, 00, 0, 1, 2 and so on until the grease is as thick as candle wax. The #2 is common universal grease. My old outboard uses 0 or 00 gearbox grease. This is a semi fluid grease that slumps or flows rather than tunneling around the gears.

Tt

[bobhenry]

MY OLD FULTON WAS GETTING A BIT STUBBORN SO I GAVE IT ABOUT 4 OUNCES OF ATF SEEMED TO DO THE JOB.

[lfhoward]

It was a beautiful 65°F day so I decided to spend a couple hours doing trailer maintenance.

Today’s job: grease the tongue jack!



The jack had a few solidified clumps of former grease, but otherwise was completely devoid of lubrication. Probably the last time it was greased was at the factory or when it was in use by the military. I learned how to disassemble the unit and filled it with Lucas’ Red & Tacky. That grease is compatible with what was in there originally.

It works flawlessly now. Raising the trailer tongue up is incredibly easy now.

[Modstock]

After our winter trip I noticed our jack is a bit rough. Its a top wind and the cap doesn't look removable.
Maybe I'll see if I can inject some grease near the shaft.
In the future I may cover the top of the jack and save it from road spray during those harsh trips.

Sent from my SM-A115AP using Tapatalk

[lfhoward]

In my case the 90 degree gears at the top were dry, but the worse problem was the vertical screw and "nut" that lifts and lowers the foot of the jack were bone dry as well. Putting grease in the top didn't get it to where it needed to go along the screw, so I had to put the trailer on the Jeep's hitch, flip the jack horizontal, unscrew the "foot" all the way out, and grease the internal screw and nut separately. Basically I had to disassemble the unit to grease it and then put it back together.