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Trailer Jacks Keep Your Load Level and Secure

Trailer jacks make easy work of raising your trailer tongue off the hitch ball, and they prevent trailer sway on uneven ground. Here, we help you select the right jack.
Trailer Jacks Keep Your Load Level and Secure

Even the smallest of trailers needs the assistance of a jack to get the trailer tongue raised off the hitch ball, or vice versa - especially if you hitch up and drop off regularly. And if you have a travel trailer which is a mobile home on wheels, auxiliary jacks are the lifesavers that can be positioned around the corners (or anywhere) to ensure everything stays steady and level when weight shifts inside. Good jacks make a trailer feel like a rock-solid building instead of a temporary structure that might blow over in the wind. In the scope of this article, we'll discuss the variety of trailer jacks and related products we offer on our trailer jacks web page.

Depending on the layout of your trailer and the items you're carrying on it, free space by the front of the trailer can vary on every application. That's why we've got bolt-on and weld-on "side winding" jacks with a vertically-mounted crank handle as well as "top winding" jacks with a horizontally-mounted handle. Typically, top winding jacks can handle more weight than side winding ones. Whichever style you choose, jacks rated for higher loads require gears with slower ratios inside for better multiplication of torque. As a result, they'll require significantly more turns of the crank handle to change jack height, and the process will take longer.

If you've got a trailer that's lower to the ground, consider a jack with a lower "bracket to ground" measurement. This is the distance measured between a jack's mounting bracket and its bottom-most point. The number of inches of "travel" refers to how far the jack will extend from a fully-retracted position.

A-Frame Trailer Jacks

A-frame Trailer Coupler
A-frame trailer couplers such as this one are designed to double as trailer jack mounting points. Uniformly positioned bolt holes make it easy to fit any of the jacks we sell.

Virtually all A-frame couplers which fit over the area where A-frame rails join together are equipped with a hole designed to receive a specially designed jack post, and we offer a wide selection of A-frame trailer jacks designed to be bolted or welded in place. No matter what manufacturer you select, bolt holes on A-frame couplers conform to uniform industry standards for placement - making interchangeability among brands easy.

A main factor to consider when it comes to selecting a jack is the size of the hole in your A-frame coupler piece. If it's a round hole, you'll need a round jack with a tube of matching diameter. If you've got a square hole, you'll need a square tube jack with equivalent dimensions. Most A-frame couplers have round holes, but we offer both round and square-shaped A-frame jacks.

Side-Winding vs. Top-Winding Jacks

Side-Winding Vs. Top-Winding Style Jacks
Side-winding vs. top-winding style jacks.

Choosing an A-frame jack with the crank handle on the side or on the top is mostly a personal preference – one that should account for clearance issues you may have with your particular boat. While side-winding jacks are typically rated for 1,000 or 2,000 pounds, you’ll find a selection that are reinforced for greater strength. For example, Bulldog's 175 Series Standard Round Jack can handle up to 5,000 pounds. Under the CAPACITY heading on the left side of the product selection screen, check boxes allow you to narrow your search by weight rating of both types of jacks.

A-Frame Square Tube Jacks

Bulldog A-Frame Square Jack
The Bulldog A-Frame Square Jack.

While most trailer jacks feature a round-shaped body in order to fit inside traditional round center holes in A-frame coupler pieces, we also have square jacks for square holes. One example is the Bulldog A-Frame Square Jack that comes with the traditional triangular mounting bracket and its own foot plate pad. The tube measures 2.25" x 2.25", and its top winding design is rated to hold 5,000 pounds.

Swivel Jacks

Folding Swivel Jack by Fulton
Fulton Swivel Jack

A swivel jack is a type of jack with a base that folds up out of the way when not in use, similar to the way a kickstand does on a bicycle. Swivel jacks save time, sparing the user the process of raising the base of the jack manually until it’s safely above the road surface.

A-Frame Jacks with Electric Power Assist

For those interested in convenience, we’ve got A-frame jacks with electric power assist. For example, Atwood's Power Jack is available in multiple configurations that you'll find in the product options field: Light Weight 1,500 pounds for smaller trailers with a 2" coupler, Standard/Deluxe 2,500 pounds, and Heavy Duty 3,500 pounds with an exceptionally wide 19" of travel.

Barker High Power Screw Tongue Jack
Shown here is one of several versions of the Barker High Power Screw Tongue Jack.
Stromberg Carlson Black Electric Tongue Jack
Stromberg Carlson's Black Electric Tongue Jack offers from 3500 pounds of lifting capacity.

Barker offers a number of High Power Screw Tongue Jacks (see here for one example) that are built for 2.0" or 2.25" diameter tubes, rated for up to 3,500 pounds, and equipped with built-in luxuries such as a 12-volt light and a level reader which is easily adjusted to monitor the level on the inside of your trailer. Another example is the Stromberg Carlson 3,500 pound Electric Tongue Jack.

Standard Trailer Jacks

If you prefer a complete jack that comes with its own bracket designed for bolting directly onto the side of a frame rail (or anywhere), Pro Series offers a best value with its Bolt-On Jack with Footplate. It comes ready to install, complete with hardware and attached foot plate, and is rated for 2,000 pounds. For heavier duty lifting, check out Fulton's Fixed Mount Square Tube Jack that's available in 2,500- or 5,000-pound versions. We've got a huge selection of jacks designed for intermediate trailers which can be welded on.

Black Pro Series Bolt-On Jack With Footplate
The Pro Series Bolt-On Jack with Footplate.
Fulton Fixed Mount Square Tube Jack
The Fulton Fixed Mount Square Tube Jack.

Heavy Duty Trailer Jacks

For agricultural, industrial, and construction trailer applications, we offer heavy-duty jacks rated from 10,000 pounds up to 90,000 pounds. Even though they're meant to lift and support a great deal of weight, clever designs still allow the simplicity of hand cranking.

The Bulldog Weld-On 2-speed Square Jack is rated at 12,000 pounds capacity. It is available either with a spring return or without a spring return, and includes a 13.5" drop leg extension with its own foot pad. It offers 12.5" of travel, and measures 54.6" high when fully extended.

Bulldog Direct Weld Spring Return 2-Speed Jack
Bulldog Direct Weld Spring Return 2-Speed Jack.
Bulldog 25K Lb Twin Cam Drop Leg Square Jack
The Bulldog 25,000 lb Twin Cam Drop Leg Square Jack.

Should you need more lifting power, Bulldog offers 25,000-pound rated versions – some of which offer two speeds thanks to two separate sets of gears. On such setups, a jack handle positioned on the low gear cam will achieve 1" of lift with 27 turns. When loads are lighter, a high gear cam can be used to lift the jack 1" with only 9 turns.

Separate Foot Pads For Trailer Jacks

Most trailer jacks with round poles feature a 2" outer diameter. To accommodate this, we offer a number of footplates that these 2" diameter jack poles will fit into. The footplates are all flat on the bottom to distribute weight evenly, so you can be sure they won't lose height by digging into the ground. Plus, they won't leave permanent marks on hard surfaces or damage pavement.

We offer low profile foot plates from Pro Series, and BAL. If you've got a higher trailer, or you regularly park on slanted surfaces, we've got foot plates from Atwood which provide over 6" of additional height. Should you prefer a caster wheel at the bottom of your jack, you can purchase a separate caster from BAL and Pro Series.

Bulldog Removable Footpad
The Bulldog Removable Footpad for 2000/5000 lbs Jacks.
BAL Swivel Caster Wheel
The BAL Swivel Caster wheel.

Drop Legs For Increased Height

Bulldog Drop Leg
The Bulldog Drop Leg.

For larger capacity trailer jacks with square tubes, we offer drop legs to attach to the bottom of your jack. A "drop leg" effectively serves as a stilt, boosting the effective usable height of a jack. Simply line up the holes on the bottom of your jack with the ones you wish to use on the drop leg, then install included pins to secure everything at a desired height. The drop legs we offer come with their own built-in foot pads - so if your jack came with one, it can be stowed elsewhere.

Secondary Jacks That Increase Trailer Stability

Camco Adjustable Stabilizer
The Camco Adjustable Stabilizer.

Scissor jacks are designed to balance the load they lift with stability by using one threaded bolt to raise both sides evenly. This is extremely useful when a corner or middle of any camper or trailer needs to be bolstered because of uneven ground surfaces underneath. For uneven ground surfaces, take a look at our stabilizer jacks page.

For example, BAL offers Leveling Scissor Jacks that can lift 5,000 pounds up to 24" with their Classic Scissors Jack that measures 4" high when collapsed, or their Low Profile Jack which measures only 3.6" collapsed. The Atwood Stabilizer Jack features an angled base and can extend jack height over 6”.

Should you be interested in a scissor jack with a built-in electric motor, see BAL's 12-volt Power Pack Stabilizing Jack. The jack is rated for 5,000 pounds, and the electric motor features 3 switch positions for quiet, easy height adjustment. You can also override the motor and operate the jack manually.

BAL's 12-Volt Power Pack Stabilizing Jack
BAL's 12-volt Power Pack Stabilizing Jack.
BAL Light Trailer Stabilizing Jack And C-Series Jack
The BAL Light Trailer Stabilizing Jack and C-Series Jack add stability to your trailer in this form.

For jacks designed to be mounted directly to your trailer for greater support on uneven surfaces, we've got angled jacks designed specifically for those purposes. For best value, we offer the 1,000 pound BAL Light Trailer Stabilizing Jack with 17" or 20" horizontal shelf pieces to support the underside of your trailer. Or, choose the BAL C-Series Jack which features the same basic design with a 3,500 pound rating and a choice of 19", 22", 25", 28", and 31" horizontal shelf pieces. You'll need foot plates for these, which are sold separately.

Lock Arm Stabilizer Bars

BAL King Pin Stabilizing Jack
The BAL King Pin Stabilizing Jack is excellent for the front of gooseneck style trailers.

Stabilizer bars and arms serve as brace pieces between jacks and the trailer itself. They allow the jacks to stay rigidly affixed in place, quelling side-to-side trailer shifting that makes camping in an RV extremely unpleasant. For starters, there's the Ultra-Fab Eliminator Trailer Stabilizer System bar set. If you've got a gooseneck style trailer and need to brace the high edge in the front, BAL offers the King Pin Stabilizing Jack in several versions, with or without extension legs (see Product Options). A removable top plate is also included. Atwood also offers the 5th Wheel Landing Gear with a 6,000 pound capacity as a pair.

Lippert Components Power Stabilizing Jack
The Lippert Components Power Stabilizing Jack.

For those that prefer the ultimate in trailer leveling convenience, take a look at the Stromberg Carlson Electric Stabilizer Jack and the Ultra-Fab PowerTwin II Electric RV Leveling Stabilizer. Both of these units use one electric motor to adjust each of the two legs independently of one another in varying degrees. Adjustments can be made until the horizontal shelf supporting the trailer is completely level, regardless of the terrain underneath.

Other Trailer Jack Products We Offer

In addition to the range of hardware discussed above, you'll also find individual component parts such as jack posts with built-in swivel wheels, wheel chocks, mounting hardware (nuts and bolts), jack handles, and even caps for the end of jack tubes. If the gear cogs, pinion shafts, and springs inside your jack have become worn and have excess play, we offer replacement parts and kits built by the same original jack manufacturers discussed in this article. Should you wish to customize your jack with electric power, we've got a selection of individual motors that can be bolted on.

Whether you need the simplest of manual jacks for your light duty trailer, an electric jack for your big rig, or jack supports to level your RV, our Trailer Jacks Online Store provides all the "support" you need!

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