It’s amazing how, sometimes, you don’t think of the obvious until it rears up and bites you!

We live in New Hampshire and it snows here, sometimes heavily. Our travel trailer spends the winter out in the yard, so it’s exposed to whatever the weather brings. I take some of the weight off the tires and suspension by putting jack stands under the frame. We put a big, heavy duty tarp over the top and hold it down with bungees, rope, and tent stakes. I don’t let too much snow build up on the roof, and this has worked well over several years and multiple RVs, with no roof leaks or other, winter-related problems.

We got some heavy, wet snow a couple of weeks ago in one of those late spring storms. Some called it the April Fool’s storm. Saturday morning, after Deb took some things out to the rig – I think she’s getting the “let’s go camping” itch – she came in and asked how come I had the front of the trailer jacked way up? I very intelligently said, “Huh?” We both walked out and, sure enough, the tongue jack was all the way up and the frame was up off the front jack stands by about six inches! The front tandem tires were barely touching down, and a lot of the 30 foot trailer’s weight was on the rear jack stands and the tongue jack.

After assuring my wife that I hadn’t jacked the thing up, I pushed the button to lower the jack. Nothing happened. I tried the light on the jack, but that didn’t work either. No power. We keep the rig plugged into shore power over the winter, so we checked and we had lights and power inside the trailer. The jack has an access port to allow manual raising or lowering using a socket wrench or manual crank. At first, I couldn’t move the mechanism up or down. I finally put enough muscle into it to break it loose and lower the thing back down to the proper level.

The tongue jack is wired directly to the battery, with an inline fuse on the positive side. That fuse was good. Since we had replaced an older tongue jack with a new, Ultra-Fab Odyssey a couple of years ago, Deb quickly located the owner’s manual with a parts diagram. Sure enough, there’s a 20 amp circuit breaker mounted inside the jack’s motor housing.

The guilty breaker

I took the thing apart, got my multimeter and found 12 volts DC on the input side of the breaker, but nothing on the output side. Problem solved! All I needed to do was find a replacement circuit breaker and install it. I could order one from Ultra-Fab for about $20 plus shipping. Camping World had a 30 amp unit $17. I finally stopped at a close-by Advance Auto Parts store and bought a replacement breaker for $3.49, installed it, and now the jack is good to go again.

What caused the problem in the first place? Well, I guess a practical joker or a would-be trailer thief could have come into the yard while Deb and I were at work. Could have. My best guess is, however, that the last heavy snow did it. The toggle switch to raise or lower the jack is right on top of the housing. The edge of the tarp extended out past the jack motor housing. I’m thinking that enough snow accumulated on the tarp to activate the switch. That would have held the switch down until the gears jammed and the motor pulled enough current to toast the breaker.

Seems obvious now. Mother Nature can sure keep you humble. Before next winter, I’ll have to make something to go on top of the jack housing to keep Mother Nature’s hands away from the switch!