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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Looks like I need a new jack stand

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/09/2013 : 11:28:45

Rita & I installed new disc brakes & coupler this past week. When we got ready to test the brakes with the truck, the jack stand wouldn't go up or down, no movement other than to spin the wheel. Since we were trying to test the trailer & brakes, I simply jacked it up with my hydraulic jack and flipped the jack stand horizontal & out of the way and then lowered the trailer onto the ball with the jack. (So much better than the old coupler!)

I had tried to grease it using the zerk nipple, but opening up the top of the column, the grease just drops onto the upper gear which is kind of a dumb method in my opinion. I assumed that the grease fitting would grease the entire assembly, but literally it just drops about an inch onto the gear, and I think they assume some of it will drop onto the gear & screw below, but that's just a guess. I'm kind of assuming the gears turn an Acme screw to raise and lower the leg, but I can't see far enough in to verify that, plus I'm not sure I'd trust it going forward anyway, so I plan to replace it. My guess would be that saltwater intrusion has frozen the lower gear/screw assembly, and I see no easy way short of unbolting the cap to have ever washed the saltwater off or a way to get to the screw assembly to try to fix it. So I'd like to find one that's easy to rinse and grease if there's such a beast.

What do you guys use and why? I'm in no particular hurry, so I don't need to run out and buy one immediately.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

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islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4031 Posts

Response Posted - 06/09/2013 : 15:44:21

When I had a trailer boat The jack stands would rust up inside the tube ( Gears) frequently. I got tired of buying a new one every few years. I would take the cap off of the tube and completely fill the area (Gears) with Marine wheel bearing grease. Doing this definitely helped. The gears are just mild steel.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 10:14:55

Did you take it apart to grease it, or literally just pack the whole tube with grease? I could see how you could pack it with grease, but that'd be a couple large tubes of grease in the case of my current one. However, better that than having it fail.

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islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4031 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 13:49:44

My stand had a plastic cap on top and when removed you could see the gears. I pumped lots of grease in and all around the gears. The idea is to waterproof them as best you can. Looked like this one with the cap on top. No I didn't fill the entire tube but say down to the bottom of that red sticker in the photo.

Edited by - islander on 06/12/2013 14:02:41

delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 14:06:16

So, my current one looks a lot like that one. Remove the cap, and there are gears immediately below, but they're turning (well they want to turn), it's something below that's bound up. I had a friend over on Sunday and the two of us (neither are particularly small) could not turn the crank, so I'm assuming the gear/screw below is rusted in place. The only difference between yours and mine that's immediately apparent is mine has a zerk fitting at the top so you don't have to take off the cap, but again, the grease just sort of oozes down onto the gears below the other side of the zerk.

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islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4031 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 14:30:31

Probably rusted down below on the worm gear. How these work is the crank handle has a bevel gear welded to the end . this gear rotates another bevel gear that is welded to the top of a long worm gear. The worm gear goes through the lower tube and the tube rides up and down the worm gear. Sounds like yours is rusted together where the worm gear goes through the lower tube. Bad news is I think its toast.

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Tim M
1st Mate

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60 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2013 : 16:05:43

It sounds like what happened is you ran the main screw past its stop point - it's easy to do - and it cross-threaded when you started going back the other way. The harder you try the more locked it gets and may be past saving. I've gotten them going again occasionally but the fact they're pretty inexpensive says something. As suggested: It's hard to use too much grease on them.

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.