# Buying An Electric Tongue Jack..



## CalifRVers

Im going to get my hubby a electric tongue jack for his birthday present.

I wanted to know what other have installed on their Outback. So tell me what the Outback experts have to say about electric tongue jacks and if you have a photo of yours installed that would be a bonus! I've heard Barker is a good brand? Do you have one and like it? How easy are they to use manually in case of a malfunction?

Thank you!


----------



## Scoutr2

I bought the Atwood 3500 tongue jack soon after getting the Outback. It has been used for 2-1/2 seasons with no problems. It will lift the trailer tongue, while hooked to the truck in order to easily get my WD bars on and off. I keep a few nights worth of firewood and a few other necessities in the bed of the truck (with a fiberglass topper)and I have seen the rear wheels of the truck come off the ground, in extremely uneven situations. The jack groans a little more under those conditions, but so far, it has worked like a champ.

Others here have reported the same with the Barker, so I'd say go with whatever has the best price. The Atwood 3500# Tongue Jack is on sale for $290 through RVWholesalers.com and shipping is free, for that amount spent. Not a bad deal!

Hope this helps.

Mike


----------



## Ridgway-Rangers

Scoutr2 said:


> I bought the Atwood 3500 tongue jack soon after getting the Outback. It has been used for 2-1/2 seasons with no problems. It will lift the trailer tongue, while hooked to the truck in order to easily get my WD bars on and off. I keep a few nights worth of firewood and a few other necessities in the bed of the truck (with a fiberglass topper)and I have seen the rear wheels of the truck come off the ground, in extremely uneven situations. The jack groans a little more under those conditions, but so far, it has worked like a champ.
> 
> Others here have reported the same with the Barker, so I'd say go with whatever has the best price. The Atwood 3500# Tongue Jack is on sale for $290 through RVWholesalers.com and shipping is free, for that amount spent. Not a bad deal!
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Mike


X2. Love the Atwood. Best money ever spent. no more


----------



## Oregon_Camper

Atwood 3500.... I did a TON of research on this when we bought the new 301BQ back in June and hands down the Atwood 3500 was the best IMHO. It is NOT the cheapest...but you get what you pay for.

Because you asked....here is a picture


----------



## john7349

Got to go with the Atwood 3500 too. Best mod I have done. A real back saver! What ever brand you go with, be sure to get at least a 3000 lb rating. They come with a manual handle for emergencies. No harder than what you do now.


----------



## Kchotrod

I bought an Ultra 3000 from Ultrafab products. It worked fine for the four times I used it then the shaft\mechanism broke. I had to use my truck jack and concrete blocks to get the trailer connected. After some more surfing I found I was not the only one with this issue. Camping World was great though and gave me my money back on it. So I would follow with the group and get the Atwood.


----------



## clarkely

I went with the Barker's Deluxe Hi-Power 3500 lb. Jack, its been on two campers now couple of years of heavy use and still going strong


----------



## hautevue

I bought the UltraFab. It ran fine until 5 days from home on a 30 day trip. The switch died, but one can turn the shaft manually if you have a socket wrench set. I called UltraFab and they shipped me a replacement immediately, no proof required. VERY nice of them. I returned the dead one to them (they paid the Fedex ground shipping charge).

The replacement works nicely, and it's only a 10 minute job to put the new one on--three bolts (provided) go into the matching holes in the tongue, and the hot wire hooks up to the closest hot terminal on the battery. Truly simple.


----------



## thefulminator

Our Barker VIP 3000 has been great so far. No complaints.


----------



## CalifRVers

It was a hard decision but ultimately we went with the Atwood 3500! Our decision was pretty much decided on the manual cranking in case of battery failure, we have tall propane tanks and couldn't imagine hand cranking with a 1/2 turn at a time since the Barker's hand crank is positioned on the top...

I know this will be one of my husbands favorite mod! Thanks everyone for your input and help!


----------



## raynardo

Heck, I don't even know what brand electric tongue jack I have, but in order for the dealer to close the deal they had to install one, since I had had one in my previous trailer. It's worth it's weight in gold.

Putting on or removing the weight distribution bars is a breeze. It lifts my truck high on it's suspension. I've never tried to get the wheels off the ground, but why?

Level the OB front to back is also sweet.


----------



## n2striper

Nothing else compares to the attwood 3500 period. I have has it for several years an no troubles!!! I love the light on it too.


----------



## battalionchief3

Got the barker. Had it for a few years and it works great. I looked at the Atwood but the Barker is a little cheaper when I searched for one. They save a lot of work with the weight bars.


----------



## Dub

I have the ADTH 2000lb and paid about $100, been on two campers now. Lifts the tongue and one time lifted the back wheels of the Tundra off the ground with it when putting on the WDH. I thought I had a problem with it once and couldn't get a hold of their customer service so I wouldn't buy another just for that fact, but if price is a motivator I've had it since 2007 now...still works.


----------



## CalifRVers

Its DONE! We installed our Atwood 3500 today!! Just one thing that Im sure Atwood will take care of for us, the light cover was cracked so I plan to call customer service tomorrow.

Other than that, this thing is GREAT!! Installed in 20 minutes..


----------



## Joe/GA

Does anyone know if the Atwood uses the ball screw method like the Barker uses?


----------



## Ridgway-Rangers

Joe/GA said:


> Does anyone know if the Atwood uses the ball screw method like the Barker uses?


I know the heavy duty one uses the ball and screw.


----------



## Joe/GA

Ridgway-Rangers said:


> Does anyone know if the Atwood uses the ball screw method like the Barker uses?


I know the heavy duty one uses the ball and screw.
[/quote]
Thanks. Maybe Santa will get me one! We have a system at work that lifts a tremendous amout of weight using the ball screw method. It works a lot better than a screw jack.


----------



## WDS9074

Has anyone tried the Bulldog brand. It has a 4000lbs lift and a five year warrenty. Saw it on Ebay for around $240 after shipping.


----------



## N7OQ

I bought on ans have it on my trailer now. I love it has a 5 year warranty, 4000lbs of lifting, a drop down foot and a really good price. Bull Dog makes very large commercial size jacks so they are a big company.


----------



## dlewis

I have a 2007 Outback model 28rsds that I just purchased last week. I've been looking at the Atwood Deluxe model 3500. Found it for $210 on ebay ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Atwood-Deluxe-HD-3500-Power-Tongue-Jack-Camper-Trailer_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem5d26d84743QQitemZ400083666755QQptZMotorsQ5fRVQ5fTrailerQ5fCamperQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories ) which looks to be the best price I've seen so far. Is this the proper model for my trailer?


----------



## Ryeguy

I bought the bulldog brand and we are very pleased with this mod,DW loves it to


----------



## bama29fan

i just added a Bull Dog to mine. got it off ebay and installed it two days ago. i had an ultraFab 3502 on prior to this one. the Bull Dog is much more quite. i havent used it to hook up the Equalizer bars yet but I will tomorrow. Cant beat a 5 year warranty either.


----------



## twincam

we have a Barker brand and love it, make sure you get one with the light.


----------



## bama29fan

bama29fan said:


> i just added a Bull Dog to mine. got it off ebay and installed it two days ago. i had an ultraFab 3502 on prior to this one. the Bull Dog is much more quite. i havent used it to hook up the Equalizer bars yet but I will tomorrow. Cant beat a 5 year warranty either.


Used the new tongue jack for the first time last weekend. the spot we ended up with you have to back down an incline to get the camper in...i had to put boards under camper tires to keep the camper bumper from dragging the ground. so with the camper in the spot the truck was still on the incline. i had to raise the jack so much to get the EQ bars off the back of my dually was lifted off the ground about 4 inches. the jack never seemed to strugle to lift the weight of the tongue and the weight of the truck. i highly reccomend so far!!!!


----------



## Partsman Ed

The Atwood 3500 is one of the first mods I did to the trailer after getting it. Love being able to raise and lower the trailer with the touch of a switch. Now the wife wants to install power "landing gear" on all four corners...


----------



## Nathan

Partsman Ed said:


> The Atwood 3500 is one of the first mods I did to the trailer after getting it. Love being able to raise and lower the trailer with the touch of a switch. Now the wife wants to install power "landing gear" on all four corners...


The power stabs are great. My parents have them on their 5'er. Just press the down button and both sides power down, equalize and then raise to stabilize.

Of course the high end 5'ers now have full Motor home 4 point leveling systems which takes it up 2 or 3 notches!!!


----------



## jrhhhlz

http://www.amazon.com/500lb-Heavy-Duty-Electric-Trailer/dp/B000B8YLHO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1275843317&sr=8-4


----------

