Bad Ramer Jamer

Well you guy's are probly going to laugh at me,,,but here goes.

I have a 3 car gooseneck trailer that has a 2 speed jack for raising it. When the trailer is loaded, the biggest of men couldn't crank the handle on high speed except for a couple of turn's. But put it on low, and a small child can turn it. The only problem is it take's roughly 400 crank's to get it up off the truck. This just kill's my shoulder that I've had 3 surgeries on.

When I put my air bag's on, I was hoping a benifit would be being able to raise the trailer up enough to unhook it. But it won't go high enough. Well then I thought I could use an air rachet to spin the rod that the crank handle bolt's onto. Well it work's, but drains my 2.5 gal on board air tank in about 3 second's. I figure it would take about 15 tank's to do it. That would wear my compressor out in no time.

So now I have a starter that was on my 150hp outboard boat motor. I'm pretty sure this will spin it with no problem. But before I go making some kind of mounting bracket, and push button and all, I want to be sure it will work.

So now finally to the point. The stater is just a tad bigger than a beer can. I can hold it. But I need to know if when I power it up and try my test run, will I get shocked since it's an all metal housing. I guess I could buy some rubber glove's if I had to, but I'd rather not waste the money. I'll be needing it to pay for the broken wrist I'm about to get.

Here's a pic. Notice I notched the socket to fit over the bolt that held the crank handle on. I tried this with my cordless impact, but because of the back and forth impacting action, it was really slow. I'm open for idea's if you guy's have any. Thank's.

joesixpack

Its 12 volt right? In that case for sure, no sweat but why not just snug it a little in a vice? In fact I recommend that, some of those little motors have some torque to them and will want to spin in your hand.

AlpineRAM

On a 12V system you won't get "shocked" - but I think that the torque of the starter will pull it free from your hands and wreak havoc if you try what you intend.
You will need a plate that gives you leverage against the torque- you can use a piece of flat stock and drill 3 holes and then mount the starter. ( this would also be a good place to connect the ground)

Just my 2c

AlpineRAM

wurkenman

Why not a cordless 1/2 inch drill? If not you will need to clamp some sort of handle on the motor to hold it.

Timmay2

The starter will rip your hand off, give it a try.

BgBlkTrk

This is what I was thinking-we actually use the same setup at work, to spin a hydraulic lift. By hand, like you said, it would take forever, but with the drill it works almost instantaneously. And, if it binds on something, its going to be much easier to control the drill, as opposed to a starter.

RAMRODD

My flatbed is the same way as your trailer. High speed is good for hooking up. but useless for unhooking.
Their are electric motors that are designed for this aplication. Take a tq wrench and then measure how much tq it takes to turn the jack (when fully loaded) then you will know how big of a motor you will need.
Don't hang on to the starter but if you do video tape it and post a link

Bad Ramer Jamer

Ya,,I was thinking this would be my chance to win the $10,000 first prize money on America's Stupidst Video's.


Ok guy's. I won't hold the starter. But I am going to rig up something tempory to test it before I go fabricating, and welding.

As far as the cordless drill goes,,,I don't have one that big. I would think it would dump the batteries real quick, and be too hard on the drill. Maybe not. I'll keep it on the back burner.

I'm thinking a starter is in order. Remember, I need to turn that socket 400 time's. That being said, I wonder if there would be any electrical problem's like overloading my truck. Or burning up the starter using it for that long. I'll be picking up power at my winch. I have 2 gauge wire ran from the batteries for that.

Keep the idea's coming.

Raspy

The starter motor is a bad choice for a number of reasons. Use a battery drill like mentioned earlier. It's way better choice and easily adapted to that drive system. A good 1/2 inch drill will run a long tme and has a lot of torque. My dad has a Dewalt 3 speed one that will easily start his 4 HP Kubota diesel generator.

With the starter you have no clutch to slip if it binds and no switch to easily shut it down. Plus big wires to deal with. It would be fun to watch you try it, but it's a bad idea. That motor is going to be tricky to hold on to, but getting a shock will be the least of your problems. No shock from 12 V.

Colo_River_Ram

Check out pg 13 of this PDF..

Might give you some mounting ideas / or even a complete kit

http://www.bulldogproducts.net/Jacks...gs07-21-08.pdf

Jim Lane

You might also think about an electric window motor or a motor off from a linear actuator or as someone already mentioned, a cordless drill.

I have a 18 volt 1/2" Rigid Hammer Drill and that would do the job easily and you will have a nice drill for your work.

If your socket is a 1/2" then get a cheap extension and cut it about 2" long and then grind 3 flats on the cut side so it will not slip in the drill chuck.
Use the drill on low speed.

Or you can get yourself a small gear reduction starter off from a small import car and build your socket onto the output of that.

With a cross handle you motor should work ok but being a starter motor it is probably only going to turn one direction without some internal changes.

Make sure your connect it to the battery using a solenoid and a start button in the handle because the inrush current is going to be high and will burn up a small push button quickly.

Arrange the button so it is in a dead man fashion so if the motor gets away from you your finger is pulled from the button and cuts the power.

Fashion the handle so you can hold it safely so if the jackscrew should hang up the motor will not pin you some part of the trailer.

You might put a spring inside the socket so it will easily kick off the drive.

This motor is going to spin several thousand RPM so anything connected is going to fly, is the crank handle still connected?


Be careful I broke my wrist and when I raised my arm my hand was laying back flat next to it and the bone was sticking out. That was the most painful thing I had ever broken.
Jim

Moose10

Why not just order an RV slideout motor that has FWD/REV....or a 5er landing gear motor.

http://www.rvsurplussalvage.com/cata...product_id=673

Bad Ramer Jamer

WE HAVE A WINNER That's exactly what I need. I have those same jack's,,,mine is the 2 speed on the page above. As long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg,,,that's what I'll get. I hope it will work with a 2 speed jack.

I checked out a Milwaukee 1/2" drill. I didn't realize those thing's had that much torque. 550 ft pound's. That's more than my Milwaukee 1/2" impact gun. Heck, if that thing bind's,,it'll break my arm.

Keep the idea's coming. I have a feeling I'm going to be sticker shocked on the jack motor. I tried calling, but they aren't open yet.

irocpractice

You might have your mind made up,but...look at a racing go-kart starter.They are usually a 12v battery on a hand truck,the handles with a push button and starter motor in the center.

GAmes

I have the Bull Dog 12,000 lb single speed jacks on my gooseneck trailer. That motor looks sweet.