Fulton jack hard to crank

[a92harley92]

My Boatmate trailer came with a Fulton F2 jack (1600 lb capacity) that was getting more and more difficult to crank.  It finally got to the point that it felt like it was grinding metal on metal and was almost impossible to crank.  So I decided to take it apart to see if it can be fixed.  The problem with the jack was the thrust bearing had given out.  This is an easy and inexpensive repair.  

The following pictures were taken during re-assembly.  

Remove the four screws from the top cap using a Torx screwdriver to reveal the gear mechanism.  There will be some grease (and possibly other muck in here that you may need to wipe out to reveal the roll pin for the top gear.  Using a small punch you will need to tap the roll pin through the shaft far enough so that you can turn the crank and grab the pin from the other side with a pair of pliers.  Don't try and drive it completely through because I don't believe there's enough room for the pin to fall completely out...  and you will be left with a jammed mechanism.  

 

 

From this point on keep track of where the washers are so that you get the correct washer in the correct place.  Once the pin is removed you can remove the crank shaft.  Once the crank shaft is removed you can remove the lower gear and pin (you may want to support the lower part of the jack to keep it from falling).  Clean and inspect the gears for broken teeth and replace as needed.  Using a Torx screwdriver remove the four screws located in the corners of the plastic housing.  Remove the plastic housing.  This is a good time to clean all of the other grease and muck out of the plastic housing.  

This will reveal the thrust bearing.  

 

 

Re-assemble with new parts and apply a dab of grease to the moving parts.  

I found the parts on Etrailer.com.  There is a thrust bearing kit (F500137) and a gear kit (F500314).

Hope this helps.

 

[Nitrousbird]

My cheapie is also getting hard to crank.  Very hard.  Can't really disassemble it though.  Too many hits with the lawnmower is probably what killed it (I park it next to the boat, sometimes I need to move the boat over a bit to fit her in).

Would you recommend the Fulton jack?  I like that it can be rebuilt.

[wdr]

I have had to rebuild my Fulton and it is an easy job provided you have a hydraulic floor jack. The biggest problem I had with mine was that the drive gear behind the the cranking handle was not making full contact with the driven gear on the vertical shaft and the teeth were skipping and got shredded. I shimmed it during the rebuild and it is working like a champ. The other weak link is the cross pin that holds the driven gear on to the cranking shaft. Too much resistance i.e. crud in the grease and the handle shaft will actually twist or break due to the thinnes of handle shaft with a hole through it. A good cleaning seems to have fixed that. Odd thing is my trailer is in a climate controlled building and the jack has never seen water. I imagine because I bought it new out of Texas that the dust did its damage before I pickled her up! I used etrailer as well.

Edited May 28, 2016 by wdr

[a92harley92]

20 hours ago, Nitrousbird said:

My cheapie is also getting hard to crank.  Very hard.  Can't really disassemble it though.  Too many hits with the lawnmower is probably what killed it (I park it next to the boat, sometimes I need to move the boat over a bit to fit her in).

Would you recommend the Fulton jack?  I like that it can be rebuilt.

I can't recommend any trailer jack because I don't have experience with many other jacks.  Fulton does have a 5 year warranty, though.

 I've seen many complaints about the plastic wheels.  Fulton has upgraded the design from two small plastic wheels to one larger plastic wheel.  It seems if you're going to want to roll the trailer around that a plastic wheel may not be the way to go IMO.  I don't roll mine around so I don't have that problem.   You can buy replacement plastic wheels, however if mine did break I would look into finding a metal wheel of some sort to replace it with (or have one made).

[MadMan]

Most of the time, when I have a trailer jack that is getting hard to crank (boat or otherwise), a few squirts of oil through the opening the handle goes through will free it up.  Most of the oil doesn't make it into the jack because the handle is in the way.

[oldjeep]

20 hours ago, Nitrousbird said:

My cheapie is also getting hard to crank.  Very hard.  Can't really disassemble it though.  Too many hits with the lawnmower is probably what killed it (I park it next to the boat, sometimes I need to move the boat over a bit to fit her in).

Would you recommend the Fulton jack?  I like that it can be rebuilt.

I'd definitely go for the wide single wheel f2 over the dual wheel. I'm on my second set of wheels, and if you have to move the boat in more than a straight line it puts a ton of side flex on the wheels.

[Making2Waves]

My bearing is toast, having the right size punch made it easy. Thanks for the pics. I would not have thought to look under the crank for a bearing.  

 

[Infinitysurf]

I ran into the same issue with my Fulton2 last summer, I tore it apart and re-greased it but did not replace the bearings tho it was clear they were toast. Didn't last long before it was really hard to crank again. I called Boatmate and they sent me a replacement jack. 

[granddaddy55]

If you have a boat mate trailer bought originally by you, boat mate gives you a free one, no questions asked other than your complaint with it , on my 3rd , soon to be a 4th, all free no shipping charges either 

[Infinitysurf]

Just now, granddaddy55 said:

If you have a boat mate trailer bought originally by you, boat mate gives you a free one, no questions asked other than your complaint with it , on my 3rd , soon to be a 4th, all free no shipping charges either 

Yep, its a known issue with the Fulton 2 jacks. I may try to re-build my old one with the new bearings now that I know its possible. Just assumed it was not since it seems quite cheaply made on the inside. Really surprised me that there was almost zero grease on the inside, adding some good waterproof grease helped for a month or so, but it went back to crap pretty quick.

[Murphy8166]

Don’t the Fulton jacks have a lifetime warranty.  I have need to get parts from them and they shippe them to me at no cost.

[dalt1]

Fulton replaced the jack on my 18 Malibu trailer no questions ask. Good thing they didn't ask what happened cause I would have had to lie to them. Lets just say it cant hold my 1,000 lb tongue weight plus the weight of the rear of my truck too. Don't forget to swing it back up out of the way after hitching up!

I have also had them ship at no cost to me, new wheels (Double wheeled version) that  cracked after years of use and out of warranty on my 12 Boat Mate. Can't complain about their warranty.

Edited January 6, 2019 by dalt1

[Sparky450]

14 hours ago, granddaddy55 said:

If you have a boat mate trailer bought originally by you, boat mate gives you a free one, no questions asked other than your complaint with it , on my 3rd , soon to be a 4th, all free no shipping charges either 

What year is your boat? Who cares if it is free? Who wants to change a trailer jack once a year?

[granddaddy55]

10 hours ago, Sparky450 said:

What year is your boat? Who cares if it is free? Who wants to change a trailer jack once a year?

Ok.  2014.  Alright, if you can show me an alternative that can be used by me to manually push pull mine in out of my carport , great, I won’t use the warranty they gave me !  I just got the manual park it 360 alternative (($59 vs $1500).  We’ll see , then if that works maybe an alternative jack , what brand that has that height jacking range I need and that can stand being dunked in water and not have problems , let me know , I have to jack mine to the top of the range where it’s hardest for the failing gears to do their work.  All I’m saying is that fir what it does and that they replace it , pull out the small  three ton jack with one or two two by fours between trailer and jack, done no charge other than the jack I already bought to change flats at home