Well, this is a project that a lot of trailer owners go through every time they need to hitch or unhitch: cranking the manual jack. And it can get a little bit tiring, especially if you’re getting a little bit older or you have a little bit of physical impairment, so to speak. These jacks are standard on trailers, have been for an awfully long time. But today, there’s a new hybrid product out there that’s a really nice alternative to this. Now, you can buy an electric jack, of course, that saves you the trouble but they can be a little bit expensive. This new product is something that is very affordable, really practical, and a surprisingly great idea.

Let’s take a look at it. This is the new Lippert Quick Drop tongue jack. Now, it’s a manual crank jack, pretty much like you’ve always used, but there’s one feature about it that makes it unique in the market. I mean, there’s nothing else like it. And that is, you can use it like a manual jack, has all the usual features. It has a 14-inch stroke on the extension, it has a 2000-pound capacity so it’ll fit an awful lot of trailers, but if you’d rather use it as a power jack, you flip over the handle, and it exposes a 3/4-inch nut on the top. Then you take your portable electric drill that has a 3/4-inch driver on it, jam that on there, and you can use your drill to drive the whole thing up and down and thus saving you the effort of having to crank it. So it’s the best of both worlds.

And we’ll go ahead and install it and then show you how it works. I think it’s a pretty cool item. Item number one, make sure the wheels are securely chocked. Safety first. Next step, securely jack the tongue of the trailer so we can take the weight off the jack and remove it. Step number one, pull out the original bolts. These are 1996 vintage bolts so we’re lucky that they’re coming out this easily. The trailer’s never been in the Midwest so it hasn’t been subjected to road salt. I guess that’s a plus. Here we’ve got a round rat-tail metal file and we’ll just open up the lower jack opening, just a little bit. With the freshly cut edge down there, here’s a little bit of Rust-Oleum to protect it from rust.

Okay, we found that the slots in the new plate are fairly wide compared to the size of the head on the bolt, so we’re gonna slip some washers on there to make a little more secure connection, and we have enough bolt length to be able to still bite all the way through the mounting plate underneath so we’re in good shape. It includes a handy foot with a locking pin which is always nice when you– especially when you’re working on a softer surface. That’s ready to go.

Right, pretty easy installation and, if you wanna use it like a regular jack, you can crank away all you want. But we have a better idea for that. Flip the handle over, expose the nut, got a 3/4-inch socket and our adapter for the drill. So much easier than cranking, and more fun too. Pretty cool. You have to put a little bit of torque on the wrench, of course–or on the drill, but seems to lift the trailer without any effort. And that is gonna speed up campsite set-up, hitching, unhitching, leveling, tremendously, with letting this guy do the work through this kind of a neat new tool.

The new Lippert Quick Drop tongue jack. You have the choice of manual operation or full power. It’s a great option and a great alternative to a higher priced electric jack. It’s no wonder that this caught our eye!