About six weeks ago, after a glorious sail, I was happily turning the handle of my Fulton tongue jack (barely one year old - standard equipment on a new Pacific Trailer) and CRUNCH! Removing the plastic cap revealed that the bevel gear had broken neatly in two. So... got new parts... carefully reassembled everything... greased it up... casually took a half turn and... PING! The new bevel gear snapped cleanly in two. Even if I am successful in repairing this Fulton jack, it is not something I care to rely on at a distant launching site. Can anyone suggest a better brand (or are they all pretty much the same?) By the way, - This is the third issue I've had with my Pacific Trailer in one year. My impression is that they are a bit on the fragile side. Jim M-17 "Spirit"
Funny you say this, but I was getting mine inspected for tags and the guy at the inspection station had some rather off hand comments about my Pacific trailer. I just wrote it off as sour grapes because the same place I had it inspected also sold trailers. Hmmm Joe ps so far I've had no problems though. jm ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Poulakis" <picfo@comcast.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:57 PM Subject: M_Boats: Tongue Jack
About six weeks ago, after a glorious sail, I was happily turning the handle of my Fulton tongue jack (barely one year old - standard equipment on a new Pacific Trailer) and CRUNCH! Removing the plastic cap revealed that the bevel gear had broken neatly in two.
So... got new parts... carefully reassembled everything... greased it up... casually took a half turn and... PING! The new bevel gear snapped cleanly in two.
Even if I am successful in repairing this Fulton jack, it is not something I care to rely on at a distant launching site. Can anyone suggest a better brand (or are they all pretty much the same?)
By the way, - This is the third issue I've had with my Pacific Trailer in one year. My impression is that they are a bit on the fragile side.
Jim M-17 "Spirit"
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I have had my Pacific trailer since 9/03 with no problems. I sail in both fresh and salt water and everything has worked fine. It too, has a Fulton jack, which has worked ok. I know from experience that it will freeze up every couple of years when I primarily sail in salt water, so I take it apart and grease it when it gets stiff. It sounds like you have something amiss in the gear train that puts too much stress on the bevel gear. Even though I have a M15, the tongue weight on the jack should not be too much less than your M17. My only issue with the trailer is that it is heaver than my old Trailrite trailer and harder to push around, but that is a tradeoff for better towing. There's no pleasing some people. What other problems have you had with your trailer? Bob M15-208 James Poulakis wrote:
About six weeks ago, after a glorious sail, I was happily turning the handle of my Fulton tongue jack (barely one year old - standard equipment on a new Pacific Trailer) and CRUNCH! Removing the plastic cap revealed that the bevel gear had broken neatly in two.
So... got new parts... carefully reassembled everything... greased it up... casually took a half turn and... PING! The new bevel gear snapped cleanly in two.
Even if I am successful in repairing this Fulton jack, it is not something I care to rely on at a distant launching site. Can anyone suggest a better brand (or are they all pretty much the same?)
By the way, - This is the third issue I've had with my Pacific Trailer in one year. My impression is that they are a bit on the fragile side.
Jim M-17 "Spirit"
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Bob, I was reluctant to list the other issues because there were extenuating circumstances. But taken all together (in a new trailer's first year) these breakages have left me treating this trailer as if it were a delicate antique. 1) Winch handle stripped. - Yes, I was pushing on it really hard. But hey, it's a trailer winch for a 1700# sailboat. Shouldn't it be at least as strong as a halyard winch for a 50# sail? 2) Bunk broke loose during launch allowing the exposed bracket to scratch the hull. - In this case there was a passing wake involved. Not a particularly large passing wake - but evidently large enough. 3) Now it's the tongue jack... I've spoken to the office and support staff at Pacific too. They're good folks. I was just looking for a few objective opinions on their product. Thanks Bob, Jim M-17 "Spirit" On Jul 16, 2009, at 7:59 PM, Robert Becker wrote:
I have had my Pacific trailer since 9/03 with no problems. I sail in both fresh and salt water and everything has worked fine. It too, has a Fulton jack, which has worked ok. I know from experience that it will freeze up every couple of years when I primarily sail in salt water, so I take it apart and grease it when it gets stiff. It sounds like you have something amiss in the gear train that puts too much stress on the bevel gear. Even though I have a M15, the tongue weight on the jack should not be too much less than your M17.
My only issue with the trailer is that it is heaver than my old Trailrite trailer and harder to push around, but that is a tradeoff for better towing. There's no pleasing some people.
What other problems have you had with your trailer?
Bob M15-208
James Poulakis wrote:
About six weeks ago, after a glorious sail, I was happily turning the handle of my Fulton tongue jack (barely one year old - standard equipment on a new Pacific Trailer) and CRUNCH! Removing the plastic cap revealed that the bevel gear had broken neatly in two.
So... got new parts... carefully reassembled everything... greased it up... casually took a half turn and... PING! The new bevel gear snapped cleanly in two.
Even if I am successful in repairing this Fulton jack, it is not something I care to rely on at a distant launching site. Can anyone suggest a better brand (or are they all pretty much the same?)
By the way, - This is the third issue I've had with my Pacific Trailer in one year. My impression is that they are a bit on the fragile side.
Jim M-17 "Spirit"
_______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!
_______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
Remember, there is no privacy on the Internet!
participants (3)
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James Poulakis -
Joe Murphy -
Robert Becker