Trailer Jack Callapse - Warning

Yesterday after unhitching, I started to lower the tongue of the boat when the jack suddenly collapsed. It was if it had been lowered in 1 nanosecond. The trailer and boat came crashing down and scared the you know what out of me. No one was hurt and nothing was underneath the boat / trailer. Hopefully there is no issue with the boat or trailer but I will do a thorough inspection today when I have the time. The jack stand is (was) a 2.5 year old Dutton-Laison 1500 lb unit on a Ram-Lin trailer. The manufacturer’s website states that it has a 3-year warranty so I may be able to get it replaced from them for free other than shipping. Or I may be able to get my dealer to do it for free. However, I did modify the unit by adding a grease fitting to it so they may claim it’s been altered. Has anyone seen this before? Is there a better unit that will fit on the welded mount? I believe this uses a snap ring. The Correct Craft dealer will probably charge me about 3X what it’s worth for a replacement if I have to buy it so I would like to handle this on my own if necessary. I have already started searching the net, but not found a replacement yet. Suggestions?

I do not know what happened inside the unit and do not plan on opening up the unit until I am past the resolution, if then.

On a failure like this, there is either an engineering, manufacturing or application error. I believe this issue is most likely a manufacturing error since the this company has a long history of making jacks for this type of use.

If others have seen this issue, then I / we can build a case to make the company aware they have an issue and take appropriate action before someone gets hurt, etc...

I'm posting some pictures for anyone who may have a early Shore Master. If you do, take a look at your winches. The early ones were Dutton-Laison's.

So where does the grease go that is already inside the case as you are pumping more in there?

The grease comes out at the exposed surfaces and vents, just like on the bearings and steering on a tractor or other piece of machinery. A lightweight lubricate like WD-40 or silicon just washes off as soon as water hits it.

Anyways, the boat dealer would not trade out the unit since they only warranteed the trailer for 1 year. I called Ram-Lin directly and they worked a trae-out with me and the dealer. Case closed.