Electric Jacks on a wheel house

[Hawg]

I'm too fat and old to crank this beast anymore! Has anyone added jacks to a house after it was built or done the 2 speed winch and socket thing? Pictures or brand name/model of jacks would be very helpful. I'm curious to see if the jacks could be mounted to a 90 degree angle welded to the frame in the back corner of the wheel well and if they would have enough lift to work. I'm going to have to figure a way to power them from outside the house because it seems easier than tearing into and routing new wires. The 2 speed winch and electric drill and socket thing would be the easiest but I've still never seen or talked to anyone that actually did it.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Hawg

[RebelSS]

I know guys have used their cordless big volt drills in place of crank to spin them up and down....let me do some digging, I might find it....

[Moon Lake Refuge]

I do on my RV and we are converting the fish house jacks soon.  Just cut the handle(or some can be taken apart) and weld a nut on crank.  Power it up with a drill, or you can make a conversion extension for your auger.  Probably be about two weeks out before we fix ours but I can let you know how it goes if you want.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Moon Lake Refuge

[RebelSS]

And there ya have it!!!! 

[Moon Lake Refuge]

A lot of people worry about how much power the drill needs but my 18v does my 7k lb trailer so I would imagine a fish house should be easy enough.

Here is one where someone just cut and welded a bolt I think.  Our jack comes apart so you can fix a threaded rod in there.  I think we are going to go that route just to keep the handles intact in case we ever have need to use them again.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Moon Lake Refuge

[SwivelDigger]

Check on the bay of E for electric tongue jacks, a lot of them have external plugs that you can plug right in to the plug in on your truck

[Hawg]

Moon Lake, that doesn't look like it would go down to the ice?

[Moon Lake Refuge]

15 hours ago, Hawg said:

Moon Lake, that doesn't look like it would go down to the ice?

That's not on an ice house, just an example of how the jack works.  Jacks on our house sit way higher and have a pin to remove while driving.  Here is a picture of our Jacks.  Going to do something similar with the bolt on it.

[Hawg]

Thanks Moon Lake, That looks clean, you adapt it and crank it with a drill? Does the foot come up enough to let it go all the way down to the ice and sit on the frame? It's dark so it's hard to see if it's welded to the frame? I guess my front jack like that cranks easy so the must have a bunch of gear reduction in them similar to a 2 speed boat winch right?

Edit/Just saw you have a pin to remove the jack? So when it's travelling or on the ice the jack is off?

 

 

Edited January 19, 2016 by Hawg

[Moon Lake Refuge]

1 hour ago, Hawg said:

Thanks Moon Lake, That looks clean, you adapt it and crank it with a drill? Does the foot come up enough to let it go all the way down to the ice and sit on the frame? It's dark so it's hard to see if it's welded to the frame? I guess my front jack like that cranks easy so the must have a bunch of gear reduction in them similar to a 2 speed boat winch right?

Edit/Just saw you have a pin to remove the jack? So when it's travelling or on the ice the jack is off?

 

 

Yep, unpins for storage.  Also nice for theft deterent when you leave it on the ice and can take the jacks out with you.  Behind the jack is a welded plate on the frame with a bar that goes up about 12-18 inches where the jack mounts.  Havent used a drill on this one yet but looking to shortly.  I'll let you know when we do.  And yeah there are a couple gears in there.  They actually come right off the handle with a pin that holds them in place so it hopefully should only take a similar steel rod and tap a hole through it in the drill press.  after that slide it in, pin it in place and weld the nut on the outside.  Could use a little warmer weather so we can actually get out and work on it but with the weather this year I guess I cant complain about making ice.

[Hawg]

I would appreciate if you posted again when you get it done, it looks like a very easy conversion. Still, by looking it looks like the foot is going to be lower than the frame, even if you unpin it I'm trying to figure out how you would raise it an inch or two to get the jack back on to raise the house. If that works as easy as you say with a drill then maybe the 2 speed winch and socket isn't an all bad idea either. I do want to leave a winch on it just for security if anything fails. Thanks for all your help.

[Moon Lake Refuge]

14 minutes ago, Hawg said:

I would appreciate if you posted again when you get it done, it looks like a very easy conversion. Still, by looking it looks like the foot is going to be lower than the frame, even if you unpin it I'm trying to figure out how you would raise it an inch or two to get the jack back on to raise the house. If that works as easy as you say with a drill then maybe the 2 speed winch and socket isn't an all bad idea either. I do want to leave a winch on it just for security if anything fails. Thanks for all your help.

I'll post pics when we do it.  Might be a bad pic but we've had the house up and down plenty of times and there is a good 4-6 inches of clearance when its down on the ground.  You are looking at the second pic I posted of the ice house right?  The first one was just an example off another trailer.  We are also going to make a hand crank with a socket in case the drill runs out of batteries or dies for some reason.  Always good to have a backup.  Here is a better pic of the jack mounted for now.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Moon Lake Refuge

[Hawg]

Morning MLR, I have to be missing something. It looks like on the second picture the mount is almost flush with the bottom of the frame isn't it? Or is there a steel frame 3 or 4 inched below the mount that is just to dark to see?  I just can't see where the 4 inches of clearance comes from. I'll should probably leave you alone with all my questions, thanks again for all the reply's.

OK, one  question. In the close up of the wheel well is that bracket from the flat mount (about 4 x 6 inches?)to down the angle to the frame more than an inch or two? That'e where I get confused because the black tube looks to take up that couple inches so when you put the foot all the way up it just seems like it would be an inch or two below the frame.?.  Not so? That's nice clean work you did on it. 

I guess I edited instead of reply.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Hawg

[Moon Lake Refuge]

18 minutes ago, Hawg said:

Morning MLR, I have to be missing something. It looks like on the second picture the mount is almost flush with the bottom of the frame isn't it? Or is there a steel frame 3 or 4 inched below the mount that is just to dark to see?  I just can't see where the 4 inches of clearance comes from. I'll should probably leave you alone with all my questions, thanks again for all the reply's.

OK, one  question. In the close up of the wheel well is that bracket from the flat mount (about 4 x 6 inches?)to down the angle to the frame more than an inch or two? That'e where I get confused because the black tube looks to take up that couple inches so when you put the foot all the way up it just seems like it would be an inch or two below the frame.?.  Not so? That's nice clean work you did on it. 

I guess I edited instead of reply.

Yeah these are crummy pics.  The pics are at a downward angle.  The bottom of the black tube of the jack sits a few inches above the top of the frame, giving those few inches plus the thickness of the frame.   I'll try and get one of the jacks modified next week and shoot you a pic or video of it going up and down.  Better yet, if we can get it on the ice by next weekend I'll get some pics of it in action!

[Hawg]

I had to work for a few minutes, whew! Thanks again for all your patience. You must have welded a plate behind it? The wooden frame alone doesn't hold all that weight alone does it. I'm sure there are lots of people interested, these things get heavier everyday. 

Edited January 20, 2016 by Hawg

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Yeah, I'm 30 and I don't even want to deal with it! 

[forcedtowork]

Hawg check out a MN company called ICNuts.  He makes a kit for the ice castle winches.

[mnhunter2]

Firebrand makes a wheelhouse with electric jacks.

[Moon Lake Refuge]

15 hours ago, forcedtowork said:

Hawg check out a MN company called ICNuts.  He makes a kit for the ice castle winches.

Those look pretty darn nice too.  If I'd have gone the winch route that would've definitely been worth looking into.

[Hawg]

I just talked to Icnutz, great guy. Very impressed with his system, as long as I have a winch system that looks to me like the probable option. The guys at EZ socket or whatever it was didn't even return my email. 

[Hawg]

They're on the way. Keep in mind though, you need 2 speed winches and removable handles for them to work. I'll let you know. 

[Hawg]

I got the winches and nuts Friday from ICnutz, they came the day after I ordered them! Everything worked great in the driveway. Just like with any new toy I had to play with them. I put the house out after installing them friday and went out 3 or 4 times to try raising it a few inches and it works just a easily as advertised. All I used was my cheap 18 volt Ryobi drill on low speed. I do have to say that with these 2 speed winches the house goes up so easy I can do it left handed with very little effort. If you don't have them, quit killing yourself and get them. ICnuts sells a version made for fish houses( I checked and that is true) that have a special brake cog that makes for a 2 way brake that seems very positive.  Nice to support a company with that great of service and actually talks to customers, that's not real common these days. Still no response from the Easy Socket(?) company..

Edited January 25, 2016 by Hawg

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Good thing you never waited for me to get around to ours... Took quite the break but my dad finally went and did it.  The paint is worthless after one shot but the Jacks work fantastic if anyone else decides to go that route.  Probably similar to what you are getting on yours for tension but goes up and down with zero effort on low or high with the drill!  No need for a break on ours because it doesn't force the drill going in reverse.  Cant wait for the ice this year, but a few more beers at the cabin this summer dont hurt either.

[Boar]

Thank god for that, Ive been want this system for awhile. thanks for posting that. Ive just orderd. I have a 20 ft V and am tired of the cranking. looks like an awesome tool.