HappiJac Issues

[Diesel8859]

I was out today cleaning and rearranging things in the garage of my 351M today. I lowered the Happijac bottom bunk and when it got about 3 feet above the floor the drivers side suddenly slipped all the way down to the floor. It would appear the rod connecting the lift on the drivers side has broken but of course I can't tell for sure because the top bunk is in the way and I can't lower my ramp because the back of trailer is to close to my house. I think I can figure out how to fix it but my dilemma is that I have vacation scheduled out in a few days and I don't think I can get it fixed prior to taking off. What are the repercussions of traveling with the lower bunk in the down position?

[JBill9694]

Wow, my first thought was "That's a lot of storage space to lose."

Never had to go through this, so just spit balling here.

Is the lower bunk stable? Any chances of it twisting or moving while traveling. If yes, try to secure it in place. Maybe even lift the dropped in and block and strap it level.

Can the top bunk be lowered with the help of some strong friends. Not sure I would trust the small diameter cotter pins that hold the bunk up to last through the bouncing on a rough road. I would feel better with the bunk resting on it's lower supports.

Lowering the upper bunk might provide you with room needed to make repairs without opening the ramp door.

Good luck.

[Diesel8859]

Wow, my first thought was "That's a lot of storage space to lose."

Never had to go through this, so just spit balling here.

Is the lower bunk stable? Any chances of it twisting or moving while traveling. If yes, try to secure it in place. Maybe even lift the dropped in and block and strap it level.

Can the top bunk be lowered with the help of some strong friends. Not sure I would trust the small diameter cotter pins that hold the bunk up to last through the bouncing on a rough road. I would feel better with the bunk resting on it's lower supports.

Lowering the upper bunk might provide you with room needed to make repairs without opening the ramp door.

Good luck.

The lower bunk is stable. I currently have it folded up into seats. I also moved my 5th wheel today so I could drop the ramp and look up in there. That was a lot of work for little reward as I really couldn't see what I was hoping to see. However, I was able to see that drive line between the two sides sitting up there loose. I was able to get my hand on it and was able to move back and forth but that was about it. I have a friend coming over tomorrow and we're going to try and drop that top bunk down manually, remove it from the frame and then maybe I can see what it'll take to fix the issue with the bottom bunk. Hopefully its just a shear pin or something easy to repair.

Right now, I'm contemplating removing that top bunk all together as it serves no real purpose other than just being in the way. Is there any reason to keep it there?

Picture of the drive line near the drivers side.

[Diesel8859]

After a friend helped me manually lower the upper bunk into its place, I was able to get up and there and see what the problem was. It was the allen head set screw in the shaft on the passenger side. It was loose and it was just letting the shaft move back and forth. I removed the screw, added some red thread lock and reinserted it nice and tight. It was a lot of work for one loose screw, but everything is working correctly now.

[Jlawles2]

Next time you have issues with a set screw, use a drill and divot the shaft before putting the set screw back in with thread locker. This will prevent the tip of the set screw from being the only thing that is holding the shaft in place. With thread locker, if the set screw looses it's bite on the shaft you are probably not going to get it back out or be able to tighten it.

[acoleman43]

After a friend helped me manually lower the upper bunk into its place, I was able to get up and there and see what the problem was. It was the allen head set screw in the shaft on the passenger side. It was loose and it was just letting the shaft move back and forth. I removed the screw, added some red thread lock and reinserted it nice and tight. It was a lot of work for one loose screw, but everything is working correctly now.

Sorry I'm late to this. Same thing happened to us while traveling. Glad you found the issue. I'm surprised more people haven't had this same issue. We have added checking that screw to our check list.

Decided to add more info. This actually happened twice to us. The second time the sofa came down so hard it tore the HappiJac supports form the side of the trailer. I had to reinstall the supports (with many more screws than before), added screws to the other side - just in case - and used some thread lock on the screw.