HOW TO: VIP 3000 Electric Stabilizer Jack Service

[Galileo]

On 7/29/2023 at 1:57 PM, SeaDawg said:

put a block or two under those jacks. Just saying...

Spread the load, decrease your chance of an accidental "drive-off" bending a jack, decrease the throw of the jack... Stretching everything to the limit isn't ever best protocol, imo,  and, if a jack or jack switch  fails, it's easier to bring the jack back up, if it's not fully extended. 

Though it’s an old thread - looks like it’s already been re-opened.

If anybody cares, these are the blocks/pads/stands we’ve been using for a few years now:

https://a.co/d/6SwIden
 

They’re rock-solid and spread the load out on softer surfaces. The main reason I like them is because at about 6” tall, they REALLY reduce the amount you have to extend and retract the jacks. All three of them. That not only reduces wear and tear - it really saves quite a bit of time when setting up or departing. Especially nice if you happen to arrive during a monsoon. (Which I got to do just last week!)

In especially very un-level spots, I’ve had to skip the stand under the tongue jack to be able to drop the nose of the trailer enough to achieve level. Usually one of those “Oh Hell!” moments when you realize you’re out of jack travel and you have to jack the tongue back up, back up your TV again, retract the jack, pull out the block, extend the jack, move the TV -again- and re-level. In that case, I keep a lightweight “racing” floor jack for the purpose. A quick lift, pull out the block, and lower away.

I also have three 12x14” 3/8” thick aluminum alloy plates to put under jack feet when on very soft surfaces. They’re actually company name plaques from former employers…

[dmtaylor2]

SEE: HOW TO: VIP 3000 Electric Stabilizer Jack Service PART 2

If you want to remove the jack motor 

[Galileo]

5 minutes ago, dmtaylor2 said:

SEE: HOW TO: VIP 3000 Electric Stabilizer Jack Service PART 2

If you want to remove the jack motor 

I haven’t needed - or wanted - to remove the jack motor yet. That said, I did have to tighten up those Allen screws on the front jack when they weren’t tight enough and the whole top end of the jack spun around when I tried to level the trailer about 6 months ago. Luckily, it isn’t smash my hand against the propane five -too- bad…

I did go through the whole video that illustrates servicing the Jack. Unfortunately, I find that the most important parts of the Jack - the parts that do the actual lifting - don’t appear to be serviceable. Only the gear reduction that turns the main screw inside the Jack body. Seems silly to me. Looks like the real “Jack” just goes without TLC - or lubrication.

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

I did go through the whole video that illustrates servicing the Jack. Unfortunately, I find that the most important parts of the Jack - the parts that do the actual lifting - don’t appear to be serviceable. Only the gear reduction that turns the main screw inside the Jack body. Seems silly to me. Looks like the real “Jack” just goes without TLC - or lubrication.

First of all, the suggested OTT service demonstrated in the Oliver University video is a joke. Oliver owners that do not generally do their own service should not bother. Your hull is only 3 years old, so unless it is noisy when cranking up or down, I would leave it alone for now. The only way to damage these mechanisms is when the lift get over-extended in either direction causing the worm gear to slip scraping both gears.

However these jacks are FULLY serviceable! Though likely I am the only Oliver Owner to ever work the full procedure. Read page 2 of this thread were I demonstrated the full service procedure in detail with pictures,

[Galileo]

12 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

First of all, the suggested OTT service demonstrated in the Oliver University video is a joke. Oliver owners that do not generally do their own service should not bother. Your hull is only 3 years old, so unless it is noisy when cranking up or down, I would leave it alone for now. The only way to damage these mechanisms is when the lift get over-extended in either direction causing the worm gear to slip scraping both gears.

However these jacks are FULLY serviceable! Though likely I am the only Oliver Owner to ever work the full procedure. Read page 2 of this thread were I demonstrated the full service procedure in detail with pictures,

A couple of things:

First -  I agree with your assessment of the video. They only show inspecting and lubricating the electric drive part of the jack. You could take that whole part off and throw it away and just use the crank if need be. (No batteries?)

Now I’m unclear on the “over-extended” comment. During our deliver orientation, the Oliver employee had us run the jacks up (retracted) until there was a “ratcheting” sound. I assumed that was a torque-limiting device. Or is it the gears stripping themselves?(!)

(Since my tongue jack got “jammed” in the fully retracted position once, I no longer run it all the way up! I guess I’ll start doing that with all three jacks.)

My front jack is occasionally a little noisy - but I think this is more due to the jack getting some side force on it more than wear or lack of lubrication - at least lubrication of parts lived in the OTT or YouTube videos I’ve seen. 

Not sure where you mean when you say “page two”. Do you mean the second page of comments on this thread? If not, where? (Thanks!)

I did run my question about servicing the lover end or “guts” of the jack by the folks at Barker. They invited me to call and chat, but I haven’t circled back that way.

[ScubaRx]

36 minutes ago, Galileo said:

…not sure where you mean when you say “page two”. Do you mean the second page of comments on this thread? If not, where? (Thanks!)

John stated, …”Read page 2 of this thread…” 

[Galileo]

7 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:

John stated, …”Read page 2 of this thread…” 

Read it - twice.
 

Nothing I saw explained how to service anything except the “power head” of the jack, and the pin that engages the shaft below it. 

Those parts are just the ones that power the jack - not the actual jack itself.

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, Galileo said:

You could take that whole part off and throw it away and just use the crank if need be. (No batteries?)

Now I’m unclear on the “over-extended” comment. During our deliver orientation, the Oliver employee had us run the jacks up (retracted) until there was a “ratcheting” sound. I assumed that was a torque-limiting device. Or is it the gears stripping themselves?(!)

I want my electric jack! Not hand-cranking here.

I never attended an Oliver orientation, but this person was improperly trained! The ratcheting sound is from over-extending. If you look at the pictures I supplied on page 2 you will see the scratches in the worm gear created from this practice. Since I rebuilt my front jack, I have made sure not to over-extend any of our 3 jacks.

There was comment about grease not being needed under the gear, made by the Barker Rep, in the new thread on this subject. I strongly disagree and you can also see my reasoning in my rebuild post.

[Galileo]

6 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

I want my electric jack! Not hand-cranking here.

I never attended an Oliver orientation, but this person was improperly trained! The ratcheting sound is from over-extending. If you look at the pictures I supplied on page 2 you will see the scratches in the worm gear created from this practice. Since I rebuilt my front jack, I have made sure not to over-extend any of our 3 jacks.

There was comment about grease not being needed under the gear, made by the Barker Rep, in the new thread on this subject. I strongly disagree and you can also see my reasoning in my rebuild post.

I blame myself for not making myself clear here….

The only maintenance I’ve seen described here, on YouTube, or anywhere is only inspecting and lubricating the parts of the unit that turn the main screw of the jack. Nothing I’ve found is actually addressing the parts of the jack that do the real heavy lifting. Those parts are down below the pin that fits into the slot under the power head and reduction gears that you and others describe cleaning and re-lubricating. (Though I’m only guessing here, I’m thinking the real “jack” parts of the jack are a l-o-n-g, heavy-duty threaded rod, and a mating threaded nut. These parts supply the lifting action. The parts people are describing servicing simply provide rotary motion.)

Im not proposing that anybody wants to hand crank their jacks. That said, OTT (and I assume Barker) supplies one with the jacks. You can either use it in the square (or is it a hex?) that protrudes from the top of the gearbox - or - pull the power head/gearbox off, and flip the crank around to engage the slot on the top of the jack shaft. (The same slot that the engages the drive pin at the lower end of the gearbox/power head I’m referring to.) That said, in the event of no battery power, blown fuse, burned out motor, etc - the jacks are designed to be operated manually. 

Pretty sure that the Barker Mfg operating instructions say that there’s no issue with running the jack to the up or down limits, and that the ratcheting sound I’m describing is the “internal clutch”. (See the picture of the Barker owners manual enlargement.)

[jd1923]

4 hours ago, Galileo said:

Though I’m only guessing here, I’m thinking the real “jack” parts of the jack are a l-o-n-g, heavy-duty threaded rod, and a mating threaded nut. These parts supply the lifting action. The parts people are describing servicing simply provide rotary motion.

OK, I get your question now. The "l-o-n-g" part internal to the "Post Assembly" is not a serviceable unit.  Check the parts diagram in the manual. There must be some sealed drive assembly internal to the assembly. I just extended mine fully and cleaned the exterior down to the stainless steel. Some earlier in this thread suggested lube on the external post but I still maintain a year later to merely leave it dry.

The Original grease on mine had hardened dry. I wanted it all cleaned out and wanted a better high-temp grease than that brown crud!

4 hours ago, Galileo said:

Pretty sure that the Barker Mfg operating instructions say that there’s no issue with running the jack to the up or down limits, and that the ratcheting sound I’m describing is the “internal clutch”.

Just because they don't say so, doesn't mean so! There is no clutch. I had the unit down to every individual part. The ratcheting sound is the drive gear being turned by the motor while the main gear hits the stop. You can see the slight damage to the drive gear in my pictures. This gear is part of the motor assembly, so replacement means new motor.

Being careful, I have not heard that ratcheting sound ever since I rebuilt mine. I use 8" blocks on the rear and as soon as they are free I leave the post at that height, usually the height of the wheel centers. I keep my eye on the front and always leave it a few inches below the stop.

[Galileo]

16 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Just because they don't say so, doesn't mean so! There is no clutch.

I know it’s the age of “alternative facts”, but I would hope that Barker wouldn’t be making up the “internal clutch” story out of whole cloth. Then again, perhaps they consider gear teeth slipping out of engagement as a “clutch”. I would also hope that they would give owners a warning that excessive “activation” of the “clutch” can lead to premature failure of the drive unit.

It also seems odd to me that the most important part of the jack gets no love, while the (optional, honestly) electric drive mechanism gets so much attention. Kinda like lubing the hood hinges on your truck while making it impossible to check or change the motor oil.

BTW - the documentation on the Barker web site for both the VIP3000 and VIP3500 show a “torque limiter” in the exploded parts view. Of course, if you’ve been inside the unit and don’t see such a device, then yes, maybe their idea of a clutch is gear teeth unmeshing.

The sound I hear at the end of travel doesn’t sound like teeth slipping. Just sayin’.

Edited Wednesday at 05:19 PM by Galileo
Late addition

[jd1923]

19 minutes ago, Galileo said:

It also seems odd to me that the most important part of the jack gets no love, while the (optional, honestly) electric drive mechanism gets so much attention. Kinda like lubing the hood hinges on your truck while making it impossible to check or change the motor oil.

BTW - the documentation on the Barker web site for both the VIP3000 and VIP3500 show a “torque limiter” in the exploded parts view. Of course, if you’ve been inside the unit and don’t see such a device, then yes...

I have VIP3000 instructions included in our 2016 OTT Manual and it is for the 3000 only not both models. A search for the word 'torque' bring zero results in this older version date April 2008. Confirmed, not such device in the unit I restored. Maybe in the 3500 model.

The 'love' I gave ours, I will not touch again for another 5-10 years. Our VIP3000 lasted 9 years without any maintenance. It was apparent that the case had never been opened and only the original grease was there dried up given the years. The manufacturer suggests adding a useless dab of grease on TOP of the gears annually for legal reasons of course.

I have not maintained the rear jacks and I'm not in a hurry to do so. They do so much less work in comparison to the front and they are not critical to travel like the hitch jack. Also, they sound good to my ear, unlike what the front sounded like prior to maintenance. Someday but would have to get rather bored with life to do so. Many worry about doing this annually as suggested by Barker and OTT but you can tell the difference between the dab of grease they suggest and a true rebuild that I've demonstrated.

When the post assembly goes out, it must be replaced, or you could install a new complete unit or upgrade to the VIP3500.

[Geronimo John]

On 3/1/2025 at 10:59 AM, ScubaRx said:

That statement is poor information. If fuses weren’t reliable why would they be in virtually every circuit in the world? Having two in a given circuit is a redundancy, but it’s never a bad idea and in many cases is actually a good idea as it protects the circuit from both ends

Steve: 

I was good all the way to the words "is actually a good idea as it protects the circuit from both ends".  That logic applies to circuits that have the ability to power up the  home-run from both ends.  Like the DC to DC charging system.  However I do agree that having a fuse at the front jack, although somewhat redundant, does serve a great purpose.

When I leave my trailer unintended in a boondock location for which there may be a theft concern, I lower the tongue and remove the fuse.  Certainly makes a quick scope, connect and getaway much more effort for the thief.

GJ

 

 

[Galileo]

I half-wondered why there wasn’t an easily accessed switch that would let the owner disable the front jack so that goofy people couldn’t come by our trailer and hack with it (ha ha) or turn that light if it whatever. Taking the fuse out would do that, but kind of a primitive “switch”. 

Probably a good mod for one of our owners who like to improve things. A simple toggle or rocker switch would do the trick. 

[jd1923]

52 minutes ago, Galileo said:

Probably a good mod for one of our owners who like to improve things.

I believe the mod you suggested, a switch has been added by a few owners with mentions in these pages. I tend to believe the more you make it difficult for a thief, the more damage you will have when he’s done doing his mischief! Jack up or down doesn’t matter, or the fancy hitch locks, when all they have to do is wrap a chain around it to drag it away.

Not a big market for hot Oliver parts! Maybe with a Winnebago or Airstream we would have more worries. 

[mountainoliver]

Seven years ago I added a master switch for the leveling jacks. I disconnect the power to the jacks whenever the camper is parked. My hope is that with three jacks firmly down it will be much more difficult to steal. Thankfully, as far as I know no one has ever tried my theory.

[Galileo]

5 hours ago, jd1923 said:

I tend to believe the more you make it difficult for a thief, the more damage you will have when he’s done doing his mischief!

I’m afraid I have to agree with you here. 

Im often tempted to leave my car doors unlocked. Though I try not to leave valuable (looking) stuff in the car, I don’t want some clown breaking a window just to steal my knockoff sunglasses, or hack my $50 cd player out of the dash with a hatchet. (When I worked at the Buick dealer - I saw some pretty expensive damage just to steal a radio or break into a trunk to steal a spare tire!)

Edited 11 hours ago by Galileo
Autocorrect knows better than I (Not!)

[Galileo]

4 hours ago, mountainoliver said:

Seven years ago I added a master switch for the leveling jacks. I disconnect the power to the jacks whenever the camper is parked. My hope is that with three jacks firmly down it will be much more difficult to steal. Thankfully, as far as I know no one has ever tried my theory.

Definitely a thumbs-up from me!

Did you pull out one of the DC “outlets” and use the hole for the switch?

Kinda surprised this isn’t at least an option from the factory. I think it would be more useful than the cell phone booster. I don’t even think that thing does anything. 

[jd1923]

25 minutes ago, Galileo said:

I think it would be more useful than the cell phone booster. I don’t even think that thing does anything.

Deleted the booster and the front camera when I removed the Sat dish and did fiberglass work to fill all the holes and clean up the top front of our hull.

[Galileo]

4 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

Deleted the booster and the front camera when I removed the Sat dish and did fiberglass work to fill all the holes and clean up the top front of our hull.

We don’t have a front camera.

I’ve only used the backup camera once. The monitor you keep in the TV is too clunky and in the way most of the time. 

Our new GMC has connectors to put a backup camera display through the vehicle “infotainment” system - but you have to buy their camera. I’m still working out a multitude of bugs, er, I mean “undocumented feature” with the folks at OnStar to want to further complicate my life at the moment.

For us, I think the $1,900 (at the time) “Electronics Package” was a bad investment. The only thing we use is the RVLock keyless door lock. I’ve already had to replace a faulty circuit board on that. 

I’d remove the booster antenna - but too lazy to patch up the hole. 😋

To be fair - maybe - I get one more “bar” of signal strength if I hold my phone tight by the indoor antenna. Then again, that might just be from being closer to the window. Honestly, I thought some instructions said you had to “register” that device with your cell provider, but I can’t find any info on it. It’s just some blinking green lights in the port aft cabinet…

[mountainoliver]

Yes, I removed the USB port from under the dinette and moved it to over the bed. One bed had an overhead USB port and the other one didn’t. 

Edited 4 hours ago by mountainoliver
Clarification

[Tom and Doreen]

9 hours ago, Galileo said:

 

To be fair - maybe - I get one more “bar” of signal strength if I hold my phone tight by the indoor antenna. Then again, that might just be from being closer to the window. Honestly, I thought some instructions said you had to “register” that device with your cell provider, but I can’t find any info on it. It’s just some blinking green lights in the port aft cabinet…

No registration is required. I've only seen one bar increase in signal strength if I put your phone very close to the internal antenna, sometimes that helps but generally not much.  The gain on the tiny external antenna on top of the trailer is pretty poor which is largely to blame.  A physically larger external antenna with a higher gain would be helpful but not worth the expense / effort in my opinion.  If I don't have a decent cell signal I use StarLink. 

[Mike and Carol]

55 minutes ago, Tom and Doreen said:

No registration is required. I've only seen one bar increase in signal strength if I put your phone very close to the internal antenna, sometimes that helps but generally not much.  The gain on the tiny external antenna on top of the trailer is pretty poor which is largely to blame.  A physically larger external antenna with a higher gain would be helpful but not worth the expense / effort in my opinion.  If I don't have a decent cell signal I use StarLink. 

Agree 100%.  One bar max.  We have a valance on the window that I can set my phone on just inches from the boosters antenna so I can get a little better hot spot performance.  Seriously looking at a StarLink.

[Galileo]

4 hours ago, mountainoliver said:

Yes, I removed the USB port from under the dinette and moved it to over the bed. One bed had an overhead USB port and the other one didn’t. 

Last year or so - when everything seemed to go from USB-A to USB-C, I purchased a cigarette-lighter sized USB outlet with BOTH types of outlets. I intended to replace the USB-A port with that one. Haven’t gotten around to it yet….
 

It looks pretty jammed in up there over the cooktop. The one under the dinette looks to be an easier target. 

I just wish the folks who make the USB powered toys would pick ONE standard and stick with it! I had to buy a new hardwire kit for my dash cam because GMC deleted the “cigarette lighter” port AND the USB-A power port between 2021 and 2025 models….

[Galileo]

1 hour ago, Tom and Doreen said:

he gain on the tiny external antenna on top of the trailer is pretty poor which is largely to blame.  A physically larger external antenna with a higher gain would be helpful but not worth the expense / effort in my opinion.  If I don't have a decent cell signal I use StarLink. 

If I can’t get a cell signal on my phone or hot spot, I take that as nature’s sign that I need to disconnect and enjoy the great outdoors. I do kick and scream a bit, but sometimes I have to surrender.