Ed Venture
Advanced Member
Here is my tongue jack / cordless drill mod on my FBS 189. Again, I am not the first to do this type of install, but it seems to work pretty well.
I wanted to try two different techniques to see which would work best for me. The first was to use a standard bolt that would work with any socket or wrench, and the second was to modify a bolt to fit the crank for my stabilizer jacks so that I could use the same adapter for my drill that works for those. If I could get the second method to work, that would be much better because I wouldn't have to change the socket adapter when switching between the jacks and I would have the existing hand crank in case of drill failure.
I started with a couple of 6" x 1/2" grade 8 Hex Cap Bolt from my local hardware:
For the first method, I measured the distance from the end of the original jack crank to where the pin was installed, which was 3". I then drilled a corresponding hole 3 inches up from the thread on the bolt:
For the second method, I did the same, but this time I drilled an additional hole to insert a hardened steel pin to receive the drill crank adapter.
I then cut the bolt thread off and filed it clean on both. I then cut the bolt head off for the one that has the hardened steel pin so the crank drill adapter could fit over the bolt.
I then took the 4 screws of the jack cover plate, removed the pin from the jack handle, inserted my bolt and reinserted the pin. (I forgot to take a picture, but you can see that I tacked a couple of welds on the bolt to make sure that my hardened steel pin would not fall out. You shouldn't need to do that if you hammer it in good).
I re-installed the cover plate and tested with the drill. It worked like a champ!
It also works quite will with the hand crank for the stabilizer jacks so if I don't have access to a drill, I can still operate the crank.
Ed
I wanted to try two different techniques to see which would work best for me. The first was to use a standard bolt that would work with any socket or wrench, and the second was to modify a bolt to fit the crank for my stabilizer jacks so that I could use the same adapter for my drill that works for those. If I could get the second method to work, that would be much better because I wouldn't have to change the socket adapter when switching between the jacks and I would have the existing hand crank in case of drill failure.
I started with a couple of 6" x 1/2" grade 8 Hex Cap Bolt from my local hardware:

For the first method, I measured the distance from the end of the original jack crank to where the pin was installed, which was 3". I then drilled a corresponding hole 3 inches up from the thread on the bolt:

For the second method, I did the same, but this time I drilled an additional hole to insert a hardened steel pin to receive the drill crank adapter.

I then cut the bolt thread off and filed it clean on both. I then cut the bolt head off for the one that has the hardened steel pin so the crank drill adapter could fit over the bolt.

I then took the 4 screws of the jack cover plate, removed the pin from the jack handle, inserted my bolt and reinserted the pin. (I forgot to take a picture, but you can see that I tacked a couple of welds on the bolt to make sure that my hardened steel pin would not fall out. You shouldn't need to do that if you hammer it in good).

I re-installed the cover plate and tested with the drill. It worked like a champ!

It also works quite will with the hand crank for the stabilizer jacks so if I don't have access to a drill, I can still operate the crank.

Ed