Whats the Difference Between Spring Return Jack and a Non-Spring Return Jack

Updated 04/25/2011 | Published 04/23/2011

Question:

please explain what a spring return is

asked by: Dan

Expert Reply:

A spring return in this regard is a mechanism that helps when you are lowering or raising a trailer onto a gooseneck ball.

Due to the slow jack speed and the far distance that the foot of a jack has to go when you are raising a trailer there is a pin you can pull in the leg of the jack that will lower the inner section of the jack to take up the majority of the distance that the jack foot has to cover.

Well, when it comes time to lower your trailer onto your truck and drive off you will crank the jack back up into the jack housing and once the foot of the jack is raised off the ground you will release the inner leg pin and have to raise the inner leg manually back into the outer leg to give you more clearance for driving.

Here is how the spring return helps in this situation. When you release the pin to raise the inner leg back into the outer leg if it is a spring return jack there will be a spring that will automatically raise the leg back into the outer leg without you having to bend over and raise the inner leg manually.

I have used both non-spring returns and spring return jacks and they both have advantages and disadvantages.

The spring returns are nice when you are lowering the trailer onto your truck as you do not have to manually lift the inner leg back into the outer leg housing. However, when it comes time to unhitch from the trailer you will have to pull the pin out of the leg and then manually push the inner leg down and then repin it. It is not a big deal but its an extra step that is there with a non spring return.

The non spring returns advantage is that when it comes time to unhitch the trailer from your truck you will just have to unpin the leg and it will fall on its own. But the disadvantage here is that when you are hitching up your trailer you will not have to manually lift the inner leg of the jack (which can be pretty heavy) to pin it up and out of the way once you have lowered the trailer onto your truck.

Generally speaking, most people prefer the spring return style jacks. If you wanted a jack that is very similar to the Bulldog Jack # BD182400, that you referenced and has a spring return I would recommend the Bulldog Square Jack, part # BD182815