Trailer Jack Only Works While Ford F-350 is in Drive

Updated 01/07/2019 | Published 01/04/2019

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Question:

Hello, So I recently purchased a 2019 Ford F-350 Superduty. I previously had a 2018 and had no issues with this same trailer. I went to plug it in, I have lights and brakes, the but the electric jack will not raise and lower. I had a friend with a 2019 Chevy Silverado plug it into his truck, the jack worked. I plugged my Ford into another trailer with the same jack and it worked. I discovered his has an onboard battery, which mine does not. Ive had the dealer look at it, they couldnt find the issue, no blown fuses, no missing or malfunctioning relays. I had a trailer service place that I go to look at it. They discovered the jack only works when the vehicle is put into drive D, which doesnt make much sense. He ran a wire directly from the battery to the connector I believe leaving it hot all of the time an 40A fuse to 40A fuse. Have you head of anything like this? He said the 2019s seems more complex electronically than the 2017 or 2018s do. Thoughts?

asked by: David

Expert Reply:

Yes, the issue you are having is that the trailer jack is receiving power through the 12 volt circuit on the trailer connector of your 2019 Ford F-350. The 12 volt circuit on the trailer connector for this particular vehicle is only active while in drive as it shuts off while in park or during gear shifting. I am not aware of any way to change this setting therefore you have two options, you can either A install a separate auxiliary battery on the trailer to power the jack or you can B run a 12 volt hot lead to the trailer connector so you have power all the time and not just when the vehicle is in drive.

If you were to go with option A then what I recommend is using the 12 volt circuit on the trailer connector and run that to the auxiliary battery for a maintenance change. If you were to go with option B then I recommend using part # 10-1-1 and part # 9510 to run the hot lead from the battery to the 12 volt circuit on the trailer connector.

expert reply by: Conner L