HappyJac bed came down and damaged trike - Dutchmen Owners
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Old 08-20-2019, 01:37 PM   #1
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HappyJac bed came down and damaged trike

After over 7 years of no significant problems with my Voltage 3200, yesterday I had a serious and expected EXPENSIVE issue. On my way home from a trip to upstate New York I made a fuel stop after about the first 200 miles and climbed up into the Voltage to check things like I usually do. Some how the lower Happy Jac bunk in the garage came down on top of my Can Am Spider (trike). The top bunk was held up with the pins, as we almost never use it. The lower bunk went back up just by pushing the up button and appeared to stay in place. But, to be safe until I figure out what happened I ratchet strapped it in place to keep it up.

The user manual has a section on the motor brake that says if the brake is off the bed will drift down, but the motor brake has NEVER been off and I checked it after getting home and unloading and it is still 'ON'. I'm baffled as to what happened.

The bed dropping broke/bent both of my steering hand grips, snapped off both antenna on the rear of the bike, destroyed one of two flag mounts and staffs and gouged a huge hole on one of my rear storage compartments. I'm estimating somewhere close to $1000 damage, not to mention it can't be ridden.

Later today I will be doing a more in-depth inspection and checkout of the Happy Jac. As of now though ……. I'm not Happy.
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Old 08-20-2019, 03:05 PM   #2
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Sorry to hear about the damage to your can am I have a 2017 3605 and it does the same thing pretty much always has I didnt know anything about a brake I drilled new holes in the rails under the bottom unit and I put the pins in there so it stays up
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Old 08-28-2019, 09:19 PM   #3
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Had this happen to us a couple months ago and the bed wedged down on the table. Still not sure what is wrong with it but unplugged it and messed with the brake. It has been on since. I contacted hapi-jac and they were not super helpful but did tell me that the solenoid brake could be a possible problem. Unfortunately it is my understanding that the whole motor needs to be replaced if the brake goes out. Maybe you can get a different more in-depth answer if you contact them by phone. Good luck
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Old 08-28-2019, 09:51 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scottxpc View Post
Sorry to hear about the damage to your can am I have a 2017 3605 and it does the same thing pretty much always has I didnt know anything about a brake I drilled new holes in the rails under the bottom unit and I put the pins in there so it stays up

I am almost positive this will be my solution to it ever happening again.
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Old 08-29-2019, 01:46 AM   #5
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Thanks for post I will go out and drill and pin ours We either keep four wheelers or golf cart depending on where we go camping at. All our best Largo fla
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Old 08-29-2019, 10:00 PM   #6
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Thanks for sharing this info. I've only taken a few trips in my new to me toy hauler and so far no issues with the HappiJac bed but better safe than sorry. I've got an up coming cross country trip so I went out today and drilled mine for some pins and just ordered some pins from Zoro Tools. Everything they use to build RVs is pretty low quality and the lack of workmanship is incredible so better to pin the bed now before it damages my bike. It's not worth the hassle and frustration of repairing bike damage.
Everybody bad mouths products made in China but the RV industry isn't saying much for products made in America.
Thanks again for sharing your story about your bed failure. It will help some people prevent what you are going through now. Good luck with your Spyder repairs.
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Old 08-29-2019, 10:45 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Foothills Jim View Post
...so I went out today and drilled mine for some pins and just ordered some pins from Zoro Tools...
Not for nothing... but you can get those pins (Detent Pins) from almost any hardware store (Ace, True Value, Lowes, etc) for about 75¢ each. ¼" x 3½" are what I use.
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