Hawk People: A fellow boarder just purchased a lovely new 2 horse Hawk bumper pull. Every times she hitches up and unhitches, I see her crawling around on the ground messing with some sort of foot plate and cotter pin. I asked her what the heck she was doing, and she waived her hand at the foot plate and pin.
I do not have a Hawk, and my trailer has a wheel at the bottom of the jack stand, so I’ve never had a foot plate. Nor have I ever paid much attention to other Hawk folks as they hitch and unhitch. But I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen them crawling around on the ground, blinding jabbing a cotter pin into the jack stand hole.
I looked on the Hawk website and found replacement parts for an “adjustable jack stand and pin” and that’s how I know the lingo.
Is this foot plate something that others eventually take off…and leave off because it gets in the way when the trailer is hitched so you have to remove it? Thanks in advance.
I have one for my Trail-Et and never use it. I thought it was for when you put the jack down on a hard even surface like concrete or asphalt, which never happens for me. I also have a wheel I can attach but again, never use it. So the foot plate and wheel are both in the trailer tack room and never leave there! I’m always putting the jack down on a big block of wood we use, whether I’m home or away, and that works fine for me.
horsepoor, thank you so much for your response. So, the footplate works for putting the jack down on the ground, and has nothing to do with the jack stands functionality?!
As 99% of people put a block of wood or whatnot under the base of their jack stands anyway…she is just making more trouble for herself.
Maybe when the newness of the trailer wears off, she will realize she doesn’t “need” that extra step.
Hm. My Hawk has a footplate but it takes 2 seconds to adjust and using it saves a ton of winding. I have never had a trailer without one but I only have goosenecks. I am having a hard time imagining this being a difficult task…maybe she is doing it wrong somehow.
I would think a jack would be less stable without a footplate which is one reason for using one. Even then, I use a 2 by 12 piece because if you aren’t moving a trailer often, they can sink down a little in the gravel or whatever you are setting them on.
ETA: I googled it and I don’t think you should have to take off that footplate unless you go over some seriously uneven roads and are worried about dragging. You would have to roll it all the way up before you started, of course. However, in this case I would MYOB and let friend continue doing whatever makes her happy. Unless she asks for advice, of course. it isn’t dangerous.
Maybe she needs to take the footplate off for clearance reasons? I do not own a Hawk, but maybe the footplate does not recede flush with the bottom of the hitch, thus could get caught on the ground/pavement in certain situations…
fordtraktor - indeed she has not asked my advice, and I will not offer it. 
I have wandered past her occasionally as she hooked up or unhooked, and then gone past her 20 minutes later only to find her still crouched on the ground, fumbling around. The first two times I asked her, “Whatcha doin’?” and “Y’allright down there?” and she muttered something about “Oh…THIS thing…it is SO hard to…” Then I stood and stared at the construct and said, “Hunh.”
I figured she is an intelligent woman, this is not her first trailer, and as everything else about the Hawk has been wonderful, whatever she is doing in the dirt - she can just keep doing. Meanwhile, her teen-aged daughter stands there silently staring off into space as her mother struggles away. Every. Single. Time.
moving to dc - I wondered about the clearance thing too. With my trailer, you can crank the wheel up out of the way, and the wheel “pivots” to get out of the way of the front frame of the base of the trailer.
Just doing a little googling, it looks like the foot plate is for keeping the trailer from sinking into soft ground. Since I always put mine down on a big hunk of wood, I think I’ve done all right not using it. Mine is a Trail-Et, not Hawk, so might be different, but it really adds very little in height so wouldn’t save much winding of the jack at all. If it were such a pain to use as you are describing, I’d probably leave it off and do as I do now - set down on a block of wood that we always have with us.
I have a Trail-Et with the foot plate. I took mine off. I don’t feel like it cranks up enough to not bottom out. The tongue is already pretty low on the trailer and it does sticks lower than that. I don’t remember how far below since it has been years since I have used it I just put it down on a cinder block.
It is really difficult to put on and off. You don’t get a good view of the holes and getting the pin to line up in both holes is difficult. Hence the cinder block. I carry the foot in the trailer since I leave the cinder block at home. This way if I have to unexpectedly drop the trailer the foot is available. I carry the wheel chocks with me.
Unless the foot plate your barnmate is using is an extension, she could just use a block of wood as horsepoor does. You might offer her a 2x (at least 6 inch wide ) a foot or so long. This will work well even if the jack is a bare tube at the bottom.
Offer a solution instead of criticism 
Mine sits in our trailer tack room… I used it a couple of times and then just did away with it as I didn’t see the purpose.
I take my foot plate off my Hawk when I’m hauling to make sure there’s clearance. Due to sand in TX I went with the plate vs a wheel.
LetItBe
I’ve got both a wheel and a footplate. The super easy way to deal with both is not to bother with the cotter pin, just place it carefully and drop the jack stand. I definitely need to remove the wheel for good clearance but I remove the foot plate as well, because I never know if I am going over a speed bump or something like that which could affect normal clearance
But 9 times out of 10 I end up just putting the jack down on a block of wood, because I am overly generous with making sure that jack stand is well greased so disgusting lithium grease covered hands is the by product of using the wheel or foot.
I have a Hawk 2H “bumper pull”.
It takes me less than 5 minutes to attach the jackstand. I sit on a stool, and have no need to roll around on the ground. I line up the cotter pin by feel.
I always disconnect the jackstand before I drive off. Even with the jack wound all the way up, it hangs down about 6-8 inches, and is guaranteed to bottom out at some point in the drive.
I COULD use a piece of wood, but the jackstand works well, and it isn’t worth the bother of finding an appropriate piece of wood.
Thank you everyone! I took a look at at the Hawk again (it is next to the muck pile, and I can see the trailer when I dump my wheelbarrow, I swear I am not being a nosy neighbor.) Tah dah, the footplate is in fact resting on two 2" x 4" boards. As I mentioned, this trailer is new, but not the first trailer this fellow boarder has owned. The trailer frame does indeed “ride low,” so I can certainly see where one would want maximum clearance advantage, and removing the foot plate might be a good idea for when the trailer is hooked up and in motion. So I will not suggest anything to the owner, and she has my respect for dealing with the cotter pin/hole alignment every time she wants to hook up and unhook.
I have a Hawk with a footplate and I both use it (with a hunk of wood to rest on when not in use so it is high enough) and take it off when hauling. On a bad/slow day it takes me 30 seconds to put the pin through and get the footplate on when I am done hauling. Not quite sure how it would be that hard to put on
Another owner of a Hawk 2h BP. I always use the footstand on a piece of wood when parked and yes I crawl on the ground or squat to take it off when I hook up. It does not retract far enough to not risk hitting it if left on during travel an I always figured it was more stable on the foot than without. Sometimes it takes a few minutes fussing when I’m tired at the end of the day but it’s not as bad as fussing with my sway bars used to be.
