On Monday, August 13, 2018 at 8:45:05 PM UTC-4, Michael Opitz wrote:
JB,

A long time ago, I had a similar problem with the tongue staying
collapsed. It turned out that there was a gas strut inside the tongue
that had failed. Once the gas strut was replaced, all was OK again..
FWIW...

RO

Yeah, my understanding is that it's a gas spring and a damper. The damper function seems to work (i.e., I don't have sharp bumps when the mechanism hits the stops under braking or acceleration, as was true in an early Eberle trailer we had with no damper). But I have no way of measuring it against a spec. I've had the damper/spring out before and it's accessible now so I've already emailed Rex about getting a replacement. I was chased inside by the rain yesterday while the tongue was spread out in the driveway so I haven't been able to examine the interior mechanism closely. Will report back what I find.

Chip Bearden