A chute opener for opening a chute of a grain trailer is provided. The chute opener uses a motor coupled to a motor gear to drive a shaft gear. The shaft gear drives a crank shaft coupled to the chute of the grain trailer. The gears can be disengaged to enable manual operation of the chute by a hand crank. A position sensor can be provided which determines a position of the shaft gear even when disengaged from the drive gear to maintain accurate chute positioning information.
