Had a problem with my landing gear. Sheared the shear pin. We were able to make a pin to get me by till I got home. My question is do the legs need to be in line or timed? I ask because when I was getting ready to leave today the drivers side leg didn't want to retract all the way. I retracted the legs until the motor clicked. Then I pulled the pin to push the inner legs up. The drivers side didn't want to be pushed all the way up. I was able to force it but that isn't usally the case. I was thinking maybe the drivers side was retracted more than the curb side?I have looked but haven't been able to find what I need. I hope all of this makes sense. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, John

Since you have the truck attached and taking the load of the fifth wheel on the hitch there shouldn't be all that much force on the landing legs. So I don't see what difference it would make in how you retract them. I frequently pull one all the way up before moving to the other side to get the other one. Unless you have two people retracting the legs it's about the only way you can do it.For the last few inches there will be the full weight of the camper on the legs but at that point I'm usually pulling/lowering up the legs in tandem with the 'both' switch. You'd only operate them separately when you are trying to level the camper.

Yes. Otherwise you will have leg jamb and the other leg dragging.

donn0128 wrote:Yes. Otherwise you will have leg jamb and the other leg dragging.I guess my next question is how do you do this? I have looked and Googled but I am not finding an answer. Thanks, John

I agree with Donn. If your landing gear is like mine, both legs operate simultaneously, they need to be "timed".

shadows4 wrote:donn0128 wrote:Yes. Otherwise you will have leg jamb and the other leg dragging.I guess my next question is how do you do this? I have looked and Googled but I am not finding an answer. Thanks, JohnI'm not sure what Don means. But don't you have three buttons on the landing gear panel? Right, Both, and Left? By using the both button the legs will operate together. You use the right or left to level the camper when the legs are down.

Do landing gear legs need to be timed? | Good Sam Community

21 Replies

CarlT100
Explorer
Aug 12, 2015
That is good to hear. Congrats on the successful repair job.
shadows4
Nomad
Aug 11, 2015
Well, job is done. Stopped by the local RV dealer this afternoon. Their head mechanic told me to go to the hardware store and buy a 1/4 inch grade 8 bolt for the shear pin. A 1 inch long bolt was the perfect size. Took longer to hitch up than to replace the tempory I had used with the new bolt. Evened up the landing legs put the new bolt in, easy peazy. Thanks for all the replies. I was definately over thinking things.
christopherglen
Explorer
Aug 11, 2015
The only time they need to be dead even is if you are parking on a level cement pad. I have yet to find one, even pads are graded to drain water. One side or the other is always going to be high or low a bit. Just shoot for really close and leave it at that.
shadows4
Nomad
Aug 11, 2015
Thanks guys, I know I can do this. Just needed some encouragement. I will fix it this weekend. Need to go by the local RV parts dealer and get a couple of shear pins.
Again thanks alot, John
rrbowman
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
shadows4 wrote:
Had a problem with my landing gear. Sheared the shear pin. We were able to make a pin to get me by till I got home. My question is do the legs need to be in line or timed?

I ask because when I was getting ready to leave today the drivers side leg didn't want to retract all the way. I retracted the legs until the motor clicked. Then I pulled the pin to push the inner legs up. The drivers side didn't want to be pushed all the way up. I was able to force it but that isn't usally the case. I was thinking maybe the drivers side was retracted more than the curb side?

I have looked but haven't been able to find what I need. I hope all of this makes sense. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks, John

This is easy to do, connect to your truck and raise legs until free from the ground and all weight is on fifth wheel hitch. Then measure the distance that the outer legs are extended from the bottom of the fifth wheel frame. If different then remove the temporary shear pin that you have in place and run the powered leg to match the Passenger side leg then install your new shear pin and you are done. You can then disconnect as normal from truck hitch.
NMDriver
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
JIMNLIN wrote:
All the units I've had were one switch/one motor. There was no timing involved.
I've never ran the jacks all the way up till they stopped as a service mgr says that system doesn't use a 'up' limit switch and can shear the pin or damage gears. So I just run mine up high enough so they won't hit anything.

X2-- Never run the outer shaft leg all the way up or down. I have mine marked with a black line. When I see the line I stop.

BTW the two outer shafts do not need to be exactly equal. It is just a cosmetic issue if they are slightly off.
JIMNLIN
Explorer III
Aug 10, 2015
All the units I've had were one switch/one motor. There was no timing involved.
I've never ran the jacks all the way up till they stopped as a service mgr says that system doesn't use a 'up' limit switch and can shear the pin or damage gears. So I just run mine up high enough so they won't hit anything.
1-800 your systems manufacturer for their recommendations.
valhalla360
Navigator
Aug 10, 2015
Any chance the shear pin that broke fell down and is jambing the leg? It shouldn't take much effort to push the inner part up.

As long as both legs are high enough not to s****e on the ground, there should be no real issue other than slightly reduced ability to raise or lower. You should be able to hook up to the truck pull the shear pin and manually adjust the legs so they match up.

Seperate leg controlls: Seperate controlls are generally a bad idea. You might get away with a little bit but leveling with the landing gear is a good way to twist your frame and cause leaks and other issues.
stickdog
Explorer
Aug 10, 2015
No need to wrench them around. I just had this happen to mine broke the shear pin.
While hooked up to the truck lower the legs 2 -3 inches disconnect the drive shaft then measure the lowered jack on the drive side and the non-drive side, raise or lower the drive side to match the non-drive side and reattach drive shaft.
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Aug 10, 2015
Yep, that's how it's done: disconnect one leg from the other, then raise them both until they stop one with the motor and one by hand, then put the shear pin back and that should do it.