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N-Trouble's avatar
N-Trouble
Explorer
Jun 10, 2016

Faster Landing Gear

Finding I would like the landing gear on my 5er to be a bit quicker. It struggles at times even on full battery charge if I have the trailer heavily loaded. Its a single motor setup. What are best options out there for upgrading? Can I simply add a second motor or does it require adding an entire new landing gear setup?

39 Replies

  • B.O. Plenty wrote:
    Before you spend a lot of money. Open up the tops of the jacks and lube everything up well. You might be surprised how this helps.

    B.O.


    Definitely. Just went through that. After mine sat for many months, it would not lift itself without blowing the fuse. And I had lubed the bevel gears as part of normal maintenance. What really needed lube was the leadscrews, and I had to drill access holes in the legs to get lube where it was needed. Once I had lubed the leadscrews and run them in/out, it is like new again.
  • B.O. Plenty wrote:
    Before you spend a lot of money. Open up the tops of the jacks and lube everything up well. You might be surprised how this helps.

    B.O.


    Will give it a shot BUT the trailer is only 1.5yr old and has performed this way since new. I just think its undersized/barely capable like a lot of things I see slapped on these trailers:(
  • Before you spend a lot of money. Open up the tops of the jacks and lube everything up well. You might be surprised how this helps.

    B.O.
  • I use a short piece of the hand crank shaft, minus the crank, and a 1/2 inch drill. I took the motor off of the landing gear so I am not turning any of the motor gears or shaft. I put the hand crank shaft into the hole on the side and drill away. It lifts and drops my 10,000lb fiver very quickly.

    I use a Harbor Freight drill and so far it has been plenty strong. I do not use it very often though so I cannot predict how many up and down cycles it is good for.

    I generally have 120V available to run the drill and the few times I did not, I used the manual crank which was still plenty fast and did not take that much effort either. PS: I am 66 yrs old and do not put much effort into anything if I can help it.
  • Yeah, that's a good price. I think I paid about $550 for mine. My OEM always sounded like they were about to quit working...and then they finally did. :)
  • fj12ryder wrote:
    The best system, IMO anyway, is the Bulldog. You can install another Venture-type motor but I think it's still a weak system.


    NIce looking system and I like the idea of being able to control each side independently. $539 shipped on Ebay aint bad either.
  • I'll see what it currently has. Even plugged into AC it struggles at times so I don't believe it is a source power issue.
  • N-Trouble wrote:
    Finding I would like the landing gear on my 5er to be a bit quicker. It struggles at times even on full battery charge if I have the trailer heavily loaded. Its a single motor setup. What are best options out there for upgrading? Can I simply add a second motor or does it require adding an entire new landing gear setup?


    Find out what gear it has, then see if they make a retro-fit for a 2nd motor.

    Personally, I try to always plug into my truck while running, when I'm jacking, especially when loaded. Just figure that it's easier on the batteries.

    Lyle
  • The best system, IMO anyway, is the Bulldog. You can install another Venture-type motor but I think it's still a weak system.