Faster Landing Gear

If it took that much effort to move the landing gear, then a drill isn't going to work very well unless you have at least a heavy half-inch corded drill with a support handle to help as a lever.

Cordless drills are the cat's meow when it comes to stabilizers, but this sounds like it's way too much for that.

laknox wrote:

otrfun wrote:
We just had the landing gear motor assembly come loose shearing off 3 of 4 mounting bolts on our new 5th wheel toy hauler. Covered under warranty, but we have to wait a week for Lippert to send the parts (new motor and gear reduction assembly).

Preferred not to leave our unit at the dealer while waiting for the parts, so I decided to manually crank the landing gear to hook-up. Of course, wouldn't you know, in their infinite wisdom, the factory didn't take the time to properly line up the landing gear shaft with the exterior access hole. I had to use a hammer to force the crank onto the landing gear shaft at a crazy angle. I suppose I should be thankful I was at least able to do that.

Anywhoser, retracting wasn't too bad; however, extracting was so difficult it consisted of pushing up the crank 1/2 turn, then changing body position to pull down 1/2 turn. Took about 20 turns of the crank to move the landing gear about an inch.

My arms are killing me this morning :(

I would think that would be another warranty claim. Hopefully, there's enough room to hog out the access hole without taking part of the sidewall with it. Ludicrous...

As an aside, buy a second crank handle, chop it off long enough to reach well outside the access hole, then chuck it up in a cordless drill if you need to use it. Same if you have manual stabilizers.

Lyle

Good idea about using a drill. We have a 3-speed, 20v brushless drill with a wicked amount of torque and a very low 100 Rpm mode we could use. Might be a good option if we get the access hole modified to align better with the shaft.

If not, we fortunately have plenty of room around the landing gear shaft once we remove the propane tank. Seriously considering cutting the handle end off the landing gear crank tool and welding a socket on the other half so I can use a long 3/4" ratchet. Should make it much, much easier.

laknox wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
Each motor does have its own switch. I don't know about the individual speeds, I suppose I actually could check rpm to see, but they seem to stay together pretty well. When I run the legs back up they leave the ground at the same time when the ground is level so I'm hoping they are tracking together. So far so good.

The separate switches are pretty nice when the ground isn't level. You can just run each down til they touch and then run them together. Saves messing with boards or something to level them up when you only have one switch.

And here I always thought it was the drop extensions that were for uneven ground. :h I guess I should have dumped the single-motor setup years ago and added a second one. :B

Lyle

Well, I guess you thought wrong and it takes a big man to admit he's in error. And if you're not wise enough to fix what's broken, then that's your fault.

otrfun wrote:
We just had the landing gear motor assembly come loose shearing off 3 of 4 mounting bolts on our new 5th wheel toy hauler. Covered under warranty, but we have to wait a week for Lippert to send the parts (new motor and gear reduction assembly).

Preferred not to leave our unit at the dealer while waiting for the parts, so I decided to manually crank the landing gear to hook-up. Of course, wouldn't you know, in their infinite wisdom, the factory didn't take the time to properly line up the landing gear shaft with the exterior access hole. I had to use a hammer to force the crank onto the landing gear shaft at a crazy angle. I suppose I should be thankful I was at least able to do that.

Anywhoser, retracting wasn't too bad; however, extracting was so difficult it consisted of pushing up the crank 1/2 turn, then changing body position to pull down 1/2 turn. Took about 20 turns of the crank to move the landing gear about an inch.

My arms are killing me this morning :(

I would think that would be another warranty claim. Hopefully, there's enough room to hog out the access hole without taking part of the sidewall with it. Ludicrous...

As an aside, buy a second crank handle, chop it off long enough to reach well outside the access hole, then chuck it up in a cordless drill if you need to use it. Same if you have manual stabilizers.

Lyle

fj12ryder wrote:
Each motor does have its own switch. I don't know about the individual speeds, I suppose I actually could check rpm to see, but they seem to stay together pretty well. When I run the legs back up they leave the ground at the same time when the ground is level so I'm hoping they are tracking together. So far so good.

The separate switches are pretty nice when the ground isn't level. You can just run each down til they touch and then run them together. Saves messing with boards or something to level them up when you only have one switch.

And here I always thought it was the drop extensions that were for uneven ground. :h I guess I should have dumped the single-motor setup years ago and added a second one. :B

Lyle

We just had the landing gear motor assembly come loose shearing off 3 of 4 mounting bolts on our new 5th wheel toy hauler. Covered under warranty, but we have to wait a week for Lippert to send the parts (new motor and gear reduction assembly).

Preferred not to leave our unit at the dealer while waiting for the parts, so I decided to manually crank the landing gear to hook-up. Of course, wouldn't you know, in their infinite wisdom, the factory didn't take the time to properly line up the landing gear shaft with the exterior access hole. I had to use a hammer to force the crank onto the landing gear shaft at a crazy angle. I suppose I should be thankful I was at least able to do that.

Anywhoser, retracting wasn't too bad; however, extracting was so difficult it consisted of pushing up the crank 1/2 turn, then changing body position to pull down 1/2 turn. Took about 20 turns of the crank to move the landing gear about an inch.

My arms are killing me this morning :(

^^^^^Just a word of precaution: If you drill holes to allow you to lube the screws take care not to get the drill chips down in the screw area.

As far as where to drill them, pick a spot about 8 inches down from the top. That will give you the chance to also lube the inner legs too. Drill it large enough to look into and run the legs down until you see the screw. Get some spray grease and give it a couple shots.

Or if you don't want to go that big on the hole, run the legs down until you can no longer feel the legs through the hole. Then spray away.

One guy says he takes the foot off the inner leg and puts some grease on a length of angle iron and holds it up against the inner screw while running the motor. Basically whatever works.

Grease zerks on the outer leg are pretty useless since the grease is not reaching the screws until you build up a large amount of it in there. But it will grease the area between the inner and outer legs.

bpounds wrote:
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.

I've considered drilling access holes for lube also. How did you determine where to drill the holes?

"Why do we need to spend $550 to do what gravity already does?"

You don't. Last time I checked it was totally voluntary. I bought the legs to replace the failing Venture setup. It's just one of the perks of the Bulldog system.

When I drop the legs on uneven ground, the lower side drops farther anyway. Why do we need to spend $550 to do what gravity already does?