I have a two year old Forest River stealth fifth wheel you hauler and the front landing gear broke yesterday. It is not attached to my pickup, so hopefully I can attach again. I do have a 3 ton floor jack so I might have to use that. It's just the front left side, and of course the other side will break if I'm not careful as it's sitting sideways some now.Does anyone know if the landing gear is warrantied longer than the forest River standard warranty? It is a lippert frame and most likely lippert landing gear, but I can check that tomorrow. I'm in the middle of moving, so I don't have time to fix it myself. Reading online it looks doable to fix the gears, Any thoughts?

Just be really careful where you put that jack. Find a big solid piece of frame.When my landing gear got jammed a helpful neighbor put his bottle jack under the door frame for the generator compartment behind the hitch and bent it. The RV repairman brought two garage type floor jacks and slowly jacked up each side a little at a time to prevent tweaking the frame.Take it slow, easy, and safe.

As Obie said, slow and steady. Mine broke last year (was older but same situation), I was out camping so picked up a set of bottle jacks and cinder blocks to finish the trip. I figured that since I was already in there, I might as well replace both legs with a dual motor system (and extended pads since I have a sloped driveway). Was a pretty simple job with some patience.

A 3-ton jack probably won't be strong enough to do the lifting. You might need a 10 or 12 ton jack to do the job easier. What and how did it break?

fj12ryder wrote:A 3-ton jack probably won't be strong enough to do the lifting. You might need a 10 or 12 ton jack to do the job easier. What and how did it break?Thanks for the responses!!! For the Jack, the right side works, so I just need the weight on the broken side.I was just lifting it off my pickup in my driveway. I have the Anderson ultimate hitch which requires it to be lifted a long ways and it was struggling to get off the hutch for some reason then the one side broke the gears. I was able to get it off as it grabbed again but that's it.

I would think that it might be difficult to control the speed of the side that works and the floor jack at the same time. 2 bottle jacks with alternating pumps as stated above sounds like a safe way to go. Bottle jacks at Harbor Freight are cheap price so would be an in expensive way to go as well.

Front landing gear broke | Good Sam Community

16 Replies

phemens
Explorer
Aug 05, 2019
2001400ex wrote:
fj12ryder wrote:
A 3-ton jack probably won't be strong enough to do the lifting. You might need a 10 or 12 ton jack to do the job easier. What and how did it break?

Thanks for the responses!!!

For the Jack, the right side works, so I just need the weight on the broken side.

I was just lifting it off my pickup in my driveway. I have the Anderson ultimate hitch which requires it to be lifted a long ways and it was struggling to get off the hutch for some reason then the one side broke the gears. I was able to get it off as it grabbed again but that's it.

I also have the Anderson hitch, which is why I decided to go with new legs that had more extension, also went with more capacity. Might be worth considering swapping out the legs completely.
Super_Dave
Explorer
Aug 05, 2019
I would think that it might be difficult to control the speed of the side that works and the floor jack at the same time. 2 bottle jacks with alternating pumps as stated above sounds like a safe way to go. Bottle jacks at Harbor Freight are cheap price so would be an in expensive way to go as well.
2001400ex
Explorer
Aug 05, 2019
fj12ryder wrote:
A 3-ton jack probably won't be strong enough to do the lifting. You might need a 10 or 12 ton jack to do the job easier. What and how did it break?

Thanks for the responses!!!

For the Jack, the right side works, so I just need the weight on the broken side.

I was just lifting it off my pickup in my driveway. I have the Anderson ultimate hitch which requires it to be lifted a long ways and it was struggling to get off the hutch for some reason then the one side broke the gears. I was able to get it off as it grabbed again but that's it.
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Aug 05, 2019
A 3-ton jack probably won't be strong enough to do the lifting. You might need a 10 or 12 ton jack to do the job easier. What and how did it break?
phemens
Explorer
Aug 05, 2019
As Obie said, slow and steady. Mine broke last year (was older but same situation), I was out camping so picked up a set of bottle jacks and cinder blocks to finish the trip. I figured that since I was already in there, I might as well replace both legs with a dual motor system (and extended pads since I have a sloped driveway). Was a pretty simple job with some patience.
obie311
Explorer II
Aug 05, 2019
Just be really careful where you put that jack. Find a big solid piece of frame.

When my landing gear got jammed a helpful neighbor put his bottle jack under the door frame for the generator compartment behind the hitch and bent it. The RV repairman brought two garage type floor jacks and slowly jacked up each side a little at a time to prevent tweaking the frame.

Take it slow, easy, and safe.

Forum Discussion

Front landing gear broke

16 Replies

About Fifth Wheel Group

Related Content

Front landing legs wont work - advice

Front Landing Gear

Broke landing gear

Front end bounces horribly when going over 55 mph

Travel trailer front lights stay on