When I took my trailer in a couple of months ago to get the "end of warranty" issues resolved, I noted to them that one of the front landing gear motors was making a noise that the other one was not making. The motor was clicking as it raised or lowered the leg. They said it was normal for the motor to ride the shaft and not be attached to the actual leg. After returning from our trip this weekend, the motor is making all kinds of racket as the leg lowers or raises. I don't believe it is actually the motor as it sounds more like the gearing in the top of the leg. Have any of you had to have one of these legs replaced? If so how much is it? Should I go back to the dealer for them to fix it even though it is out of warranty but was noted as an issue on my last visit?

What brand landing gear? I have added dual motors, rebuilt one leg and added up limit switches. All pretty easy work. As long as you have some mechanical skills.

If you only have one motor and a shaft that drives the other side, quit now and go dual motors, or you'll be forever be wishing you had. Not hard to do, just takes time. There are several dual motor kits out there, but with the weight of these big trailers on the front end, it is rediculous that they only put one motor on most.

I had a leg gear break at the bottom of the shaft which required replacing the leg. It ended up being about $300 installed. If its making noise at the top of the shaft, you should be able to pop the cap off the top of the shaft to see what's going on in there.Good luck!

Each landing gear has it's own motor so I assume that's what you mean by dual motors.I'm familiar with the whole removal process as I had to do this on a rear jack when I got a pin jammed up in it. Interestingly enough, this particular one has a cap on the top for me to look into it once it's removed. The one on the other side is a sealed square tube with no access to the internals.I guess I will remove the leg and see what the issue might be.

It's probably the shear pin skipping in the drive gear. The top of the leg has a gear that is driven by the motor and its brass with a slot that a roll pin sits in, if you drive the leg all the way up or down until it bottoms/tops out it can make that roll pin skip and eventually wears out the brass gear. It is designed that way so you don't break the worm gear that drives it up and down. They sell a kit with new thrust bearing, gear, pin, etc. Anything else needs repair and you have to replace it they said due to liability.Camorhino:Where did you get the dual motor kit? I need to do that real bad, maybe replace the one existing motor too as its laboring real bad, might be about gone.

Front Landing Gear Issue | Good Sam Community

21 Replies

rkortes
Explorer
Dec 17, 2013
nayther wrote:
Well finally stayed home for a weekend and did the dual motor modification. Piece of cake. They wanted to sell me a whole new "slave" leg but I just bought the new input shaft and turned the old leg 180 which in my case worked PERFECTLY! Installed the second switch in place of the original and cut a new hole for the old switch so they control the correct leg. It works 100% better, now you can actually see the trailer move while before you had to watch the leg itself. Cost was about $260.00 including shipping. Venture was outstanding to work with, extremely good customer service and sent me all kinds of diagrams and instructions. Sorry I didn't do this years ago.

Will probably do this to my 08 Ragen 3005 sooner than later. That motor seems to works it's tail off. I guess I'll just give Venture a call. Thanks for the info!
Camorhino
Explorer
Dec 17, 2013
The good thing about it is, you will probably never have to do it again.
nayther
Explorer
Dec 17, 2013
Well finally stayed home for a weekend and did the dual motor modification. Piece of cake. They wanted to sell me a whole new "slave" leg but I just bought the new input shaft and turned the old leg 180 which in my case worked PERFECTLY! Installed the second switch in place of the original and cut a new hole for the old switch so they control the correct leg. It works 100% better, now you can actually see the trailer move while before you had to watch the leg itself. Cost was about $260.00 including shipping. Venture was outstanding to work with, extremely good customer service and sent me all kinds of diagrams and instructions. Sorry I didn't do this years ago.
soonernation
Explorer
Nov 24, 2013
I did buy the rebuild kit. Replacement was very straightforward except for the fact that the other gear would not fit. The diameter of the opening in the middle was too small. Fortunately, that was not the one that needed to be replaced.
Camorhino
Explorer
Nov 23, 2013
Wow, that's impressive. I would have thought the shear pin would have broken before it cleaned all the gear teeth off. Faulty gear maybe??
nayther
Explorer
Nov 22, 2013
soonernation wrote:
This was the culprit:

If you buy a "rebuild" kit it will include a new bronze gear, shear pin, thrust bearing, etc.
nayther
Explorer
Nov 22, 2013
Camorhino wrote:
Well, evidently my bad.....the landing gear kit she bought was from Eastern Marine.com. Went on the site and did not find the same dual kit :( I'm assuming it must have been a sale, and no longer available.

Thanks buddy, went right to the source, Venture Mfg. and they have sent me a quote. 300-350 depending if I replace the entire leg or just modify it. As soon as we get it pinned down I'm pulling the trigger. Do NOT want to crank again.
soonernation
Explorer
Nov 22, 2013
This was the culprit:
Camorhino
Explorer
Nov 19, 2013
Well, evidently my bad.....the landing gear kit she bought was from Eastern Marine.com. Went on the site and did not find the same dual kit :( I'm assuming it must have been a sale, and no longer available.
Camorhino
Explorer
Nov 18, 2013
Hang on. I've got the daughter looking for her old receipt to get you good intel.

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Front Landing Gear Issue

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