Forum Discussion

rmoore0852's avatar
rmoore0852
Explorer
Dec 24, 2015

Landing gear maintenance and rebuild questions

Ok, I'll try to keep this relatively short but I have a few questions about the landing gear in my FW. Tried the search, no luck. As I am running the gear up and down I'm getting lots of popping and jumping. I have had this trailer since May. Pretty sure I need to replace the gears. It is making me nervous that one day it will either drop the trailer or that I won't be able to hook/unhook. Previous owner told me that when retracting the gear, he would just let it come up until it popped, that's how he knew it was fully retracted. I have since painted lines on the legs so I don't hit the stops, but I think the damage was already done. I am very mechanical and have absolutely no problem with mechanical work, but first time with this project. Here are my questions:

1. I can't find a label anywhere on my gear. Does anyone recognize what this is so that I can order the correct rebuild kit? I am assuming Lippert, since that is the frame manufacturer.

2. The motor and gear housing wobbles around quite a bit. There are tabs that brace against the tube that stop it from turning. Is this normal or is there a brace or bracket missing?

3. The curb side landing gear has absolutely no access to it. Looks like gear is installed at the factory, then the enclosure for the genset is put in. I REALLY don't want to have to pull the genset and enclosure just to get to the right side gears. There is an access panel on the other side that gets to the battery box and motor leg. I would like to put a matching access panel on the other side to allow both access to that leg and to use that open area as storage. Any ideas on where I can find a matching access door?

4. And finally, what normal maintenance should be done on FW landing gear? I would expect that these things need some grease on occasion, but that brings me right back to the access issue mentioned above.

Give me a few minutes and I will post some pictures.
  • fj12ryder's avatar
    fj12ryder
    Explorer III
    Dec 24, 2015
    If yours is a normal electric landing gear, which it sounds like, the motor drives a cross shaft through a gearbox. The cross shaft in turn drives a set of bevel gears in each leg, which rotate a screw which does the actual raising and lowering of the legs.

    It sounds like your bevel gears are either badly worn and not engaging fully, or have a broken tooth or two. The chances of the trailer dropping are basically nil since the screw won't turn just with gravity. However I think you're justifiably worried about it not working at some point.

    If you pop top cover off the leg there will be info about the legs inside the cover.

    It's pretty normal for the motor to move around since it isn't securely mounted, so it can flex without breaking anything. A very poor system.

    My curbside leg was also very difficult to access, but where there's a will there's a way. There was just enough room on top of the generator housing to work on the leg. A bit of a squeeze, but it could be done.

    You have two steps: locate which leg is popping and jumping. It could be both legs because it could be the gearbox driven by the motor that is bad. You need to locate the problem. There are replacement parts for the gearbox and bevel gears. You can fix those, or you can buy replacement legs like the Bulldog system.

    I replaced my legs with the Bulldog system because I was very tired of the sloooow raising of my trailer, and I had to either fix the OEM legs or replace them.

    Good luck.
  • rmoore0852's avatar
    rmoore0852
    Explorer
    Dec 24, 2015
    Ok, take a look at the pics and see what you think. I didn't realize until now that the generator bay is offset, so amatching access panel on that side is out of the question. I may see if I can use a narrower panel. Any other ideas for accessing this leg?

    fj, thank you for the info about where the label is. I can reach the top of the left leg and will look under that cover. There is absolutely no way to reach that other leg without either cutting an access panel or removing the genset. There is 4" between the top of the genset enclosure and the top of the compartment. Barely had enough room to get my camera in there to take the pics. Can't even get close to reaching it, let alone working on it.

    I am trying to avoid pulling the genset, not only to fix the problem, but like I said in #4, I'm sure that some grease on these gears and shafts every year or so is a good idea. I definitely don't want to pull the genset every year just to maintain. I would like to upgrade to a dual motor system at some point, but that's just not in the budget right now.

    For those that have pulled generators, am I trying too hard to avoid what is actually and easy job?? I hate to start cutting holes and stuff if it is a 30 minute job to pull the generator.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    Dec 24, 2015
    Pop the cap off of the top of the legs. I set there you should find a part number and serial number. If the assembly is from Venture Mtg, then look up their number and give them a call. Great people to work with, reasonable prices, fast delivery.
  • 12thgenusa's avatar
    12thgenusa
    Explorer
    Dec 24, 2015
    Do you still get the noises when the weight of the trailer is still on the truck?

    As far as I know, there is no requirement to lube anything on the landing gear.

    This is not directly related to your problem but something you might want to correct. The wires looped over the drive shaft below the drive motor are a bad idea as the shaft rotates whenever the motor is running. I would try to reroute them.
  • Justaguy's avatar
    Justaguy
    Explorer
    Dec 24, 2015
    Yep...Lippert. If you'll notice in picture #3 there are 2 grease zerks - upper and lower- on both landing gear sleeves. Those need greased annually. A lot of people miss those.:)
  • MainerBob's avatar
    MainerBob
    Explorer
    Dec 24, 2015
    We had a similar problem last year and took it to a repair shop. They quoted the price of a new leg and the price of the gears that needed replacement. The price for the gears and the shipping for them was much lower than the price for the leg and shipping. I opted for the repair. Big mistake! The labor involved in removing the leg and the gears and refitting the new ones was so much I would have saved money just getting the new leg. Lesson learned. Good luck. By the way, could someone explain the Bulldog system?
  • B_O__Plenty's avatar
    B_O__Plenty
    Explorer II
    Dec 24, 2015
    I ordered new legs for mine only to find there are 2 overall lengths. 29.5" or 33.5" The shorter ones are the most common. Of course I ordered those only to find they are the wrong ones. For some reason the longer legs are $100.00 higher per leg. Exactly the same but 4" longer. Rip-off? With a little work it looks like I can make the shorter legs work and save a couple hundred bucks..One of mine is buried and I had to cut a big hole in the propane compartment to gain access (Thanks Heartland!). I then cut out a piece of galvanized tin to cover it and screwed it in place every couple inches. THe new legs have zerk fittings, the old have nothing. No mention was ever made to lubricate them...

    B.O.
  • fj12ryder's avatar
    fj12ryder
    Explorer III
    Dec 24, 2015
    The Bulldog system is set up to use one motor for each leg. They are much heavier duty motors than the standard leg motors. And needless to say, much smoother, quieter, and faster than the OEM electric legs. They also can be set to high speed, or high torque. The kit comes with all you need including a switch plate with dual controls. It's a very high quality set of legs. Not cheap, but one of those things that are worth the money. IMO of course.

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