Landing gear motor.

Here is an observation on my 2008, as well as my friends 2010 , both Montana Fifth Wheels. Grease is a wonderful thing unfortunately the 2008 of mine has only the one zerk to lube the top gears. The 2010 has two perks one for the top gears , and one for the long worm gear.

The 2010 was also laboring, mine has always ran decent, not great, but still on the original motor. The 2010 was nearly coming to a stop , well the gears were pretty dry, greased up both zerks, and it runs like a champ. That could be your biggest problem.

I don't think the distance down is too important. I would be happy to measure mine for anyone who asks. It's more than 4" I'm sure. Guessing 6-8" from top end of leg. I wanted to be able to spray lube right at the follower nut (the top of the inner leg where it is threaded), so that it could penetrate. Then run the leg down a little and spray some more. Then run the leg up/down to spread the lube along the leadscrew. You can't reach all the threads with just the 4" straw on a spray can, but working the leg up and down while spraying will get it effectively spread along the thread. To really do it right, pulling the legs would get it done. More work than its worth IMO, unless some other repair is needed.

Don't bother lubing the sides of the square tube legs. They are never a tight fit, unless you've bent one.

bpounds wrote:
I think 2 motors is a fine idea. But whether you do that or not, you need to get some grease on the leadscrews, or it is just a matter of time before a leg seizes up on you.

Most trailers don't have zerks, and if they do it will only be for the bevel gears at the top. The leadscrews cannot be lubed through a zerk, unless you just willy nilly fill the leg with grease. You need to get the grease into the follower nut and along the threads of the screw.

I drilled access holes in each leg, and I use spray grease with a straw nozzle to direct the lube on the screw. I use motorcycle chain and cable spray, because it is very clingy, but regular old grease will work too. Heavy stuff preferably. You can see where I drilled the holes in the photos below. They are only about 3/8" diameter.

Once you lube the leadscrews (they are NOT worm gears BTW), I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much easier your motor handles the load.

I too think two motors are okay, but not always necessary, there are a lot more heavy fifth wheels then what I think the OP has ,plus its sounds like there is no generator up front. I have an ONAN 5500 LP in front, and have been fine with just the one motor setup as long as I keep it greased up, and I'm still on the original motor.

Thanks for the correct terminology on that "leadscrew" As far as the Zerks go, yes the older legs do not have them ,my 2008 do not. But if you were to replace those legs in your picture ,they would have two perks, and the lower WILL get the leadscrew using a grease gun .As said in a previous post we went thru this with a friends landing gear.

We ended removing both landing legs ,drivers side was shot stripped out leadscew, and the other must have been just slightly burred on the leadscrew ,and had some rough spots in it, when turning it by hand when out of the fifth wheel. We lubed up that lower zerk ,and it freed it right up. Now his is running great on the one motor, with one new leg, and one properly lubed .


I have one leg with zerks, and one without, but was greased torn apart , I will drill a hole like you at 4" down, obviously if the zerk is working there on his ,and my other one, 4' down should be good for the drilled hole. Its hard to see where that hole is drilled in yours, I am thinking the white spot if s0, pretty close to that zerk at 4" . Although those jerks are on the front side of the legs, not a great place for them as far as getting too. .

I think 2 motors is a fine idea. But whether you do that or not, you need to get some grease on the leadscrews, or it is just a matter of time before a leg seizes up on you.

Most trailers don't have zerks, and if they do it will only be for the bevel gears at the top. The leadscrews cannot be lubed through a zerk, unless you just willy nilly fill the leg with grease. You need to get the grease into the follower nut and along the threads of the screw.

I drilled access holes in each leg, and I use spray grease with a straw nozzle to direct the lube on the screw. I use motorcycle chain and cable spray, because it is very clingy, but regular old grease will work too. Heavy stuff preferably. You can see where I drilled the holes in the photos below. They are only about 3/8" diameter.

Once you lube the leadscrews (they are NOT worm gears BTW), I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how much easier your motor handles the load.

I assume that most legs work the same: there is an outer part that mounts solidly to the trailer, there is an inner leg that moves up and down with the motor driven screw, and the innermost leg that can be moved up and down manually and is held in place by pins.

If there is a small hole in the outer mount, and the innermost leg is lowered out of the way, that will expose the screw to any lube shot through the hole in the outer mount. The hole should be fairly high so as to hit the screw and not the inner leg.

I hope that's clear, kind of hard without a diagram. When I mounted the Bulldog legs I totally disassembled them and greased everything and put it back together.

fj12ryder wrote:
Small hole in the outer leg, run the leg all the way up, lower the inner leg, and spray some lithium grease liberally through the hole. Easier than a grease gun, and insures that the grease ends up on the screw and not down the side of the leg.

I think we are talking about two different styles of landing gear, these are lippert or stromberg one in the same, but there are no holes other then two little ones on my 2008, directly below the cap, you can accomplish the same thing , just by pulling the caps off on them and greasing those top gears, but I don't see anyway to get grease to that worm gear ,and nut down lower. Unless I am missing something here that you are saying ????

Small hole in the outer leg, run the leg all the way up, lower the inner leg, and spray some lithium grease liberally through the hole. Easier than a grease gun, and insures that the grease ends up on the screw and not down the side of the leg.

Measuring where that bottom grease zerk is, its 4" from the top of the cap. I would not think it would matter if that hole was drilled in the front of the leg , where it would be easy to drill. All there is in there bedsides the long worm gear is a eight sided nut ,held in there for the worm gear to run thru . That hole would not hurt a thing, you could tape over it if concerned with any debris getting in there , it would be minimal inside the compartment there . Worth a try for the sake of hole.

I think you could accomplish the same thing by drilling some holes down about three inches for that worm gear ,and just pump grease in there. I will measure for sure where the bottom zerk is , but its not that far down . The zerk is just in the cavity ,not going into anything but in the vicinity of the gears.

It sure got the job done for my friends 2010 after greasing that lower Zerk .Ran 100% better .

ivbinconned wrote:
I can see no zirk or feel one where I can not see. Is pouring oil in from the top going to lube the entire shaft?
Another desire I mentioned was to get rid of the cross (head banger) member. Two motors would do this. This would make building a shelving system and access to-it very nice.

I am sorry ,I mislead you, no you don't have any Zerks, I don't either , on the one side, I replaced the drive side ( Don't ask :( ) and it does have the double zerk. The old side does have a small hole where a zerk would be ,but no , ,no zerk.

I mentioned I pulled off that side ,and greased it partially torn apart. Yes pouring into the top will get it, it will run thru the nut that the worm gear runs thru, and should get the worm gear also. I would put as thick as I could get that will pour. I am going to do the same, and just put something under that side to catch what runs thru. The other side I will grease the zerks .