Landing gear/jack problem

dryfly wrote:
One landing gear on my 5th wheel has began to make a terrible noise. Sounds as though it is binding when lowering or raising the trailer, and is coming from one of the 2 1/2" square tubes located inside the storage compartment.

I pulled the top cover from the tube and apparently the two gears are in good condition and are turning. In fact, I believe the assembly is still raising and lowering the trailer, but the binding sound is so severe I hesitate to do this because something is going to give.

I have worked on just about everything on a trailer but not these assemblies. Any idea where I might find a diagram of whats inside the square tube? From a little searching, these legs may not be re-buildable but may require replacement of the entire leg.

Any help or ideas appreciated.

First, make sure the leg isn't bent. Frankly, if it is, you'd likely have the noise go away both above and below the bend. If it's straight, then try lubing the jack screw. Most jacks seem not to have zerks, though they'll likely have =some= lube, or =should= have. If the jack screw appears dry or doesn't seem to have much lube on it, then grease away! :B OTOH, given that a jack leg doesn't cost all that much, might be a whole lot easier to just replace the leg with a new one, take apart the old one to see what's wrong and, if it's OK, put it on the shelf as a spare. One thing that I =really= like about my KZ having the auto-level is that each front jack has its own motor, which makes raising and lowering about 3x faster, at least! :B

Lyle