I am on a road trip and my landing gear is giving me trouble. It was unable to lift my trailer back onto my truck after the last stop. I had a guy come out and work on it, but he said all he could do was a temporary fix to get me back on the road. He said he think that one or both of the jacks need to be replaced.I am now in my next camping spot and I'll be here for a week. I could have another mobile repair service come out and take a look, and because I'll be here for a while, probably get it taken care of. My preference, though, is to wait until I get home and a) give my business to a local guy that I can take it back to if I have trouble down the road, and b) if a jack replacement is necessary, take my time deciding on the new system rather than just take what the mobile guy can get delivered.So . . . long way of getting to the question. Assuming the temporary fix fails when it's time to leave here next Sunday, what is the best way to get my trailer raised enough to get on my truck? I am leaning towards getting a couple of bottle jacks, and putting one under the frame on each side. Any thoughts or suggestions?

What is broken?If it's the motor, you may be able to hand crank.Otherwise, the bottle jack idea should work but be careful to make sure the wheels are well blocked. You may also need some wood blocks for the bottle jacks to raise it high enough.Again, be careful as you could easily knock the trailer off the jacks when hooking up.Personally, if I had the time and there is someone reasonable available, just get it fixed.

It's not the motor. The motor turns. It's the gears. Not sure if it's the top gears or the worm gear.

Shear pin on the drive shaft? =Temporary= fix is a bolt or nail. A shear pin is there =to= shear if there's a problem. Personally, I'd put the bolt or nail in and hand-crank the legs. Alternatively, it could be broken gears in the gearbox, which is a different kettle of fish entirely.Lyle

I'd just get it fix, no worries and enjoy my trip.

southernsky wrote:I'd just get it fix, no worries and enjoy my trip.X 2Bottle jacks will work in a pinch. But why go through that. Get it fixed now.Why put yourself in jeopardy trying to get a warranty you may never need? Why buy bottle jacks you may never need? If you can locate a competent mobile tech get it done now.

Raising 5th Wheel When Landing Gear Malfunctions

13 Replies

gmsumsion
Explorer
Jun 15, 2015
Well, I went ahead and had the guy come out. He wasn't took interested in pulling the passenger side jack out of there. He greased everything up, ran the jacks all the way up and down a couple of times and everything is looking good. Still cost a couple hundred bucks, and I'm not entirely sure that I won't still have problems in the future, but it ran great to get us home. :)
Allworth
Explorer II
Jun 08, 2015
When one of mine started skipping it turned out to be the thrust bearing immediately under the top cap that transfers the force from the leg to the frame of the trailer.

I have a dual motor Atwood system and since the trailer was in the driveway we tore the passenger's leg down on the bench and replaced all of the bearings and gears. (The Atwood kit is about $30 per leg. Don't know about yours.)

If you have to do a replacement anyway, you will probably be much happier with a dual motor system. More power and much easier to tweak the side to side level.
Coach-man
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
You should be able to manually raise the landing gear?! Check your manual once raised and on the TV, do not drop it again until fixed. At least with it on the TV you could haul it somewhere to have it fixed.
Specularius
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
If it is having trouble with a load, then I would use a couple of bottle jacks and use the landing gear too. Jack a little with the bottle jacks, run the landing gear down. Keep doing that until it is high enough to hitch up.
gmsumsion
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
laknox wrote:
Alternatively, it could be broken gears in the gearbox, which is a different kettle of fish entirely.

It's the other kettle of fish. The guy who fixed it at my last stop out in a new shear pin on the passenger side leg. That got it working. Problem is that it still skips gears or something when under load.

I don't have any more stops after the campground I am already in. I only need to get it on the truck one more time. It will be more expensive to fix it here. Still, I do see the advantage of getting home and not needing to worry about it.
waltbennett
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
Had the same problem, but not until I'd gotten home early last year. I can say that the bottle jack solution will work, but I used one bottle jack and a couple heavy duty jack stands. Jacked a few inches on one side, raised the stand there a notch, did the other, then back & forth until I could take the Monty was off my truck. Since both legs had problems (one was a pin, the other a gear), I opted to replace the single motor setup with a much heavier duty Bulldog two motor one. Now I can level the front when it's out by a few inches as well as lift it a lot easier. Having someone come to fix you in a campground may run into a lot more than you want, and you'll still have the same set of legs that caused the problem in the first place.

And don't forget to securely chock you wheels before lifting!
Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
gmsumsion wrote:

So . . . long way of getting to the question. Assuming the temporary fix fails when it's time to leave here next Sunday, what is the best way to get my trailer raised enough to get on my truck? I am leaning towards getting a couple of bottle jacks, and putting one under the frame on each side. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I agree with get it fixed NOW.

And it's already too late but.......don't take it OFF the truck to begin with. And/or live a few days with the front end higher than normal.

Some but not all campgrounds have a space or two for extra long rigs.
magic43
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
Limping through a trip is no fun. (I know) Get it fixed.
Lantley
Nomad
Jun 08, 2015
southernsky wrote:
I'd just get it fix, no worries and enjoy my trip.

X 2
Bottle jacks will work in a pinch. But why go through that. Get it fixed now.
Why put yourself in jeopardy trying to get a warranty you may never need? Why buy bottle jacks you may never need? If you can locate a competent mobile tech get it done now.
southernsky
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
I'd just get it fix, no worries and enjoy my trip.