Rear Landing Gear Clearance???

bowler1 wrote:
Hi,
I have been asking a lot of questions lately and appreciate the help. I just bought my first 5th wheel.

I have an Open Range 371MBH. After I got it home my wife commented to me on just how low the rear landing gear are when in the fully raised position. I only have about 7 inches of clearance between them and the ground. That seems very low. When I back into my driveway which is a extremely slight incline they are almost touching the ground.

I called my dealer and he said this was normal and that they would never be an issue and that they were not adjustable. They appear to be adjustable since they have multiple mounting holes. They are Lippert Strong Arms.

Shouldn't I have more clearance than this? Is my dealer BSing me when he says they are not adjustable?

thanks
Matt

OK, from some pics I just checked, it appears that OR has a 4-pt leveling system on that model =and= they've installed JTs on the rear leveling jacks. 2 things to be sure of.

1) make sure the stabilizer arms are unlocked before moving =any= of the jacks or you'll bend or break something. If the JTs aren't loose, it might prevent the jacks from fully retracting.

2) make sure the rear jacks are fully retracted. I made that mistake when I brought my new KZ home and =many= people on here, as well as the KZ forum, caught that and cautioned me to check. On my system, there's about 1/2" of inner tube showing when fully retracted.

Yes, there are probably adjustment holes, but you still need to leave enough clearance on top so you can get a tool in to manually crank the jacks, if necessary. Access for that is on top. Same thought I had.

I will tell you that, compared to my old Komfort, which rode a good 4-5" =lower= than my KZ, even without the JTs locked up, it's so much more stable that I find myself not even worrying too much about the JTs. :B Not that I won't use them, though.

Lyle

“my dealer and he said this was normal and that they would never be an issue”

Still laughing! It’s an issue for all campers. Every time you back up, enter a gas station etc.

a simple way to visualize the potential for dragging is a string line or laser line from bottom of rear tire to bottom of rear bumper -anything that is below the line is probably at risk.....

My apologies on the previous reply, because I did not notice your reference to the REAR landing gear. Those are not usually called landing gear. Stabilizers or leveling jacks is what those are called.

It might be good if you could post a photo. You are right to be concerned about them, especially on the rear. I like my jacks to be retracted far enough that if I drag my rear bumper, it is my bumper that will drag and not the jacks getting torn off. However, this does vary by trailer model. And I still suspect that the strong-arms were not installed properly, IF it is the strong-arms that are restricting the jack travel. You should get full jack travel, with or without the strong-arms.

Is the inner telescoping leg fully raised? You have limited travel of the outer driven leg, but you have much more travel by pulling the pin and telescoping the inner leg.

I'm not sure what you mean with the Strong-arms, except that they may not allow the inner leg to telescope as it should. To which I would suspect they were not installed correctly.