Front Landing Gear Issue

[soonernation]

When I took my trailer in a couple of months ago to get the "end of warranty" issues resolved, I noted to them that one of the front landing gear motors was making a noise that the other one was not making. The motor was clicking as it raised or lowered the leg. They said it was normal for the motor to ride the shaft and not be attached to the actual leg.

After returning from our trip this weekend, the motor is making all kinds of racket as the leg lowers or raises. I don't believe it is actually the motor as it sounds more like the gearing in the top of the leg. Have any of you had to have one of these legs replaced? If so how much is it? Should I go back to the dealer for them to fix it even though it is out of warranty but was noted as an issue on my last visit?

[soonernation]

nayther wrote:
It's probably the shear pin skipping in the drive gear. The top of the leg has a gear that is driven by the motor and its brass with a slot that a roll pin sits in, if you drive the leg all the way up or down until it bottoms/tops out it can make that roll pin skip and eventually wears out the brass gear. It is designed that way so you don't break the worm gear that drives it up and down. They sell a kit with new thrust bearing, gear, pin, etc. Anything else needs repair and you have to replace it they said due to liability.

Camorhino:
Where did you get the dual motor kit? I need to do that real bad, maybe replace the one existing motor too as its laboring real bad, might be about gone.

Thanks for the info as this is probably what happened in my case as I dropped the front all the way down on the trip we just returned from due to the extremely uneven camp spot. I did not know this was a problem.

Where do I get one of these kits?

[Camorhino]

http://www.toyhaulermagazine.com/LandGear08.html

I've done my CL 4005 and my daughters 3905. Seems to me that her kit was around 350$. Hardest part is getting the non motored leg out of the mount. I had to get the nose of the trailer up pretty high to drop it out the bottom. Her kit used the top mount motors, I liked those.

[nayther]

It's probably the shear pin skipping in the drive gear. The top of the leg has a gear that is driven by the motor and its brass with a slot that a roll pin sits in, if you drive the leg all the way up or down until it bottoms/tops out it can make that roll pin skip and eventually wears out the brass gear. It is designed that way so you don't break the worm gear that drives it up and down. They sell a kit with new thrust bearing, gear, pin, etc. Anything else needs repair and you have to replace it they said due to liability.

Camorhino:
Where did you get the dual motor kit? I need to do that real bad, maybe replace the one existing motor too as its laboring real bad, might be about gone.

[soonernation]

Each landing gear has it's own motor so I assume that's what you mean by dual motors.

I'm familiar with the whole removal process as I had to do this on a rear jack when I got a pin jammed up in it. Interestingly enough, this particular one has a cap on the top for me to look into it once it's removed. The one on the other side is a sealed square tube with no access to the internals.

I guess I will remove the leg and see what the issue might be.

[Alpenliter]

I had a leg gear break at the bottom of the shaft which required replacing the leg. It ended up being about $300 installed. If its making noise at the top of the shaft, you should be able to pop the cap off the top of the shaft to see what's going on in there.
Good luck!

[Camorhino]

If you only have one motor and a shaft that drives the other side, quit now and go dual motors, or you'll be forever be wishing you had. Not hard to do, just takes time. There are several dual motor kits out there, but with the weight of these big trailers on the front end, it is rediculous that they only put one motor on most.

[donn0128]

What brand landing gear? I have added dual motors, rebuilt one leg and added up limit switches. All pretty easy work. As long as you have some mechanical skills.