Landing Gear Motor Fail and It's not the Fuse

[duggram]

If the problem with my landing gear motor is not a failed fuse, which was easy to find over the battery, what else could be the problem?

Today after work I'm thinking of taking my multimeter to the fifth wheel and check the leads at the motor. And go from there looking for a reason why the motor is not working.

Any other suggestions?

I don't want to take it to a shop. Don't you think I should be able to figure out whats broken on my own?

[lawaco12]

when you find problem would you post please I have a friend with same problem, WE replaced switch worked fine for two trips then same problem We take two wires and run directly to motor from battery and then it works with switch for a while. Note it always happens when he Is unhitched

[mrwacky]

It sounds like you have a loose ground or loose lead or corroded connections.

I'm glad we headed to the Northwest when we did, it was supposed to break all heat records back home in Nevada this week. Good luck with that heat...lol.

[duggram]

New issue: I was able to get into the storage yard late yesterday and sure enough the landing gear motor worked fine. I hit the switch after hooking up the battery and it worked fine.

Does this point to switch/corrosion problems?

I'll try to get back to it tonight. But of course it's supposed to be 100+ today. I may wait till Saturday so I can work on it really early in the coolness.

[kirbybear]

Motor brushes can get dirty and hang up. Usually you can take the motor apart and clean the brushes and commentator. I just had an failure where the spring over heated and lost it K factor. I did manage to find new brushes and springs.

Also brushes can wear out.

[jamway]

We had a corroded ground keep ours from working one time.

[Duke-44]

I had a similar thing going on today. My electric rear stabilizer jacks would not Extend. The motor would crank when I pushed to Retract; but, when I pushed it to Extend there was nothing. I unscrewed the switch plate and and pulled the wiring out. The Extend conection was corroded. I just wiggled it a bit and it worked. So I took all 6 wires connections apart and scraped all the connections so they were shiny, then retaped with electrical tape.

So you might just take apart all connections one at a time and you might find the problem.

[duggram]

Thanks for all the input. Does seem like a simple issue. Yes on the hand cranking, it works fine but hard as heck.

[Old-Biscuit]

Battery to in-line fuse to switch to motor........simple checks starting at battery connection then follow to motor.

You can manually crank landing gear....correct?? Not jammed/binding??

[CANAMKID]

X2 with the Swamp Man a little moisture can do all sorts of stuff

[Swamp_Man]

If the switch is working, then I was check the motor next. I had a slide out motor then went bad but did not blow the fuse. Just up and died. Replaced it and everything worked again. But may sure you eliminate all of the other causes before purchasing a motor. You might even have a contact that has burnt inside the fuse holder.

[donn0128]

That high amp switch is a likely place to start. You have a lead from the battery to the switch and two leads from the switch to the motor. All 30 or so amps for the motor goes through that lousy switch. Contacts burn easily and create a dead circuit. There are simple ways to permanently fix the situation if that is your problem. Adding a heavy duty reversing relay and a basic toggle switch make the system nearly bullet proof.