Howdy…thot I’d share my rebuild of a landing gear.
I recently installed an Onan generator in my 5th Wheel (2006 Montana) and the extra 300lbs was apparently enough to push the starboard-side Lippert landing jack over the edge. I was lucky enough to not have a critical failure where everything dropped...it just quit trying to lift after a certain point.
I couldn't find any instructions on how to rebuild the jack so...given that I know which end of a wrench to use...I jumped right in. Using a couple of short sections of a railroad tie, a 20 ton jack and careful placement under the I-Beam near the offending jack I was able to remove it after taking off the 2 carriage bolts squeezing the jack into position and the sheer bolt connected to the driven shaft. Please note there is a piece of the jack against the camper that locks onto another piece of metal in the camper frame for support. That’s important to remember when the jack is reinstalled.
I popped the metal cover off the top of the jack, removed the c-clip from the driven shaft, hammered out the lock pin from the vertical plenary gear using a punch then slid the driven shift from the assembly. This freed up the vertical plenary gear and allowed removal of the 2 bushings supporting the driven shaft across the 2 sides of the landing gear.
Next I tapped out the pin holding the horizontal plenary gear, removed the gear, and the bearing underneath it.
With all the gear package removed, I removed the inner assembly and fully extended the screw mechanism below the horizontal plenary gear to apply a thin layer of grease. I then screwed the screw back into its original (-ish) position.
After packing the new bearings with grease, I began reassembly with the replacement kit. I made sure to grease the new gears. Nothing really to add on the detail here…I just did the opposite of how I took it apart. I could’ve saved some worry by using my IPhone to take digital photos prior to taking everything apart as a check for reassembling this…3-dimensional puzzle. But it was simple enough for me to get back in working order.
Parts aren’t all that hard to get hold of. First, Lippert still sells the rebuild kit for $85 (plus shipping) at their home site of
http://store.lci1.com/categories.aspx?Keyword=146060 It's expensive…but cheaper than a new leg.
The bearings aren’t sold with the Lippert kit but I found a suitable bearing by Nice (USA) model 603. I just contacted a local industrial store and they got 'em in for less than $4 a piece (I bought 2…just in case I need to rebuild the other side in the future). Packing them with grease is required.
My landing jack works fine…hope my story is helpful.
Dane
