Landing Leg Problem

[WGDunlap]

I have a new 2010 Winslow with Ultra-Fab front landing legs with separate switches for each leg. Today the legs quit working when I was lowering the trailer after disconnecting - they would not go up or down and I heard a distinct clicking sound about every 10 seconds for about 45 minutes. When the clicking stopped, the legs seemed to move up and down without any problem. At the time of the problem I was connected to 50 amp service with a full charge on the house batteries.

Does anyone have an idea on what happened?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes

[Jim & Bona]

Hi Bill,

Welcome to the Excel Owners Forum and, more importantly, Congratulations on your new Excel. If you've been lurking on this forum, like I did before we bought our Excel, you already know that you brought your question to the right place. You might also want to give Jack a call at the PI Service Center. He's always been able to give me a direct answer on all my questions.

I don't think I have an Ultra-Fab system so I likely won't be much help. However, I once tried to operate my landing gear with the battery disconnect swith in the Off position and had a similar result. Is your battery disconnect switch in the On position?

Again, welcome.

Jim

[rockintom]

Hey Bill,

Like Jim said, welcome to the forum. You say you have the Ultra Fab legs, I just want to make sure that they are electric jacks. Interesting 'cause the early '10 Winslow I looked at a dealer had electric jacks with only ONE switch. It ran both legs at the same time. I thought that was odd.......but I've seen it on SOB. Our old '05 FLR had electric Ultra Fab jacks with 2 switchs as you described.

Anyhow, it almost sounds like a circuit breaker was clicking indicating a short to ground or a overloaded jack motor. Was the clicking loudest in the front bay area as that's where the curcuit breakers are? Was the clicking continuing without you attempting to move the jacks? That's all I can think of.

Jim, I think your rig has hydraulics..... if so, the pump was clicking as when the battery disconnect was off....the converter was unable to product enough power (amperage) to run the pump properly without the battery included in the circuit. That pump requires some pretty good current when you load it.

I agree with Jim.....a call to Ralph or Jack may be in order. rockin'

[KU9L]

We only have one switch for our front electric jacks, similar to what our 2001 28rgo Classic had.

Dave

[WGDunlap]

I have electric jacks with two switches - Bryan said ok for a special order on this option. The clicking occured after the legs stopped working and continued for about 45 minutes. The sound seemed to come from near a wiring harness below the jack supports - it was not coming from the electric motors on top of each landing leg. If it was an over load would the clicking stop after everything cooled?

Tom, I got my Excel shortly before you got yours from Kathy in NM. Thanks to everyone for your replys. I'll try calling Excel this morning. Any additional help would be greatly appreciate since I am on the road in Lander, WY.

Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes

[Workshop]

Bill this is what I have on my 2001. I also have two switches to control the jacks. In the photo...CB2 at the bottom of the wire harness is one of two circuit protection devices for my jacks. That breaker has several uses, protection for the rear electric stabilizers...protects the units 12vdc system from the TV incoming power and as a general 'terminal' for several things in the front compartment.

Fuses F21 and F22 are fuses for the jacks and F23 is for the rear stabilizers.



It sounds like you are overloading the breaker, when it does that....it will trip and try to reset itself and would guess the clicking sounds. If it is doing it for that long a period it would be interesting to know if there is still a load on it which is causing it to continue tripping.

I can run both of my jacks at the same time and have not had that problem.
I would check the breaker size and see if it is big enough to handle the load of both jacks at the same time. Would assume it is as this is the 'first time' this has happened?

Could be a undersided breaker....a weak breaker....or possible one of the motors is drawing more than it should. Also check to ensure the nuts are tight on the terminals of the breaker.

[WGDunlap]

Reply #2

I just talked to Ralph in Smith Center. He said there is a 40 amp circuit breaker mounted just below the landing leg that would click if something was wrong with the breaker. His suggestion was to replace it and keep a spare in case of future problems. I'll try Napa Auto here in Lander, WY since there are no RV dealers in town. The nearest big city is Salt Lake which is about a 4 hour drive from here.

I hope this may help other Excel owners in case of problems with the landing legs.

Again, thanks to everyone for all your advice and comments.

Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes, CA

[rockintom]

Thanks for the feedback.....I agree the system has the 40 amp breaker.....and it's possible I guess that it is bad, but, based on your description of what took place I have doubt the actual breaker is the issue......the reason I say that is auto reset breakers normally break (open the circuit) when it is overloaded and when it gets weak, it only clicks open with too light of a load. As I understand it.....it would keep clicking without any load (not trying to move the jacks)? Is that right or am I misunderstanding? rockin'

[WGDunlap]

This morning I tried raising the trailer up and everything worked ok. I left it cool for about 15-20 minutes before lowering the trailer and again had no problems. I am not sure if yesterday I over-heated the breaker raising and lowering the legs very quickly. I was able to get a 40 amp breaker at Napa. I will continue to use the original and keep the one from Napa as a spare. Does anyone know if the breaker will trip from over-heating and then take about 45 minutes to cool down? Perhaps the clicking was the sound of the breaker trying to reset?

Again, thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice.

Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes, CA

[rockintom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WGDunlap This morning I tried raising the trailer up and everything worked ok. I left it cool for about 15-20 minutes before lowering the trailer and again had no problems. I am not sure if yesterday I over-heated the breaker raising and lowering the legs very quickly. I was able to get a 40 amp breaker at Napa. I will continue to use the original and keep the one from Napa as a spare. Does anyone know if the breaker will trip from over-heating and then take about 45 minutes to cool down? Perhaps the clicking was the sound of the breaker trying to reset? Again, thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice. Bill Dunlap Mammoth Lakes, CA

If you were continuing to work the legs after the breaker blew......then the breaker didn't have time to cool..... I misunderstood your original statement.....I thought you stop attempting to run the legs and the breaker was clicking without any load or attempt to move the legs.

I never blew my breaker in 5 years of FTing.....now I think I understand better the situation......you may just have a "soft" breaker. rockin'

[WGDunlap]

Tom,

Thanks for your reply. It did make a clicking sound without any pushing of the two switches. I am not sure if when the legs are extended there is any current flow going thru the toggle switches. I can only guess that the heat of the heavy current draw caused the breaker to heat up and trip. Then it would try to auto reset but would not because of the heat. Everything seems ok now and at least I have a spare from Napa just in case of future problems.

Thanks,
Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes, CA