Landing gear pin failures!

[Matt Cassels]

Recently we have witnessed 2 fifth wheels have the front landing legs collapse. Both had the pins that are spring loaded and attached permanently to the legs. Both were the type that only went through one side of the leg and didn't extend to the hole on the opposite side.
One came down on the truck doing about 2K damage, the other came down on the concrete pad damaging the black water tank and plumbing and who knows what else.The second one was next to us and came down around midnight, they had quite a ride.
Both units had been setup for several days before they dropped.
I would be very careful with this type of pin and make sure it seated all the way since they don't extend very far beyond one hole on the leg extensions.

[Matt Cassels]

Recently we have witnessed 2 fifth wheels have the front landing legs collapse. Both had the pins that are spring loaded and attached permanently to the legs. Both were the type that only went through one side of the leg and didn't extend to the hole on the opposite side.
One came down on the truck doing about 2K damage, the other came down on the concrete pad damaging the black water tank and plumbing and who knows what else.The second one was next to us and came down around midnight, they had quite a ride.
Both units had been setup for several days before they dropped.
I would be very careful with this type of pin and make sure it seated all the way since they don't extend very far beyond one hole on the leg extensions.

[K-Star]

Wow. Never heard that before. That would be a wild ride - especially in the middle of the night. Thanks for the input.

[Matt Cassels]

Correction to the description on the pins. They have 2 pins one above the other about 1" long. They go through 2 holes on each leg, but only one side. If you have any wiggle on the trailer they tend to work themselves out.

[woodburner]

I have wondered if that ever happened.. ..ours only sticks out maybe an eigth inch on the opposing side of the handle but there is still enough that it catchs adequately....I've never seen the type described in this post. Talk about ruining your outing! Yikes!!!

[Matt Cassels]

I wouldn't worry too much about the type of pin you are using. The ones that have been a problem here are only about 1" in length in total, so it's really easy to not have it through the hole far enough and all the weight being supported by the other leg.