Help Atwood Levelegs jack dropped

[T Gibson]

HELP: We're in Ak headed home to Md. And, today the right front jack retracted then fell back down. I assume something on the top f the gears came loose. Anyone have an exploded view of the system so I can take it apart? Could not find anything on line and internet s not good in the area were at. Atwood 4 jack system for our 2011 Newmar 3302 Baystar

[Jim T.]

Contact Atwood CS directly or Newmar CS, who will help or contact Atwood for you.


Jim & Shirley & Abbie (Scottie)
2013 Newmar Canyon Star 3911
2005 Dodge Grand Caravan Toad

[firedoc]

If you can do without it, tie it up.


Sent from my iPhone using iRV2 - RV Forum

[Pigman1]

If Atwood cannot or will not help you you will most probably need to remove the jack to get at the top. There are a series of bolts around the cover that need to be removed to get at the mechanism. When a similar thing happened to mine, I found that one of the free floating pins holding a gear in the drive section sheared. Finding one in An out of the way place was impossible, so I went to a hardware store and bought a drill that was the correct diameter. I had to cut the drill with a Dremyl cut off wheel, as it was too hard to cut with a hack saw. We put it back together and used the jack successfully for another 2 years before we traded the Bus.

Since removing the jack can be a big hassle, heavy bolts very tight, I'd tie it up until you get home and can work on it. Removal and repair is not particularly difficult, but it can be a heavy and a dirty job.

[T Gibson]

After being on hold for 35 minutes with Atwood, we left a message. Got a call back from Atwood and they informed me the jack had a sheer pin that had broken and the only way to repair it is disassembly and replacement. They would send me a sheer pin but we're not going to be at any one place long enough to receive it. Ratchet straps will work fine (for now) to tie up the passenger front jack till we get home in late August. CS at Atwood was great in sending me an exploded view of the components for disassembly of the sheer pin. For me the repair is the easy part. The hard part for me is I need to understand WHY, so as to prevent any future issues with any other jack. Do they need to be replaced every so often, have I used the system improperly, (tires have never been off the ground) I need to know WHY... It sheered off retracting not extending. Got to the full retracted position then just dropped back down, loose as a goose, no tension (thus sheer pin). Nice design so it doesn't damage any other components but, how about a 1/4" hole in the tube to insert a pin when it does drop down to keep the foot up? Design Engineer, rethink your product thru. Just saying... In any rate, I won't let it spoil our trip to Alaska (still saw 5 more glaciers today) we're just a 3 legged leveler. lol Thanks for your answers and quick response, this form is great.

[T Gibson]

Temp fix for anyone having this same problem is to drill a hole large enough in the base for a ratchet strap to attach. Make sure the hole is positioned so the strap can attach to something above the jack securly and unobstructed from wires, and moving suspension parts.

[Pigman1]

I'm glad you won't let a jack failure ruin your trip. Alaska is a great place. We're in Valdez right now and will be up here until September.

When you get the jack apart, you'll be amazed at the design of the jack. The entire weight the jack is lifting is supported by a series of 4 mechanical crimps holding a threaded flat plate. I had a second jack that those crimps opened up enough to free the flat plate. An absolutely terrible design and extremely dangerous. WHen they warn you not to get under the unit with it only supported by their jacks, they are not just mouthing a lawyer's concern. Their jacks are DANGEROUS.

To prevent a second crimp failure, I disassembled all my jacks and added supplemental steel bars to the inside of the jack tubes to support the threaded flat plate when the crimps fail. I also welded the plates to the square tubes instead of relying on the mechanical crimps. After disassembly of the jacks and seeing their design, I would never consider a unit with Atwood Jacks.

[sgwhiteley]

Read with interest the problems owners have experienced with the Atwood legs. Recently purchased a 2007 Phaeton with this system and low and behold, the rear legs would not extend to level the rig. After much troubleshooting, calling Atwood and Tiffin, I figured out that it was the legs that had failed.

Following on from Pigman's post - he's absolutely correct. The Atwood design is totally inadequate. The whole weight of the rear of the vehicle when on the legs is supported merely by 4 small crimps in the inner leg that stops a nut plate moving inside the leg. Mine failed just the same as his. I'm taking the legs to a fabrication shop today to add bracing and weld the nut plate to the inside of the leg. Overall I like the simplicity of the electric system - no high pressure fluids, reservoirs, pumps, just a motor, gearbox and the leg - simple. But Atwood really let themselves down with this cheap idea that could so easily have been avoided at manufacture. The legs are relatively easy to remove, just heavy - support the leg with a jack before removing the last of the four bolts. Remove the 3 bolts that attach the motor and gearbox, then remove the 2 gears and their respective keys, then seperate the inner from the outer leg - make sure you keep all parts clean and in order for re-assembly.

I'm hoping that my photos will upload with the response.

If you have Atwood legs and haven't done this preventive measure to strengthen them, I recommend that you take care not to impose too heavy a load on the legs, especially on the rears. It mentions in the manual that the legs can only level up to a 6 degree slope - that's not very much.

Happy RV ing.

[Jim T.]

Your pictures didn't upload, only 12k of data. Please try again.


Jim & Shirley & Abbie (Scottie)
2013 Newmar Canyon Star 3911
2005 Dodge Grand Caravan Toad

[Pigman1]

Originally Posted by sgwhiteley

Read with interest the problems owners have experienced with the Atwood legs. Recently purchased a 2007 Phaeton with this system and low and behold, the rear legs would not extend to level the rig. After much troubleshooting, calling Atwood and Tiffin, I figured out that it was the legs that had failed.

Following on from Pigman's post - he's absolutely correct. The Atwood design is totally inadequate. The whole weight of the rear of the vehicle when on the legs is supported merely by 4 small crimps in the inner leg that stops a nut plate moving inside the leg. Mine failed just the same as his. I'm taking the legs to a fabrication shop today to add bracing and weld the nut plate to the inside of the leg. Overall I like the simplicity of the electric system - no high pressure fluids, reservoirs, pumps, just a motor, gearbox and the leg - simple. But Atwood really let themselves down with this cheap idea that could so easily have been avoided at manufacture. The legs are relatively easy to remove, just heavy - support the leg with a jack before removing the last of the four bolts. Remove the 3 bolts that attach the motor and gearbox, then remove the 2 gears and their respective keys, then seperate the inner from the outer leg - make sure you keep all parts clean and in order for re-assembly.

I'm hoping that my photos will upload with the response.

If you have Atwood legs and haven't done this preventive measure to strengthen them, I recommend that you take care not to impose too heavy a load on the legs, especially on the rears. It mentions in the manual that the legs can only level up to a 6 degree slope - that's not very much.

Happy RV ing.

Great pix sgwhiteley. I opened the top crimp so I could pull out the square nut plate and then added 2 solid square steel bars (1" I think) running from the bottom of the jack tube to the lower crimp so the plate could rest on the bars when it was reinstalled. A small tack weld to the top of each bar held it in place. Then I replaces the square nut plate and welded it to the jack tube.

Unbelievably dangerous jacks.

[chrisandjayn]

Just to chime in I just had an Atwood Leveleg 66280 with a broken shear pin on my Tiffin Allegro Bay. The leg wouldn't retract, motor was spinning and the leg was loose so I ended up removing it from the chassis. I called Atwood and they suggested it is a broken shear pin. I took the motor assembly at the top off and removed the gears and found the broken shear pin. They are mailing me one for free. It is a greasy job, but for 0 dollars plus my free labor vs. replacing the jack for 500+ dollars I hope it is worth it. As long as this isn't a symptom of a control board failure such as improperly extending the jack etc. i'm hoping this fix will be good for while. I'm also going to use jack pads from now on to avoid unnecessary force on the leg from uneven ground.
This is my first post but I wanted to add this for others like me who found this thread useful and got to the root cause if it is only a shear pin.
Another thing to note is I wish I could find the fuse to pull so that the alarm would go off. Instead I disconnected the control board face plate but that still caused the remaining connected jacks to make loud clicking clutch sounds when I'm at very low speeds in drive. But not in Park. Go figure. I hope that didn't cause any other problems among the good 3 jacks

[mchero]

Keeping this atwood Leveleg thread going.

I have an 07 Discovery with the Atwood Level legs. Already replaced BOTH rear motor/clutch assembies at $250/pop. Couple months ago the left rear failed AGAIN!

Just got around to pulling it and found the three gears all chewed up! Will be giving Atwood a call.

Notes about the jack.
Each rear jack, the 10K models have two "jackscrews"
After pulling the motor cluch assembly, then removing the drive gear your left with two gears sitting on the tops of the jackscrew shafts. Removing the two gears you will see that they saddle down onto a pin that is in the shaft. Remove the pins and your able to pull the outer housing COMPLETELY up & off!

Will report back after I have a chat with Atwood Mobile products.

[mchero]

Pulling BOTH my Levelegs to have that top plate welded. VERY DANGEROUS JACKS!