Community Forums

Raven13 · 12-12-2013, 09:38 AM

Hello!
Need a little help here.....
Only one of the motorized jacks on the front of our fiver is working, up or down. Both jacks are operated by a single motor on the left side. The jack on the right side is supposed to go up and down in unison with the one on the left.
They are connected by a bar that connects the right and left jack. I think there may be a stripped gear at one or both sides???
Your thoughts would be appreciated!

brewurown · 12-12-2013, 09:46 AM

I had the same problem. There is a bolt on the bar that goes to the right side and that bolt broke. Replaced the bolt and everything is back to normal.

Raven13 · 12-12-2013, 09:55 AM

brewurown - thank you! We are traveling now, but I think I know what you mean.
Can't wait to try it when we reach our CG!
Will let you know! Appreciate your quick response!
Jim

wingnut60 · 12-12-2013, 10:06 AM

That's probably a shear bolt, designed to break if it gets in a bind. It needs to break so something expensive doesn't (jack motor). Replace with a similar bolt, I would not use a grade 8. If it breaks again, need to find out where the bind is coming from.
Joe

Ray,IN · 12-12-2013, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wingnut60

That's probably a shear bolt, designed to break if it gets in a bind. It needs to break so something expensive doesn't (jack motor). Replace with a similar bolt, I would not use a grade 8. If it breaks again, need to find out where the bind is coming from.
Joe

Yup, use a cheap hardware (ungraded) bolt and nut, 10-32 X 1 & 1/4" size I think. You want the cheapest, easiest to replace, part to fail first. A good spray lube grease to lube the jack screws and gears is always nice to have along.

Raven13 · 12-12-2013, 06:13 PM

Well, it's just what we did - cheap bolt, and it's working fine.
Thanks to you all for the great support here!

jesilvas · 12-12-2013, 06:39 PM

Now that it broke and you probably ran the lead leg by itself before noticing, even the legs up. Measure from the black leg casing and the bottom of the actual landing leg. Both legs should be the same.

lspencer001 · 12-13-2013, 07:44 AM

we had the same problem twice. the first time insurance took care of it because the left side of the 5er fell in a sink hole and broke the left jack. then after it was repaired with a new jack and motor and a new gear box the jack broke again. this time the "drive D pin" broke. I was told by atwood that there was no way that this could have broke because it was gold plated. we took it back to dealer and 2 months later it was finally replaced under warranty. atwood determined that when they put the new leg on they put the wrong size motor and gear box on. now hope we are good to go.

Raven13 · 12-13-2013, 12:43 PM

It was dark when we got the bolt installed. This morning, we did have to even up the legs and get situated.
This forum is TERRIFIC! I posted our dilemma while we were driving, and by the time we got to our destination, you good people had the problem diagnosed
Wow! Many thanks for your attention...
Safe travels to all!

deandallmann · 12-16-2013, 11:21 AM

I had the shaft break right where the sheer pin goes through it. Fortunately there was enough room left on the shaft to drill another hole. Needless to say that can only be done once so for $70 dollars I have a rebuild kit that I keep on board that will replace any of those gears, bushings, and/or shaft that are at the top of those landing gear posts. For 70 bucks that's not a bad thing to have on board anyway

caissiel · 12-16-2013, 06:35 PM

If your front jacks are hard to turn with the manual crank the jacks need maintenance.
The reason things break is a signal that they are turning to hard and they will eventually break. The jacks that is.
I have modified them on 3 units and saved the jacks from destruction. And adding a second motor, larger fuse, bigger pin only adds to the problem.
If you look at the drawing there is a centering plate that lines up the gear and pinion. If the gear on the Jack screw is allowed to move the pinion will climb and jam causing extra torque requirement. And greasing is not the requirements but anchoring the center plate is requited.
I have done it because the manufacturing processes did not do it right. Some units are installed with the supports clamping the plate but some don't.
It's not a jack manufacturing problem because the clearance needs to be there for assembly.

MingusPirate · 02-02-2014, 10:03 AM

For the fourth time the landing gear on my Montana 5th wheel failed. We managed to get the truck under it and drag it home where I contacted Venture, the manufacturer of the landing gear. They told me that the system needed to be dual motor rather than the single motor system that was installed. Checked the web and found most agreed if the 5th is over 38 feet. We found that for our sized trailer we should have had a dual motor system instead we had a single that did what the landing gear manufacturer said it would do: fail.

I spent four days rebuilding the landing gear on the trailer. It was supposed to be a three or four hour job, but interchangeable parts do not. The new right side leg had 17-1/2 mount spacing, where the old one was 17-1/4. After grinding off sufficient material on the lower mount the leg fit. We rebuilt the original motorized left side leg, too. They had a kit for that. Then the sheet metal had to be cut out to allow for the reduction gear to fit onto the right side leg. The instructions said only a 1-1/2 inc hole was necessary. In my case the sheet metal was on the centerline of the reduction box.

Had to reuse the old telescoping part of the old leg because the new one did not have the holes to mount the foot with the long side parallel to the 5th wheel. Called the manufacturer and they said that's the way it is now.