89 Terrry Resort Landing Gear Issue
 

I was taking 5th wheel to have some welding done. After hooking up 5th wheel to truck, I raised the front landing gear legs. The passenger leg raised normally, while the driver's side leg didn't.


Terry Front Landing Gear Photo by r___r | Photobucket




Does anyone know if the leg can be repaired, or, will I have to replace the whole landing gear setup as a whole?

Thanks,

Since the slave leg works, you know you have a working motor and gear box. From your video, your inner legs has come disconnected from the worm gear that runs inside the leg. or the worm gear has come disconnected from the bevel gear at the top of the leg.

Fleetwood normally used RBW legs, which no longer exists. As I recall Lippert bought them out. Now cutting to the chase, I always found RBW legs harder to work on, but pull the motor gear box, then pull the leg. Pulling the leg is simple enough provided you have the space. Once it is pulled, you can turn it upside down and look up into the leg. If the worm gear is broken (probably not) or the large nut that holds the leg to the worm gear is gone.

You can probably find a schematic for that somewhere on the Internet. I don't have a link handy. I think once you have it out, you will see how it all works. If you have to disassemble the bevel gears pay attention to how they go as you can change the relative position and once it is all back together and it, you will find one leg goes up while the other one goes down. If you have Atwood legs instead of RBW, they are it easier to work on (my opinion), but works the same way.

I think I have a worm gear in my warehouse. If I get over there later today, I will shoot a picture. Also forgot to mention, you know you can lift your fiver off the truck using one leg, right? :)

Steve

Pictures of inside of landing gear leg:


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...cc0b2745e5.jpg


Bevel Gears at top of landing gear leg. Remove cover to see.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...95e0207373.jpg


Worm Gear with bevel gear on one end and large nut that fastens inside inner leg on other.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...d62ec76462.jpg


Worm Gear laying on top of outer landing gear leg.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...69c99e2cd5.jpg


Worm gear laying next to outer leg.

These parts are similar in all landing gear legs although parts may very slightly.

Steve

I wasn't sure if one leg would handle the unsupported weight of the front-end, so, I thought to be on the safe side, I would use a floorjack on the driver's side.

Thank you for assuring me of the one leg lift.:)



With your informative directions, I think I will give it try.:-X22



The Welder has a little more work to do on Tuesday, so, I will get into this project shortly after that.

I will post up the progression.


Thank you for the detailed pictures, Steve.
Reps sent:-drink

I didn't know that you could get by with just one landing gear!

I think I would support the other side at any rate once you got it unhooked from the truck though.

Scott,

It is not something I recommend and I absolutely second your suggestion to support it once off the truck. Sometimes you just get in a bind where you do what you have to do and there is not always a jack around when you need one.

If you have a hydraulic you can use it for sure. I usually raise it and then back it as I do with the hydraulic. I carry a 12-ton hydraulic on my truck. The Lippert legs are somewhat infamous for dropping the inner leg out at inopportune times.

Several years ago we had one of our transporters brings a fiver back from auction in S.C. when it dropped the leg while underway on the Interstate. What fun! :(

Steve

I agree with you guys on lifting and supporting the non-functioning side, but, it is good to know that in an emergency, lifting one leg is possible.:-X22

My dog told me that years ago.

Steve,

I chuckled at your observation of my wording. Quoting just that part is funny.

I, from time to time, am good for leaving the door open for some good ones.

That wasn't the first time and it, most likely, won't be the last.

I've finally found a round 'tuit' and dismantled the landing gear today. This is what I found.

http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psp2la0oib.jpg

Just by looking at it, it seems to me that the nut that threads onto the worm gear bolt has stripped.

Is there a trick to remove the nut from where it's seated in the leg?

It looks to me like if you can't push the nut down to bring it out sideways you will have to cut one of the ears off and weld it back on in place after you replace the nut.

If it is "caged", the only way you can get it out it to cut it out as suggested.


Steve

Steve - your comment about Lippert LGs has me interested as our new 5er has them (do they ever run slo-o-o-ow vs the dual motor Atwoods on the Titanium)

When you say drop the inner leg - what do you mean? Does the latch come loose or break and drop the foot or are you referring entire inner leg, a failed acme screw or driven gear pin.

Thanks

PS - Apologies about the hijack

entire inner leg dropped.

Thanks for chiming in RV_Tech and clem1226. I did mess around with the inner landing gear leg some more yesterday, and I agree with you, it looks like that's the only way to remove it is to cut the bracket out, replace the nut, and weld the bracket back in. If I go the route, I have to figure out whether the cost to pay the welder is cheaper than replacing the whole inner leg.

Went by RV repair shop this morning. Showed the shop manager the landing gear inner leg. He mentioned that even if I changed the nut or the inner leg out, that the worm gear bolt could be damaged as well. His suggestion was to replace the lead landing gear leg. If I go that route I might as well just replace both landing gear legs.

I did look up into the leg at the worm gear threads and they looked okay as far as I could see. It was hard to see all the way from the middle of the bolt to the top, so I don't know if the threads are still good that far up.

I was looking at how to remove the worm gear assembly from the lead leg so I can inspect the worm gear bolt.

http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psw9ydvlkm.jpg

http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...pstoki9wc5.jpg

http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psgld10ptm.jpg

I made an attempt to disassemble it. I figured I'd stop before I felt like I was going to break something with too much pressure.

Is the top gear pin pressed in?

Can I use a hammer with a little extra pressure on the top gear pin to knock it out of the gear?

Thanks,

Rich

I haven't seen any gears that are not pinned. The pin has to be driven out with a punch. I have pretty much stopped rebuilding legs when you have to go this far given the time involved, although I have done it in the past. If you buy gears, you will find they come in a set with pins and brass bushing normally.

I do not agree with you regarding replacing both legs at once. It is possible one is damaged and the remaining leg may last for years more. Often someone will decide to level side-to-side by raising way up on one leg or the other first and while you can do that in an emergency, I see some folks do it routinely and finally they destroy the leg.

My thoughts,

Steve

My previous 5th wheel was a '94 Prowler.... same landing gear as the Terry ( all Fleetwoods). In it's last few years I had it it was always landing gear problems. Replaced the gears 3 times and when it failed again I started using cylinder jacks. Got tired of that real quick and traded it for my 2007 Arctic Fox.

Your recommendation of 'time involved worthwhile' is leading me towards replacing the lead leg.

My reasoning behind changing both landing gear legs was that I was thinking that maybe both inner legs had been wound up to the top of the worm gears too many times causing both landing gear inner leg nuts to be stripped out, and the good one is 'on borrowed time'. Your info regarding not changing out both landing gear legs, because folks like to level the 5er causing stress on one leg more than the other, has swayed me to just change out one, as needed.

I appreciate your professional advice, Steve. Thank You.

Sorry to hear your misfortune. Glad you fixed your issue with a replacement 5er. Since this is my first 5er, bought about 6 months ago, I think I will hang in there with this one for a while. It's in good shape for it's age. I'll just have to expect future issues with the landing gears(make sure I have a jack and jackstands). Thank you for sharing your experience regarding the landing gear, Bud.

Just an Update
 

Stopped by local RV Recycle shop about a week ago. I brought the lead landing gear leg assembly for comparison. They had many different landing gear legs, so I chose one that was somewhat simillar in body style. The outer dimensions of the inner leg was exactly the same as the one I brought, so I purchased it.

http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...psyjtjssyk.jpg

It is a few inches shorter than the original one, but, I think that it will extend far enough to make contact to the ground when disconnecting 5er from truck.

I installed the inner leg to the lead leg and the worm gear engaged the nut. There didn't seem to be any slop so I think it is going to work out. I ran the inner leg all the way up the worm gear. At the top, the worm gear just spun with no resistance. I only ran it a couple of turns and then lowered the inner leg. I made a mark on the outside of the inner leg with a sharpie about 4-5" from the bottom so that when I stow the legs up, I will stop way before I can bottom out the inner leg on the worm gear.

Before I reinstall the landing gear to the 5er, I'm going to remove the rust and repaint.