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Old 10-06-2019, 11:27 AM   #1
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Erratic, Balky front leveling jack operation

2016 Crossroads Cruiser 322RL 5th Wheel with Lippert Generation III leveling jacks.

The trailer has about 20,000 miles on it, with 80 - 100 hook ups/ disconnects. Maybe 60 - 200 cycles on the gear. Pin weight is 3020 pounds.

Over the past year the jacks have slowly lost their ability to raise and lower the nose of the rig to disconnect, level and hook up. It is now to he point that they may run for a few seconds, sounding like they are laboring heavily, and then shut down. Pushing the control button may or may not get them to move. Sometimes they run for a few seconds and stop; run for a second or two and stop; or not do anything.

Several calls to Lippert tech support. Apparently the system will not run if voltage drops below 12 volts. I have installed new batteries, cleaned every contact in the power feed circuit to the jack controller, and even ran new power lines direct from the battery buss to the controller. Any advice on what size fuse/circuit breaker I should install. Each jack has a 30 amp CB on it. I have 12 volt plus at all points in the system, even at the jacks themselves.

Yesterday the Lippert tech told me that apparently I have a problem they cannot fix over the phone and for me to take it to an authorized dealer. Luckily, there is one about an hour from me.

Has anyone had problems like this? If so, what was the fix?

BTW, raising and lowering the rig using a drill is not all that much fun. At least there is an inverter in the nose bay so I can use an electrically powered drill. Battery drill eats up batteries. I was advised to disconnect the power leads to the jacks when using a drill. The jack motor becomes a generator and the potential for damaging the controller is present. I don't know, maybe I have cooked my controller.

I know I have rambled on too long, but this problem has been growing all summer long, including a 12,000 mile trip to Fairbanks. Great trip other than the jacks acting up and 3 of the 4 springs breaking. I have 4 new ones installed now. There is a shop in Whitehorse that carries a good stock of springs.

Here I go, rambling again.

Have a good day and happy camping
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Old 10-06-2019, 10:19 PM   #2
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Do you raise and lower the landing gear on the trailer battery only? I only operate my landing gear when the trailer is either connected to shore power or while plugged into my truck.
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Old 10-07-2019, 10:04 AM   #3
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Grease

I keep mine greased. There is a grease fitting in the basement, high up on the landing gear. It takes plenty of grease.

I also have the RV on shore power or plugged in to the tow vehicle to provides plenty of (dcA) amperage to the landing gear motor.

My peer at YNP never greased his and it cost him a new landing gear.
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Old 10-07-2019, 10:56 AM   #4
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Thank you for the replies.

Yes, I almost always have the truck hooked up or on shore power. Very rarely on battery alone. That does not seem to make any difference.

Hmmm. Not aware of a grease fitting. I will go looking for it with grease gun in hand, though it may be too late for this gear. The Lippert techs never mentioned a grease fitting.

I have greased the extended shaft portion, but that did not seem to do much more than collect dirt. I cleaned that grease and dirt off.

Thanks again
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Old 10-15-2019, 07:36 AM   #5
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Front Landing gear

Had a similar problem. The lower the landing legs went down the harder the electric motor had to work until it blew a 30 amp fuse. Replaced a bunch of those fuses over time. Kept getting worse and worse.

Finally googled it and found out about the grease zerks on the legs, but also found out the 45 degree gears at the top of the jack screws inside the legs needed grease as well. In addition, the reduction box attached to the drive motor could use some grease.

Watched a couple videos of guys taking the landing legs completely off their units. So put a couple jack stands under my frame and removed the motor and both landing legs. Took them into the shop, took the legs apart and saw the need for lubrication of the gears at the top of the legs and the need for grease on the worm screws. Attached my drill to the legs drive shaft and drove the jack screws up and down as I lubed all the necessary parts. Took the reduction gear box off the motor, took it apart and greased those gears as well.

During the process found out the only thing holding the landing legs in place to the body of the camper was a bump out on the external shell of legs themselves meeting up with a matching bump out on the frame.

Had the pin on the passenger side landing leg shear a couple years before. Took care of that problem, but unbeknownst to me the sudden crash of that leg caused the bump out on the external shell of the landing leg to get smashed and slip past the bump out on the frame.

So that leg was not being held tightly in place. Whenever the landing legs were lowered, that passenger side leg was slipping past the bump out, causing the external shell of the leg to press against the internal part of the leg (the part with the holes in it for adjusting the height of the leg) and the lower it went the tighter the pressure got until the motor could no longer drive the leg down and the 30 amp fuse would blow.

Rather than buying a new leg and getting a welding shop to fix the bump out on the frame. I drilled a hole in the front of the leg opposite of the bump out and stuck a punch in there and hammed the bump out back into shape. Then covered the hole with black duct tape to keep dirt out. Then took the punch to the bump out on the frame and drove it back into shape as well.

Had the legs not been taken off, I would never had understood what was happening, because they ain't telling you about the bump outs nor the need for grease in other areas.

Thank god for google and YouTube and the kindness of campers who show you what they have done.

p.s. the landing legs may not have to be removed to grease the gears at the top of the legs. On mine there is a cap that can be removed to give you access to those gears. Also, even if you pump 10 pounds of grease into the zerk on the legs it won't reach those gears. They are in an area at the top of the leg separated from the worm screw cavity.

Suggest you google, "Landing leg lubrication" and watch a video or two.

Best of luck to you.
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Old 10-15-2019, 09:51 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KECoats View Post
Had a similar problem. The lower the landing legs went down the harder the electric motor had to work until it blew a 30 amp fuse. Replaced a bunch of those fuses over time. Kept getting worse and worse.

Finally googled it and found out about the grease zerks on the legs, but also found out the 45 degree gears at the top of the jack screws inside the legs needed grease as well. In addition, the reduction box attached to the drive motor could use some grease.

Watched a couple videos of guys taking the landing legs completely off their units. So put a couple jack stands under my frame and removed the motor and both landing legs. Took them into the shop, took the legs apart and saw the need for lubrication of the gears at the top of the legs and the need for grease on the worm screws. Attached my drill to the legs drive shaft and drove the jack screws up and down as I lubed all the necessary parts. Took the reduction gear box off the motor, took it apart and greased those gears as well.

During the process found out the only thing holding the landing legs in place to the body of the camper was a bump out on the external shell of legs themselves meeting up with a matching bump out on the frame.

Had the pin on the passenger side landing leg shear a couple years before. Took care of that problem, but unbeknownst to me the sudden crash of that leg caused the bump out on the external shell of the landing leg to get smashed and slip past the bump out on the frame.

So that leg was not being held tightly in place. Whenever the landing legs were lowered, that passenger side leg was slipping past the bump out, causing the external shell of the leg to press against the internal part of the leg (the part with the holes in it for adjusting the height of the leg) and the lower it went the tighter the pressure got until the motor could no longer drive the leg down and the 30 amp fuse would blow.

Rather than buying a new leg and getting a welding shop to fix the bump out on the frame. I drilled a hole in the front of the leg opposite of the bump out and stuck a punch in there and hammed the bump out back into shape. Then covered the hole with black duct tape to keep dirt out. Then took the punch to the bump out on the frame and drove it back into shape as well.

Had the legs not been taken off, I would never had understood what was happening, because they ain't telling you about the bump outs nor the need for grease in other areas.

Thank god for google and YouTube and the kindness of campers who show you what they have done.

p.s. the landing legs may not have to be removed to grease the gears at the top of the legs. On mine there is a cap that can be removed to give you access to those gears. Also, even if you pump 10 pounds of grease into the zerk on the legs it won't reach those gears. They are in an area at the top of the leg separated from the worm screw cavity.

Suggest you google, "Landing leg lubrication" and watch a video or two.

Best of luck to you.
It's been my experience that any time a RV manufacturer/dealer says "no lubrication required" it's because they know you'll be in their shop buying the parts or having them replace it.
Metal to metal moving parts require lubrication & a good shot of a silicone spray lube works wonders on slide gears, won't hurt a thing either. DO NOT use regular WD40, oil or grease on the slide gears though, they collect dust/dirt like a magnet & that's definitely not beneficial.
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Old 10-15-2019, 10:04 AM   #7
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KECoats,

Where have you been all my life. You are just the guy I have been looking for. I really appreciate your guidance and recommendations.

I looked at some videos and learned quite a bit. Those guys do like to talk a lot Now I need to gather up a few things and get on that landing gear. Unfortunately I am headed out on Friday for a week and I don't see where I will have the time to get into pulling those units and lubing them up. The trailer is going on 4 years in use from new, with a lot of weight on the pin and a lot of cycles in the course of our travels.

Thanks again. I'll post some feedback once I get the gear lubricated. I sure hope that is all they need.
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Old 10-29-2019, 07:22 PM   #8
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Well, That didn't work.

Tore down and lubed up jack assemblies. The do run quieter - with no load on them. Once load is applied, they will raise the trailer about 2 inches and start bogging down. At 2 3/4 inch, the system just shuts down. Where it used to stop and show a jack error, now the system shuts off completely.

I do still have my appointment in a couple of weeks to get a LCI trained mechanic to look at it. Leaving for Florida the first of the year and really would like to get the system back up and running.

Thanks for all the help. While lubing the jacks did not cure the problem, it could not have hurt them in any way.
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Old 10-29-2019, 08:33 PM   #9
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Sorry the greasing didn't cure it. Greasing alone didn't fix mine either.

The outside body of my right leg was being driven up as I was lowering the jack. The further up it went the tighter it got until it blew the 30 amp fuse and quit. Finally found out the outer body of the leg was squeezing the internal part of the leg until it was so tight it could no longer move.

After the grease job, when I mounted the right leg back onto the frame I had to drive a wedge behind the bolt that held the leg onto the frame so the outer body could not move when I lowered the jacks. It sounds to me like you may have a similar problem, but I cannot be sure. You may want to mark the position of your legs with some white chalk or a piece of duct tape, etc. when the legs are fully retracted up. Then when you lower them and the motor stops, check the position of the legs to see of the mark has moved?

[Somewhere along the line another fellow camper said he had plates welded to the outer body of his legs where they meet the bracket that is attached to the frame that hold the legs in place. Then it was impossible for the legs move up past the bracket. I will probably do the same thing if mine starts giving me fits again.]

Following is the original writeup I posted about my leg problem.

(During the process found out the only thing holding the landing legs in place to the body of the camper was a bump out on the external shell of legs themselves meeting up with a matching bump out on the frame.

The pin on the passenger side landing leg sheared a couple years before. Took care of that problem, but unbeknownst to me the sudden crash of that leg caused the bump out on the external shell of the landing leg to get smashed and slip past the bump out on the frame.

So that leg was not being held tightly in place. Whenever the landing legs were lowered, that passenger side leg was slipping up past the bump out, causing the external shell of the leg to press against the internal part of the leg (the part with the holes in it for adjusting the height of the leg) and the lower it went the tighter the pressure got until the motor could no longer drive the leg down and the 30 amp fuse would blow.

Rather than buying a new leg and getting a welding shop to fix the bump out on the frame. I drilled a hole in the front of the leg opposite of the bump out and stuck a punch in there and hammed the bump out back into shape. Then covered the hole with black duct tape to keep dirt out. Then took the punch to the bump out on the frame and drove it back into shape as well.

Had the legs not been taken off, I would never had understood what was happening, because they ain't telling you about the bump outs nor the need for grease in other areas.)

Now if human Docs could weld on some body parts to hold them up we'd be set.

Good luck.
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Old 10-30-2019, 09:08 AM   #10
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KECoats

HMM. More food for thought. The bump outs on my legs were in good shape and I know they are seated well. I did remember reading your original post about the bumps and paid particular attention to them. I was unable to get the bolts in until they were and all the 'witness' marks on the leg were in the right places. i.e. the wear patterns where the brackets cover the legs and the missing paint where the bolts masked the paint.

I did note that when the pad just touched the ground, there would be a 'pop' and the driver side leg would drop into the pad ever so slightly. Then the jack would start taking load.

Looks like I need to go play with the toys again. I'll see about getting the wife to push the buttons while I sit inside and watch the action, or hopefully, the lack thereof. Just had a thought. I will see about operating each jack separately. Left side, right side. Maybe I can isolate a bad one, though they both seem to bog down at the same time.

Thanks for your assistance. I'll look at the possibility of slippage causing the problems, but I fear the cause lies much deeper. Hopefully the tech will be able to pinpoint it quickly and (somewhat) painlessly.
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