Help! No landing gear.

[jesse_h]

Out camping and front landing gear quit. Gear will not go up or down. I tried the manual crank, working it back and forth, and managed to break what I presume is the shear bolt on the square connecting the two units. Of course now I am sitting with my fifth wheel too low to be able to hook up in the morning. Any ideas what could be binding or fixes???
It worked fine to unhook the trailer and got down within 2 inches of being level and it started binding up.
Thanks,

[TDG]

Have you check the motor fuse?
Is the motor getting power ?

Sounds like maybe the motor is froze or bound up
You can always jack up the frame points near the landing gear with bottle jacks and wood blocks

[WildWildWest]

Sorry to hear about your issue. I agree the best way to start is to jack up the frame and take pressure off of the landing gear to see if you can further diagnose the landing gear problem. I don't think mine even has a manual crank option for the landing gear. I've never located it if it does. If the landing gear is binding that bad that it seized up or even blew a fuse to the motor you likely need to get the pressure off it to diagnose. Make sure you jack it safely and block the frame well before working on it. The bottle jacks by themselves shouldn't be left holding it up. Or jack it up enough to make the connection to the truck and get hooked up before starting work on it.

Were the front legs on level ground? Depending on the campsite we sometimes need one leg lower than the other to raise the trailer square - so the landing gear on both sides contact the ground at the same time. If all the weight is on one leg or twisting the frame a bit I could see it causing some binding. Still shouldn't stop up completely but would definitely be working harder than it should so it sounds like it may be a different problem.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress and the outcome so others can benefit if they have a similar problem.

[TDG]

Usually the Manuel crank point is behind a propane tank

[jesse_h]

Thanks for the replies. Yes there was still power to the motor, you could tell that something was bound up.
I did just that, used my hydraulic jack and blocks and got it hooked back up to the truck. Once the weight was off I could diagnose that it was the passenger side leg that was completely locked up.
Got it back home and to the dealer last night, they are tearing into it tomorrow. I kind of think a roll pin worked its way out of a gear/shaft and locked it up. I will post what I find out!

[WildWildWest]

Thanks for the update. Let us know what they find.