Landing Gear Break

[riverwatcher]

We have a 2009 Rockwood 8265ss. I recieved no instruction or found any written material that cautioned against retracting the legs fully. On two occasions, I did retract them fully. The first time the shaft actually broke at the pin location. The dealer replaced the leg with out comment. The other time was by accident and the pin broke. Both results make the leg useless. Fortunately the rig was on the truck. It seems a leg breaking when not on the truck could be dangerous and at best inconvenient. When I was at the dealer to have repairs the second time, he told me it was operator error. Why doesn't that motor have a clutch like the slide motors? Is it just my rig that has this situation? We enjoy our Rockwood in all other ways!

Thanks,
Riverwatcher

[KyDan]

I guess it's kinda like that Doctor joke.
You know the one--- man- "Doc, my arm hurts when I do this."
Doc- "then don't do that!!"

If you find that your landing gear breaks 50% of the time when you retract them
all the way, then you should watch and let go of the button right before
it hits the top!
I admit that it sounds bad for a design to let you damage it so easily but think
about it, the motor has to be able to lift the camper.
It's gotta be pretty stout.
Better to shear a pin than to strip the gears on the motor.
Better yet to leggo that button just in time ;-)

Good Luck!!

[Radio]

Do these things:

1. Paint a stripe on the landing gear leg to prevent retracting too far.
2. Carry some spare fuses (30 amp on my Rockwood) and a spare pin or two.
3. Figure out how to retract/extend the landing gear manually. Look behind the curb side LP tank for a port covered over with black tape. Remove the tape and that should reveal the shaft where the handle goes. I had to do that the first week I had the trailer, before I even got it home. Blew the fuse by retracting too far, I guess. Steep learning curve, that was!

[08flagvlite]

Without seeing the pin; I had a Fleetwood Coleman pop up that had a roll pin setup on the front crank up assembly arm, and after breaking this pin twice, I finally replaced it with a broken case hardened drill bit that was the same diameter as the pin. NEVER had a problem with that again!!! Randy

[riverwatcher]

Thanks for the responses. I do have spare fuses and now I am obsessively aware of how high the leg travels. I wish I would only blow fuses. Marking is a good idea. Seems that should be done at the factory. How is the pin replaced...if ever IT happens again.

[Radio]

Replacing the pin is easy.

Use the manual crank to allign the holes in the shafts and slide the pin through. Honestly though, I put a #8 grade bolt in mine, no more trouble but I do watch what I'm doing when retracting.

You'll also notice the motor wobbles around erraticly when it's running. Fear not. It's supposed to do that. (At least on later models.) And as far as a clutch goes, it would be difficult and expensive to make a clutch that would lift that much weight but still slip when it's supposed to. Some handy people have made their own retract limiting switches. I just watch what I'm doing...having learned my lesson.

Just for luck I picked up an extra pair of those pins that slide though the leg. I don't trust the clips that hold them in place and to have that pin fall out while towing would not be a good thing.

[chickadee]

DH did the same thing and lucky for us, it was still attached to the truck. The dealer replaced all parts and a leg that was bent a little. Now we have paint marks, for low or high limits.

[CamperFan]

I did the same think on our 8265s also. I used a couple of bottle jacks to get the trailer unhitched from the truck. When I hitched up to take the trailer to the dealer to get the leg replaced, it would just fall all the way to the ground, so I blocked the leg up and drilled a hole through the leg tube and leg and put a bolt through it to keep it from falling down while in tow to the dealer. I am now very careful not to over retrack the legs.

[granite]

Thanks for all the info from everyone on this landing gear problem. I didn't know about all the negatives possible from over retraction. This is my first fiver. Will be very careful now!

[swayze]

So for the first time using the landing gear how do you know when they are in or out as far as you should take them?

[Woody 01]

my 03 Rockwood 8281SS has warning decals on the landing gear to tell you where to stop