How far down on the landing gear?

[RattVader]

New guy here. Just got the 320RLT. First fiver and DO NOT want to hurt it,or better yet take those trips to the dealer. So how far do you EXPERIENCED folks extend and retract the front landing gear.

Thanks, Steve

[cardinal4fun]

As for extending, you will have to extend them enough to make your unit level front to back. Now if you are talking about the slide part of the legs thats different. I like to leave as much travel in the power part of the leg system as possible, so I will extend the movable part as far as possible. As for retracking the system, it really make no difference as to how far up as long as they will not hit pavement when moving, and you do not run your motor after jacks have reached their highest point.

[crocus]

When we first got our camper, I retracted the landing gear all the way, then painted a line on the movable leg where they disappear into the mounting tube. I now know when I am about to "hit bottom", and just leave a bit of space between the mark and the bottom of the mounting tube. Thus, I never run the legs all the way until they hit the end of their travel, and that should extend the motor and gear life.

[southernsky]

Hello RatttVader, Welcome aboard.

[donn]

As far as extending? That is sort of subjective. If my site is fairly level I will drop the landing gear maybe an inch then drop the legs and continue down till I unhitch. If the site is really unlevel I make a decision on how far to drop the leg first. As for retracting? you really do need to be careful there. On my first trip I broke the landing gear when I took it up too far. My solution was an up limit switch that stops the up travel when it reaches a point that is still safe. Have never had another problem since then.

[KAB449]

Originally Posted by RattVader

New guy here. Just got the 320RLT. First fiver and DO NOT want to hurt it,or better yet take those trips to the dealer. So how far do you EXPERIENCED folks extend and retract the front landing gear.

Thanks, Steve

Welcome to the forum. I have developed this method to set the front jacks. After locating the trailer on the campsite and leveling it side to side with your wheel blocks, I drop both legs to the ground. Previously I have numbered the snap pin holes with a black marker starting with one at the bottom. I then look at the last number hole visible at the top. One side may be 9 and the other 10, meaning the ground is not level where the jacks touch the ground. Then I determine if the front of the trailer will need to be lowered or raised after unhitching to level it front to back. If it needs to be dropped the legs need to be lifted enough to allow the trailer to drop in the front to level. In the example above I would raise one to hole position 4 and the other to hole position 5 and run the jacks to the ground to unhitch and lower them to level. If the front needs to be raised then you only need to set them at 8 and 9 to get enough of lift.
I never retract the legs completely, in fact I usually let the upper tubes extended so the ground pad is about 12inches off the ground when the lower extension tube is pushed completely up into the assembly. Just make sure the ground pads are slightly higher then the rear axle on your tow vehicle.
Hope this helps.