Landing gear on my 5th wheel shearing bolts

[Jim S JR]

Hello All.

The latest episode of, "How quality sucks[emoji849]".

This is the second time this has happened.

I have a 2020 Rockwood 5vr Ultra light 29 foot 5th wheel.

When I went to drop the front end of my 5th wheel at my camping site only one side would retract.

The bolt on my landing gear next to the motor had sheared off.

It left the right side not responding to lowering the front end.

There is a serious design flaw with the Lippert model 141893. The tube running across connecting the two Jack's is square. The drive motor has a oblong drive coming out to drive the jacks. This configuration puts all the torque and weight on the bolts.

I would recommend having back up bolts so you're not stranded.

I have sent Lippert a request for a fix for this problem.

[Thomas ho]

i did the same thing. dont tetract the landing gear up so high. leave about 5 inches hanging out of tube. paint red band around leg tube with the pin holes. keep extra bolts and nylon lock nuts . drive side on mine requires shortening bolt just a tad. mine has a gen .box so i removed panel behind propane tank. then made brackets to reatach it. legs only need go be just above truck bumper bottom edge.

[5picker]

Most times those bolts weaken/shear because the landing gear have been run to far up. It could also be caused by a landing gear leg that's binding from being drug and bent.

The round shaft in a square tube isn't a design flaw. Lots of mechanical things are pinned together this way.

You can be glad the bolt sheared and your motor/gear box didn't explode.

Keep an extra bolt/nut (or two) on hand and don't run the landing gear to full up.

[Jim S JR]

Thanks everyone.
Yes, I did learn to watch the landing gear from bottoming out.

The landing gear on my old 5th wheel extended farther than this trailer.

Since I boondock at the beach and the campsites are a different, I have to guess on the extension of the drop on jacks.

[DrLewie]

It took me a while and several repairs to the landing gear on my first 5er to learn this. Just in case you don't know...drop and level the landing gear before you lower the rear stabilizers. If the rear jacks are down first, when you raise the front with the landing gear you are basically lifting the entire weight of the trailer with the landing gear, which isn't designed to carry that much weight. If you drop and level with the landing gear first, the wheels act as a fulcrum and carry most of the trailer weight. Then you can use the rear stabilizers to make slight adjustments if needed, without stressing the landing gear beyond its capacity.