wdk450
Well-known member
Gang:
I thought I would relate a little negative experience I had on a trip last week with my Bighorn. In previous outings the pins in my landing gear had gotten bent. At the beginning of a previous trip as I was leaving , after hitching up, I had to stop, remove the pin assemblies, try to hammer the pins straight on the asphalt. and re-install the pin assemblies. All of this so I could get the landing gear legs up.
After this trip I found some HEAVY DUTY pin assemblies at my RV servicer. I bought them, and put installing them in my "to-do" list, but didn't get it done. I did store the new pin assemblies in the trailer.
Well, pulling into our space on this current trip, I noticed that I had a tire hissing and going down. We had picked up a drywall screw. I setup normally, but apparently didn't notice that the left landing gear pin DID NOT GO ALL THE WAY THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GEAR LEG. I called a tire service roadside repair, they came out and jacked up the right side of the trailer for the repair. We heard a loud BANG late in the jacking proceedure, but I didn't think too much of it. After the tire repair was done, I noticed that the left front of the trailer was sitting low. I found that THE LANDING GEAR PIN HAD SHEARED OFF, AND THE LEG COLLAPSED (SOME).
I hitched the truck up to bear the weight, removed the broken pin assembly, and found that the telescoping legs wouldn't come apart. A lot of repeated extend/retract cycles using wood blocks between the trailer frame and the landing gear foot eventually got the telescoping mechanism in better shape. I found that my heavy duty pin assemblies needed slightly bigger holes in the landing gear legs, so I had to do a lot of drilling. I had to also file flat the side of the leg at the old pin mounting site, as that had become deformed and would not allow the new pin assembly to sit flat, and thus the pin did not go straight through to the far side holes.
We have pretty heavy trailers. Comparing the original equipment pins to the heavy duty replacement pins is an eye opener. The side plates on our pins are about 1/16 inch sheet steel. The side plates on the replacements are 1/4 inch steel bar. The old pins look like regular steel, the new pins look heat-treated. No way could I reshape one of the new pins with a hammer.
Moral of the story: Now I make SURE the landing gear pins go all the way through to the far side holes, and I have upgraded both legs to the heavy duty pin assemblies.
I thought I would relate a little negative experience I had on a trip last week with my Bighorn. In previous outings the pins in my landing gear had gotten bent. At the beginning of a previous trip as I was leaving , after hitching up, I had to stop, remove the pin assemblies, try to hammer the pins straight on the asphalt. and re-install the pin assemblies. All of this so I could get the landing gear legs up.
After this trip I found some HEAVY DUTY pin assemblies at my RV servicer. I bought them, and put installing them in my "to-do" list, but didn't get it done. I did store the new pin assemblies in the trailer.
Well, pulling into our space on this current trip, I noticed that I had a tire hissing and going down. We had picked up a drywall screw. I setup normally, but apparently didn't notice that the left landing gear pin DID NOT GO ALL THE WAY THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GEAR LEG. I called a tire service roadside repair, they came out and jacked up the right side of the trailer for the repair. We heard a loud BANG late in the jacking proceedure, but I didn't think too much of it. After the tire repair was done, I noticed that the left front of the trailer was sitting low. I found that THE LANDING GEAR PIN HAD SHEARED OFF, AND THE LEG COLLAPSED (SOME).
I hitched the truck up to bear the weight, removed the broken pin assembly, and found that the telescoping legs wouldn't come apart. A lot of repeated extend/retract cycles using wood blocks between the trailer frame and the landing gear foot eventually got the telescoping mechanism in better shape. I found that my heavy duty pin assemblies needed slightly bigger holes in the landing gear legs, so I had to do a lot of drilling. I had to also file flat the side of the leg at the old pin mounting site, as that had become deformed and would not allow the new pin assembly to sit flat, and thus the pin did not go straight through to the far side holes.
We have pretty heavy trailers. Comparing the original equipment pins to the heavy duty replacement pins is an eye opener. The side plates on our pins are about 1/16 inch sheet steel. The side plates on the replacements are 1/4 inch steel bar. The old pins look like regular steel, the new pins look heat-treated. No way could I reshape one of the new pins with a hammer.
Moral of the story: Now I make SURE the landing gear pins go all the way through to the far side holes, and I have upgraded both legs to the heavy duty pin assemblies.