Hydraulic Landing Gear

[rmathews]

Hello ,
Question: When extending and retracting front hydraulic landing legs, are they to move together or one at a time?

Background: I picked up my trailer from storage for a slide leak repair, and when retracting the landing gear the hydraulic pump motor stopped 3 times. I have already replaced the breaker. After having a discussion with the service manager, he indicated that the landing gear should move together, not 1 at a time. And the motor stalling he says sounds like a pump problem.
Hence my question above in this ask the factory forum about front landing gear operation.
Thanks

2016 Bighorn 3585RL.

Rick

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[danemayer]

Hi Rick,

The front landing gear operate as a pair that share hydraulic fluid. When the valve for the front gear opens, and the pump starts, fluid flows to both. Whichever front landing jack has the least resistance gets grounded first, after which the other gets grounded. They then lift the rig in a balanced fashion.

 

[MikeR]

The front hydraulic landing gear legs work individually. When lowering the gear one will go down until resistance is felt and then the other side will go down. When retracting they go up one side at a time.

Once again Dan is their first with the best answer.

 

[hoefler]

As said above, normal. As far as popping the breaker, in colder climates, the fluid gets stiff and requires more power to move it. When it warms up, the breaker will hold.

 

[Geodude]

It sounds like your self-resetting circuit breaker is popping and resetting while you're running the landing gear. You should be able to hear the breaker click back on (might have to open the front storage door to hear it).

Ours was doing exactly that. Changing the 50A breaker with a new 50A breaker doesn't fix the problem. It needs to be replaced with an 80A version. Lots of people have had to do that.

The system runs more slowly in the cold, no doubt, but I don't think the breaker should pop. Cold has never made ours pop.

 

[danemayer]

I've been wondering why the service manager would not know how the landing gear actually work. It occurs to me that the dealers I've been to all use forklifts to lift the pin and move trailers without retracting the landing gear. They may have never even operated the landing gear to unhitch from a truck.

 

[avvidclif]

I've been wondering why the service manager would not know how the landing gear actually work. It occurs to me that the dealers I've been to all use forklifts to lift the pin and move trailers without retracting the landing gear. They may have never even operated the landing gear to unhitch from a truck.

They are kinda like the salesman, clueless......

 

[Resiemon]

I agree with Dan. The word "clueless" is extremely kind.

R E Siemon 2015 BH 3875 F B with and 2015 F250 Diesel, 4WD, Firestone air bags

 

[rmathews]

Thanks for all your feedback.
I provided this information to the service manager ...he still says there's something wrong with it.
We shall see what they do.

 

[TedS]

The landing leg cylinders are plumbed in parallel. The leg circuit with the least resistance will move first. The other leg may or may not move. It makes sense that the leg with the shortest hose, that is closest to the pump, will move first because it has less flow resistance. Once that leg contacts the ground, resistance increases and the other leg moves to the ground. This means the legs can compensate for uneven ground yet lift at the same rate keeping the trailer level side to side. Once lifting the trailer, the lower resistance of the shorter hose is not significant compared to the trailer load resistance.

The same thing happens with the hydraulic slides, the one with the least resistance moves first.

The tech and manager need more training.

Popping the 50 amp breaker is a common event.

 

[RovingDomicile]

Hi All,

I have the same problem with my 2012 Landmark. The breakers are popping very easily during the leveling and slide operation.

A couple of questions though... Do you guys know if 1) the auto-reset breakers that are in the battery compartment are used for the hydraulic operations only and 2) can the breakers be replaced while the legs are extended without concern that they'll retract?

Thanks a lot for the feedback, very much appreciated!

 

[danemayer]

Hi All,

I have the same problem with my 2012 Landmark. The breakers are popping very easily during the leveling and slide operation.

A couple of questions though... Do you guys know if 1) the auto-reset breakers that are in the battery compartment are used for the hydraulic operations only and 2) can the breakers be replaced while the legs are extended without concern that they'll retract?

Thanks a lot for the feedback, very much appreciated!

Hi RovingDomicile,

One breaker is used for the hydraulics. Others may power things like the shore power retract reel, rear stabilizers (if you have them), and one manual-reset breaker connects the battery/buss bar to the Power Converter and interior fuse box.

When replacing a breaker, I'd recommend you turn the battery cutoff switch to OFF, and either unplug from shore power, or turn off the circuit breaker for the Power Converter. Those 2 steps will remove all power from the buss bar and circuit breakers and you don't need to worry about hydraulics getting activated.

 

[RovingDomicile]

Hi RovingDomicile,

One breaker is used for the hydraulics. Others may power things like the shore power retract reel, rear stabilizers (if you have them), and one manual-reset breaker connects the battery/buss bar to the Power Converter and interior fuse box.

When replacing a breaker, I'd recommend you turn the battery cutoff switch to OFF, and either unplug from shore power, or turn off the circuit breaker for the Power Converter. Those 2 steps will remove all power from the buss bar and circuit breakers and you don't need to worry about hydraulics getting activated.

Awesome, Thanks Dan! I'll give that a shot!
-Ryan