Landing Gear Fixed (Thanks Gary521)

[Gary521]

Caissiel you need grease not a penetrant. There is a lot of load on the jack screw and nut. Like I stated, Venture initially uses #2 Moly EP grease. This does not penetrate into the screw. The reason that you did not see any grease was because there was none there. What little Venture puts on is now long gone. The jack screw on one of my legs was almost worn in half. In this condition, greaseing would do no good. It was time for a replacement.
One more thing. There is a thrust bearing under the horizontal drive gear on the top of the landing gear. Of the several landing gear that I have taken apart, none of these bearings were lubricated. This bearing needs some grease too. However, once is enough.

 

[sunriverman]

Great thread. Where can I find a step by step procedure to disassemble the land gear.Obviously you need to start with loading the weight off the land gear and onto the tow vehicle. Then both units need to be taken apart. Please share your tecniique. Thank you.

 

[Gary521]

With the leg off the trailer, remove top cap. There is a horizontal drive shaft. Drive out roll pin from vertical gear. Let it drop, you will find it later. Remove "C" clip from drive shaft. Remove drive shaft. Lift off horizontal gear. Under gear is another pin, slide pin out. Lift off washer and bearing. Now, you can remove inner leg and jack screw by lifting off outer leg. Jack screw is attached to inner leg. Once you have it all apart, check jack screw for wear. If all is OK, grease the bearing and jack screw. Now you can drill holes in outer leg. Reassemble. Grease the drive gears. If anything is worn, parts are available from Venture.

As I mentioned, my jack screw was severely worn. This caused a lot of drag on the motor causing the clutch to slip ( clicking noise ). Actually, the screw siezed on the nut. I believe that the lack lube on the jack screw is the root of most folks problems.

I added a second motor, which is nice. Before adding motor, I took apart the other leg. Same problem with the jack screw. I have helped other folks with their landing gear, same problems with jack screws. It's not rocket science to figure out what going on here.

 

[rjr6150]

Gary521
We need to have your attend the 2011 CO. chapter rally in FT. Collins Think you would be a very popular guy.

 

[navyAZ1]

Hey Gary,

Thanks for all the great info, Ann and I will be passing thru CO sometime this year (can't say just when), but when we do we sure would like to meet up with y'all and buy you dinner. Or, if you're going to be in Goshen for the rally we can meet there.

Thanks,

Ron

 

[Gary521]

When is the rally in Ft. Collins?

 

[Gary521]

NavyAZ1. Thank You for your generous offer. Glad I can be of help. I feel that we are all kinda in the same boat. I have received some good advice from this forum. A while ago when I was on a trip, a man introduced himself as a forum member and a Bighorn owner. He provided some great tips and things to be aware of. Great to part of a larger family.

 

[caissiel]

I am getting ready to remove one of my landing gear, as I cannot make it drive properly. I greased the gears and the screw with #2 Grease and no change. I am afraid the bearing is dry and I want to see it befoare something fails on me.

 

[caissiel]

Today was landing gear repair. I removed one of the landing gear jack and noticed right away that the pinion was jaming on the down direction. It was running good on the return direction but on the down direction I noticed the Thrust Channel was moving in the tube. Further observation indicated that the gear was moving on the down direction and getting out of line with the pinion and causing them to jam so hard that I could not turn the the pinion shaft by hand unless moving the channel. I also notice wear on the pinion.

Then I got a vision. Years ago I had the same problem with the landing gear of my previous 5th wheel. I fixed it at home and was able to rebuild the inside parts and greasing it properly.

So I build a heavy clamp with 1/8" by 1-1/2" steel bars and now anchored the Channel to stay in line so the pinion is lined with the gear. There is suppose to be a centering plate there to do the same thing but I could not see how its helping things in mine.

Now I am able to lift the trailer by the landing gear with the manual crank..

Before doing this I greased it with no results and the cranking was so hard I knew someday the reduction gear or motor was going to fail.

 

[rjr6150]

When is the rally in Ft. Collins?

Gary the rally is to be held June 9 through the 12 at the Fort Collins KOA. Hope to see you there.

 

[Gary521]

Caissiel, you may need to replace the jack screw. As I said, mine was so worn that it siezed and was hard to move. I was able to free it but it was a gonner. You may have to bite the bullet and get a new leg from Venture. If you do, be a bit careful as there are two different lengths of legs that they make. There is also a "lead" leg and a "following" leg on a one motor system. The difference is in the drive shaft.
I was interested is saving a buck so I checked into the leg from Domar. I decided not to go that way because I still was not sure the length was correct and/or the spacing on the mounting tabs was correct.