Replacing Landing Gear on 2009 Cyclone 3950

[Thadandrachelb]

I recently purchased a 2009 Cyclone 3950. The seller replaced a broken landing gear leg on the driver's side before I took delivery. The new leg broke the next time I unhitched. I actually had the pin weight off of the fifth wheel and was about to pull off when the leg completely slipped, bringing the weight back on to the hitch. (Really thankful I had not yet moved the truck.)

I believe there must actually be a problem with the passenger side leg. That leg is still working, but I believe it must have some sort of a hitch in it that is putting stress on the driver's side leg, as it has now failed twice.

Bottom line, after a big scare with the leg giving way, I have decided to replace the entire landing gear system. I am looking at the [h=1]Ultra-Fab Products 17943010 5th Wheel Electric Landing Gear[/h]
The price for this is $475 on Amazon. So here are a few questions for you seasoned do-it-yourselfers.

• I have already disassembled the old system, and it looks like installing a new one should be a piece of cake. Anything I'm missing here? I don't want to have to weld or drill. Do I need to check with any manufacturers (Heartland or Ultra-Fab), or are landing gear pretty much plug and play?
• Is this a good landing gear system? Reviews on Amazon look good. Any other first-hand experience, especially from anyone who installed it themselves?
• Does anyone know what you do if the motor goes out on this system? Can you hand-crank it in an emergency? The mfg website doesn't say anything about that.
• Should I be considering something else besides this product? Keep in mind that I am installing this myself and want a straightforward swap. I'm pretty handy, but I want to do this in 2-4 hours.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Thadandrachelb]

Replying to my own thread as I learn more. Ultra-Fab says I'll have to weld them on. That seems nuts to me, but I assume they know what they are talking about. Now I'm researching the Bulldog dual motor system, which is supposed to be bolt-on. Again, I don't want to be drilling holes in the frame.

I'm also looking at a set from Venture, per the thread on this forum titled [h=1]Electric Landing Gear Upgrade - single to dual motors[/h]It looks like that set would be a simple swap out, so that's the way I'm leaning right now.

 

[Bob&Patty]

I would go with the Venture, as I believe that is what you have now. A call to HL service with your VIN# could verify that.

 

[wdk450]

Unless you replace your existing landing gear with the same manufacturer's you currently have, you will most likely have to have the old metal straps cut out and new ones welded in at a different spot. It seems the various manufacturers place their chassis contact support swage and welded leg tie down straps at different highths. I went through this myself and have some unused Domar lags lying around. I had to rebuild my Venture legs to avoid a welding job.
I am still using the single motor system, although I have a robust (4 battery) battery system. If I were doing it, I would get a rebuild kit for each side and get new thrust bearings (not included in Venture's rebuild kit - As I remember it is a 603 thrust bearing). Maybe add small access holes to spray the lead screw with spray grease occasionally (although Venture has said they are permanently lubed).

Here's a link to the thrust bearings: http://www.fastenal.com/web/product...Q6zMyL617Vl4vk2M51qQ8x0!1119852750!-399261850

Here's a link to the Lead (Motor Drive side leg) repair kit from Lippert : http://www.lci1.com/storecatalog/lead-landing-gear-leg-repair-kit.htm

Here's a link to the Follow (Non-Motor Drive side leg) repair kit from Lippert: http://www.lci1.com/storecatalog/follow-landing-gear-leg-repair-kit.htm

 

[Gary521]

If you have not looked, there are "U" shaped straps welded to the frame. On the landing leg, there are a couple of lugs that go underneath one of the welded on strap. This keeps the leg from sliding up on the frame. Perhaps the previous owner failed to do this. Venture makes two different length landing legs, get the one that is right for your unit. The landing leg, slips into the "U" strap and is held in place with a bolt.

 

[Thadandrachelb]

Gary, I did hypothesize at one point that the leg had just slipped in the bracket. But after removing the leg, I can actually bang the foot on the ground and get the leg to retract. Something is seriously slipping in there. I didn't mention this in the initial post, but the previous owner would hitch the rig by ramming the fifth wheel onto the king pin box, using the angled back part of the fifth wheel to ramp the king pin into the jaws. In other words, he wasn't raising the 5th wheel high enough before hitching. This had to cause enormous stress on the landing gear. So, I plan to just replace the whole system. From comments here, it looks like getting a dual motor system from Venture is my best bet for a simple install.

 

[Thadandrachelb]

Thought I'd close the loop on this just in case it's helpful to anyone. After looking at the Ultra-Fab and Bulldog products, it looked like neither one would fit. I got the best information on this from etrailer.com. I found their online help desk to be very useful. Here is the link where they answered my question. (http://www.etrailer.com/question-56229.html)

I'd love to buy from them in the future because of that. However, I ended up ordering from Venture Manufacturing. They sent me detailed diagrams to make sure I was ordering the correct thing. (You can find specs on their website as well.) I got the dual motor system. Here are few notes on how the installation went.

First of all, all legs have two weld stops on the side to keep them from sliding in the frame clamps. While the ones from Venture are a direct replacement, they still need modification, at least for installation in a 2009 Cyclone 3950. The way the legs fit into the clamps, all of the weight sits on just the top metal support. (See picture.) Heartland modified the legs from Venture by welding additional metal just below the upper weld stop, since that one holds all the weigh of the trailer. I wanted to do the same thing, so I had a friend weld those on for me.


Getting the legs in the brackets on the rig wasn't too hard. It definitely took some work and some banging, but it was a simple enough process. Just two bolts per leg to get them in. The work came in when I had to install the gearbox and motor on the passenger side. The driver's side was easy, because the original single-motor system had been mounted there. But on the passenger side, I had to make two modifications. First, I had to move the hydraulic system to make room for the gear-box to slide onto the leg. Fortunately, this wasn't too difficult. The tray that holds the system is mounted to a metal frame with two self-tapping screws. After removing those screws, I was able to slide the whole hydraulic system about two inches back, to get it out of the way. I then used two self-tapping screws to fasten it back to the metal frame that it sits on. Second, I had to drill through the metal frame of the 5th wheel for the drive shaft that is used to manually operate the leg in case of a motor failure or lack of electrical power. For these holes, I used a hole saw. You'll need a quality drill (I used a corded drill to have enough power) and some elbow grease to drill those holes through the thick metal, but it can be done. I decided not to drill a hole through the side of the 5th wheel. If ever I have to use the manual crank in an emergency, I'll drill a hole in it at that time. Almost forgot, I also had to remove the lp gas line that is on the other side of where I drilled that hole. I mounted it back over the hole when I was done. Again, I'll just remove it if I ever have to crank it manually.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[ofdjeff]

This did help me a lot thank you. I have a 2008 3210 Cyclone and I have had nothing but issues with my single motor Venture landing gear. I want to upgrade it to a dual motor system and was looking at the Bulldog or Ultra-Fab setup for the increase in weight bearing/lifting capacity. But after reading your thread and the lessons that you learned, I will most likely go with the Venture system for the current slave leg.
Thank you for figuring this out for me.