GuffeyGuy
Colorado
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I'm having a problem with the coupling pins that connect my landing gear motor to the shaft that drives the landing gear jack on the curb side of the fiver. There are two pins, one at the motor and one on the curb side jack. They keep breaking. They are about 1/8 inch diameter pins. I've used spring pins, stainless steel bolts, nails, and am currently using a heavy duty fence staple. This has worked the best but eventually the constant back and forth movement of the shaft as I raise and lower the rig will wear through the metal and the pin will fall out of the shaft.
Is there a special ultra-hard pin that is supposed to be used in this application? My RV dealer sold me spring pins that must be trimmed down so they will turn in the space next to the motor. They were not worth the work it took to cut them down to fit.
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bearsfolks
Stockton, CA
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Those are shear pins and supposed to break before anything else breaks. You have a problem somewhere which is causing binding. I recommend a repair shop take a look.
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Keith M
Cle Elum
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The old Atwood jacks used pins that were pounded in. If you have an older rig pull out the shaft and drill out the holes in the shaft so that it will accept a 1/4 inch bolt. The pin holes on the gear box shaft should already be that diameter. After that go get two hardened steel 1/4 x 2 1/4 bolts with a couple of nuts. I am guessing on the length. Hand crank the curb side shaft all the way to the top. With both gears at the top go ahead and put the bolts in. The bigger bolt should work better than the 1/8 or 3/16 that you are currently using. A really decent hardware store or auto supply house should have some really hard steel bolts.
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45Ricochet
North Idaho
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bearsfolks wrote:Those are shear pins and supposed to break before anything else breaks. You have a problem somewhere which is causing binding.
Exactly
I made the mistake of using a standard bolt while on the road. It worked great and I forgot about it. A couple of years later it took out my gear box  about $300 while I was on the road.
If I ever have trouble again I'm adding a second motor curb side.
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DelawareCamper
Newark, Delaware
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we broke one with the lippert landing gear,, do not put your landing gear totally upto where the motor stops,,, leae the leg about a half inch down from where the leg retracts ingo the shaft... mark it with a piece of tape or paing a line where to stop... this should take care of the problem.
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fpresto
Maryland
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Listen to what some are saying. Those pins are designed to shear before something else (read expensive) breaks. Putting a hardened steel bolt in will work until you shear a gear and have to replace the gear box.
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GuffeyGuy
Colorado
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The legs are not bent and the motor has the power to break the pins so the only problem would be lubrication. This is a 16 year old Fleetwood Savanna. How do you get inside to lubricate the gears?
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Keith M
Cle Elum
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A 16 year old trailer more than likely has older Atwood landing legs. Those who have argued against not putting in harder steel pins are only partly right if the problem is in the gears. . The original pins were slighthly less than 1/4 inch diameter and were in fact hard steel. They were replaced with hardened steel bolts of 1/4 inch diameter that were even stronger. That is why Guffer needs to drill out the drive shaft to take a slighthly bigger pin. The 1/8 inch pins are getting sheared like a knife going through butter. Atwood does not make the old style pins and if you even found them its doubtfuly that you could pound them in with a regular hammer. You would need a special pneumatic hand held hammer. This in my opinion is a no brainer about drilling out the shaft to 1/4 inch. The other option would be to replace all the landing gear or buying a single Atwood Jack and motor available from E-trailer.
Lubricating the gears might not have anything to do with the pin breaking. The pins are breaking because a cheap 19 cent 1/8 inch bolt is not designed for the shaft. There is too much slop in the shaft and it needs a harder bolt of 1/4 inch which is what everyone who has posted here warning about harder pins actually has. At 16 years old you might consider replacing both legs and gear box. Some welding would probably be required.
* This post was
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edited 08/14/11 08:11am by Keith M *
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Strange-Jaybirds
Michigan
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I was having trouble with my landing gear on my 1978 5th wheel and I think they were atwoods. I too was having trouble breaking the shear pins and too the point that I broke some teeth on the gear heads.
I ended up taking the truck and trailer out in the field and made a hard turn, I marked a spot on the ground were the jack would come down, I then back up the unit too make sure that the rear wheels of the truck would miss the mark. I then dug a hole so that the leg would go down into the hole.
After getting the leg out I found that the bearings on top of the screw shaft were shot. I took the what was left of bearings to a bearing company and they were able to find replacements bearings and gears, after replacing the parts(both sides), the landing gear worked great..
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Keith M
Cle Elum
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Thanks SB, It could be the gears but still Guffer needs to drill out the connecting shaft to accept a 1/4 inch bolt which is what Atwood currently uses.
Guffer you can inspect the gears by popping the dust cap off and with a flashlight and mirror hold the mirror up and look into the top of the jack. It should still be greased. If you have worn gears you should be able to see the wear on the gears. You could lubricate the gears by just putting some lube on top of the gear and spreading it around.
I liked SB's idea on replacing the gears on both sides. You could probably do it yourself for around $100. If there is an internal problem with the screw then I think you are looking at buying a complete set of new jacks. You would also need a new gear box as the old gear boxes arent compatable with the new jacks. I would at least start out with pulling out the connecting shaft and drilling it to 1/4 inch and putting in a hard bolt. If the gears make a popping noise and dont move then they are getting stripped.
* This post was
edited 08/14/11 08:46am by Keith M *
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