5th Wheel Power Jack Lubrication

[ntillm01]

I just got a 30ft 5th wheel TT, in the 10500 max GVW range. It has Atwood (if I remember the label correctly) 12V power landing gear jack up front. It has a very nasty dry squeak coming out of it when I run it up or down loaded. I can't see where to lubricate this thing. I imagine there are screws inside the tube that do most of the work, but would like to ask how and with what I can lube it with.



Thanks in advance,

Nohr

 

[DLBurns]

How about it fellas???? I am interested in hearing this also!!!!

 

[Wiredawg]

WAG!

I'm gonna wag this one: Extend the landing gear all the way out. Rub 'em down w/ bearing grease and lower. You might have to look at the motor and gear housing to see if there's a way to lube them.



Hope it works,



Wiredawg

 

[Big Best]

is it a 5th wheel or tt

 

[rweis]

I have an Alfa 5er 2002 Ideal.



The landing gear are driven by a 12v motor gear reduction package that is sealed. Then that drives a long shaft with bevel gears on each end. The verticle side of the bevel gear on each end is the landing gear screw.



There is a metal inverted U cap over the bevel gears. I put a VERY STICKY high quality grease on the bevel gears. The verticle gear drives a screw and there is a nut in the landing gear leg. I pour a heavy oil down the screw. This is done with the 5er on the truck so I can run the landing legs without weight on them.



I spray silicone on the extension tubes in the landing legs so they slide better.



I do this about once per year or if I hear a rubbing then I do it then.



It is a bit of a "challenge" to crawl up inside the storage compartment to do the lubing. Also allows me to check slide out mechanism at the same time.



Bob Weis

 

[ntillm01]

Bob, that is exactly the landing gear setup I have. The dry squeak is coming from the bevel gear or screw. As it runs I get a squeak-squeak-squeak at about the same rate as the speed of the spinning cross bar.



Thanks for the advice on lubing it Oo.



It looks like a challenge to get in there, that's why I asked. I was hoping for a "oil here" hole in the top somewhere, but I guess popping the top cap off and going in that way is how it is done.



I imagine the manual crank landing gear works the same way, only without the 12V motor. Should be of some help for folks with those too.

 

[rweis]

In addition to lubing the gears etc, I found the sleeve that the manual crank handle fits into through the side wall of the rv was rubbing on the hole sleeve.



The hole sleeve looks like a 6" candle sitting on top of a 3" paper disk. The candle is actually a plastic tube that the crank slides into to mate with the shaft of the gear system. The 3" disk is the plastic flange on the outside of your RV that has the 3 screws in it to hold the flange and the tube fixed onto hole in the sidewall of the RV that they are covering.



I found the squeaking was actually from the gear engagement shaft inside the plastic tube. I greased the plastic tube and the squeaking stopped.



OF COURSE this was AFTER I had climbed into the compartment and done the contorting thing with the grease gun being held by my feet and the pumper handle done by my hip as I was trying to hang upside down and backwards! oh and it was raining, but that was minor



Bob Weis

 

[ntillm01]

It does seem to be coming from the candle stick thingy. Maybe I'll learn from your experiences and start there

I figured since I was lubing things, I'd do the whole unit. I like the idea of lifting equipment being lubed good to keep it working smoothly. Thanks again!



Nohr

 

[jfrow2]

Check out the Atwood 5th Wheel Landing Gear page for info on trouble shooting and maintenance.



Hope you have better luck than me, one of the u-shaped covers (on top of the landing gear) cannot be removed on my rig without major surgery.

 

[rweis]

My bevel gear covers were just pressed over the upside down U shape of the top of the gear housing. One was stuborn, but not as stuborn as I was. Just a press fit. A wooden or rubber mallet and a long punch come to mind.



Bob Weis

 

[RNash]

Nohr, that noise on my landing gear came from that manual "candle stick thing". I just shot some WD40 in it & it stoped for a short time. Guess i will have to lube it with some grease.

 

[ntillm01]

Thanks for all the information! I'll post back when I find my problem.

 

[clem]

If you can get the cap of the jack out install a grease fitting so one can add grease to the gears. I have found over time lub will flow down the screw. A rebuild kit will run about $60. 00 and a lot of !@#$%^&*words the jack has to come out of the trailer. Putting it back in and adjusted is when the fun begins some more. Lub is cheap, to much is only a mess.

 

[J.V.]

Landing Gear Noise

I just went through the same problem I called Atwood and they said to leave it to experts. I called my RV dealer and he said just relace them when they get too bad, as they would soon break.



I have a HickHiker Premier and have the "heavy duty jack option". This means 2 motors and 8000# lift each. Plenty tough, but very noisy at times. The noise was only when lowering the front of the RV.



I removed the noisy, drivers side, jack and tore it down. Found a spring that looks like a slinky toy over a cup that fits over the top and I guess only bearing. When I removed the cup, I found it very dry and rubbing on the outter race of the bearing. I washed the bearing and repacked it with axle grease and filled the cup with the same grease and reinstalled everything coating it all with white grease. All noise gone.



The Attwood guy said the spring, slinky was a brake and if too much grease was put on the threads, etc, the gear might come down by itself. I have seen nothing like this happen. Just sounds like it did new.



Not a fun job, but doable.



Good Luck,

J. V.

 

[ntillm01]

Been on vacation so I couldn't keep up with this thread. I didn't need to get all the way into mine for this noise, but I'm still gonna take everything you folks posted and come up with a plan long-term.

In my case, it was another "candle stick thingy squeak" which was eliminated by a quality spray dry-lube for now. Just for reference is was CRC Ultra 3-36 dry lube.

Case closed. Thanks all!

Nohr