Landing gear replaced--with an OOPS!!!

[David and Jo-Anna]

As those at the Great Lakes Rally know, I had a problem there with my landing gear--the street-side front landing leg froze and would not lift the rig. I got a wonderful education in landing gear from John Kohl when he helped me disassemble and remove that bad landing gear in an unsuccessful effort to fix the problem. Once we determined that I needed a new landing gear, I ordered a whole new set of front landing gear--for the price of two new legs, I also got a new cross bar and a new reduction gear.

We had the new equipment installed today at Camping World/Burnside RV here in Houghton Lake, Michigan, the place that fixed Richfaa's rig when it broke down last week on the way to the Great Lakes Rally. The people here are both helpful and friendly, and I now have my new landing gear installed. But there were two "OOPS" aspects to their work.

The first "OOPS" was that the tech misinstalled the cross bar going from the motor to the curb side landing gear--he put the thick end of the crossbar on the side where the motor is, and the skinny end on the curb side landing gear. As a result, the sheer bolt was rubbing against the motor as the cross bar rotated. He also put an ordinary nut on the sheer bolt instead of a locking nut. No big deal--I turned the cross bar around and replaced the nut with a locking nut.

The bigger "OOPS" appear to be that, in the process of jacking up the front end while replacing the landing gear, they appear to have placed the jack midway between the two landing gear, which had the effect of bucking the sheet metal that makes up the floor of the front storage compartment. I can't be positive that they did this since I didn't see them do it--I just noticed that the compartment floor was buckled up somewhat when I loaded things back into the front compartment after we got the rig back. Since I didn't see them do it, and since they were so helpful in taking care of my problem, I'm not inclined to make an issue of it before we leave town tomorow unless someone thinks that the damage to the front compartment is anything more than cosmetic damage.

Is there anything about jacking up the rig at that point that I should be concerned about?

[grampachet]

Is it possible that when the one side froze and the other side lifted that it put the frame in bind and caused the buckle?

[dsprik]

Sorry you had problems, Dave. I would contact the service mgr there and let him know. He would want to know. Tell him that you are also investigating other possible causes, but that would certainly be one situation that you could think of that would cause that damage.

[Waynem]

David,
When I had my 3400RL and was stuck at my brother's house I tried jacking in the center of the front compartment and quickly found out that the frame in that area is not really a frame, but just some channel iron. So when I got rid of it, it had that same type buckle you are referring to. It did not other damage than my ego. The front compartment door and everything else worked fine, it just looked a little bent. Now when someone asks you "What happened," you can say it's a long story, do you have time.

[8.1al]

Dave,
Doesn't sound like anything I would worry about.