Quote:
quote:Originally posted by MAMalody
Question: is there a time when the motor for the front landing gear should be replaced. Ours is working fine, however, my wife thinks it is slowing down and working harder.
|
Be careful what you ask for. I would try removing the cap and adding some oil to the screw first.
The legs are expensive and the only time I have ever heard of a problem with work being resisted during a service call during the Rally.
We were extended in our rework and it took initially two days instead of 1. Got back to the unit parked out on the Service center site at 4 PM (quitting time). Immediately noticed the front of the unit was low and upon closer inspection that the legs were not vertical but appeared to be under strain. tried to raise the front of the rig and immediately blew the fuse. Went in and got Daryl to come out and look but since everyone was gone it would have to wait til the next day. In the meantime I used a hydraulica bottle jack (2) to jack up the front of the unit and relieve the strain on the legs. They moved a good 3 inches in returning to a vertical position. Still blew fuses while trying to raise the front end. No way I would be able to hitch up to the truck with the front end that low. In addition the curb side rear stabilizer was twisted as if the leg had been down and the rig moved (until the leg caught on something). (aluminumn lower piece had been replaced that day as part of repair of the damage from a blow out on the way to the rally-normally the shop would not lower the rear stablizer's but I beleive they did to replace this piece) I had to run out to get more fuses (everyone had to see that it blew instead of taking my word for it-unfortuneately a theme that would repeat).
While I was gone Aram had come by to deliver a comforter to someone and they directed him over to our unit. He had two supervisors who hadn't gone home yet come out and hand crank the front end up and when I returned with more fuses we demonstratet the blowing sequence again.
There was a lot of denial that the service center was responsible for the damage (maybe the fact that a fork lift operator had run sailor's new rig into a pole earlier in the week had everyone not wanting to be the next cause of inadvertant damage). (one of the supervisors said to us that he saw the operator "slide" us in when moving the unit out to the pad. I am guessing he was in a hurry at the end of the day but can't be sure). Anyway, instead of being on the road THursday, it was going to be Friday.
When we stopped in midday Thursday we saw the unit on the way down the road. According to Daryl, they fixed the rear stablizer. At first I was told the white grease I used to lubricate the legs was causing the problem but eventually they put a new motor and gear box on. It now worked but "labored" some so they were taking it down to weigh it as I might be too heavy. When it came back the root "cause" of the problem was that my pin weight was 2500#s which was right at 25% and that is why the motor couldn't lift the front end. (I thought 15-25% was the normal range. Yeah it was at the high end but it was a rear kitchen). They moved the unit out to the dump station so I could dump my nearly empty tanks and remove some weight (indicators said I had fuller tanks than I actually did but it wasn't worth aurguing over - I dumped the tanks) I then tried to raise the front end up and the new motor operated much slower than the old one and while it didn't blow a fuse it did begin to skip as the leg extended more than about 7 inches. I "might" have been able to get my truck under the kingpin at this point but would have to be extemely careful in the future to ensure I could hook/unhook. When I tried to lower the rear stablizer, it was stuck fast even though the tech had "run it up and down 4 or 5 times with no problem". I had Daryl and the tech come out to show me what I was doing wrong and after having to struggle to get the leg to unstick wanted to know what I did to it?! Well after the look on my face, Daryl said they would replace the rear stablizers but the front were working as well as could be expected due to the weight I was carring. At that point I had to take a firm stand and tell Daryl I was not going anywhere or accepting the unit back in that condition and booked a hotel room for the night. The fact that the motor had raised the front end for 1 1/2 years and when arriving at the service center didn't seem to register. Something had changed and unless they added alot of weight while they had it in the shop the weight of the unit wasn't the issue! Okay, maybe the leg wasn't bent inside the tube (engineer in my wanted to offer up the cause) but something was wrong and they needed to find it and fix it.
I then made a call to customer service to pass word to Aram that I was STILL at the service center 1 1/2 days later and not happy. I then went on line and booked a hotel room. Daryl came out to take me back to the maintainence manager so he could tell me why there was nothing wrong with the landing gear legs but by the time we got to the bay the manager was not there. Daryl called him on the phone and from the half of the conversation I could hear, the parts were already on the way from the warehouse to replace the landing gear legs, end of story so I think Aram had recieved my message and made a phone call.
I am now able to raise the front end up sufficently to hook up but need to do it like Stiles (I believe) does it - operate 30-45 seconds and wait a few minutes and then do it again. After 30 seconds the sound of the motor begins to change and slow down and I can "feel" a fuse failure coming on so I stop and wait a while.
So long story to say if your motor is working don't change it out if you don't have to. Even with everything "new" in my landing gear system the "New" motor operates at less than half the speed of the old one. This may be due to changes in the gear box ratios as the rigs continue to get heavier but I would recommend keep what you have.
As far as my saga at the service center, yes it was a horror story, and I still don't understand why there was such resistance to admitting the mistake and fixing it. I will be the first to say this is VERY UNLIKE THE BENDING OVER BACKWARDS for MOC members that we normally see but for whatever reason it happened. (Others sharing the overnight sites with me can confirm the saga). For those that have never made it to a fall rally don't get the wrong idea. Keystone did ALOT of work to my unit even though parts of it were no longer covered by warranty and they had no obligation to fix the damage from my blowout on the road but the offered to do so since I was scheduled for an appointment already. So Please do not take my experience as typical - IT IS NOT, but it does still bother me a month later ('YA think?) so I needed to get it off my chest. I also want to thank Aram and EVERYONE involved for fixing our unit and getting it back on the road. I don't want to appear ungrateful and it all worked out in the end but it shouldn't have gone down that way.
Okay, all done,
Linear Mode
