Jeff in TD

Does anyone know of a place I can order a replacement ram for Atwood's heavy duty 5th wheel landing legs?

Appears part number for the whole driven leg is 71415, but I can't find anyone who has that, either.

Colo_River_Ram

Look at the top of this page for southwest wheels add, click on it then on top of that pages is their trailer parts site..

Tray

You might call atwood directly. When I had a problem with my jacks thats what I had to do. The part number was NOT on the leg anywhere, but yours may be as that number does sound like a part number. They had me pull some measurements on the leg to give me the part number, but I still got the wrong jack. They said the jacks have changed, but I had to do some welding on mine so that it would fit.

Jeff in TD

Thanks for the replies.

I tried southwest wheel, etrailerpart, trailerpart, and a bunch of other places. On Monday I may try calling Atwood directly.

Basically, one of the drop down legs on my 5th wheel landing gear is very hard to push up into the ram, or pull down- to the point where it's easier with a bottle jack...

It was that way when I got it, and I figured clean it up and some lithium grease... or maybe the drop down tube was bent.

Turns out the ram part inside the leg is what is bent. I found an Atwood PDF on servicing their landing gear, but it looks like you have to buy the whole leg (outer housing with ram).

I may run over to Harbor Freight and get myself a shop press (need one anyway) and see if I can unbend it. If that doesn't work, though, or if I ruin it, I'll need to find a replacement.

First I need to put the leg back together, since my pickup is holding the front of the 5er up...

Jaxom

I would look into a hydraulic repair place. Ought to be something for hyd. cylinders available. Take all the measurements you might need...hole size for each end, diameter of ram and outer cylinder, length when retracted and extended.

Jeff in TD

The ram for a 5th wheel landing leg is basically a square steel tube cross drilled at the bottom for a pin that holds a drop down leg, and stamped around the top to hold a drilled and threaded steel plate. Its driven by a screw shaft in the top of the outer housing.

Anyway, got a press, and after tweeking it a couple of times, and heating it and smacking it around on a chunk of square stock, I've got it pretty well straight on all sides and square.

The result, though, is that it still requires a bottle jack to push the drop down leg into the retracted position, and the jack between the frame and the landing foot to extend it...

I guess I'll try contacting Atwood directly.

HiJenks

I had that problem with my RKB jacks on the Tahoe and the tech dept said it was the "acorn nut". It is a tapered thread nut and made of bronze so it deforms and limits damage to the support rod. He said it is damaged at the dealer by using a fork lift to move units and letting them down to hard.

I replaced the nut for a few dollars and it works fine. I put the jack system on my old Arabian ( it was manual) and bought Ultra-Fab jacks for the Tahoe. The Ultras have individual geared motors for each jack, no connecting shaft.

Jeff in TD

Unfortunately it looks like with Atwood, if the nut strips, or ram is bent (like mine), you have to order the entire leg. You can order bevel gears and replacement bearing, the motor, or the motor's reduction box, and that's about it.

I finally found one website that lists the leg at like $180, and Atwood gave me the name of a distribution center in Idaho. Figure I'll call for a price later when they'd be open.

Mine are the heavy duty 6000 pound ones, that use one motor. The super duty ones rated for 8000 apparently have seperate motors and it looks like they are intended for auto-leveling system...

Anyway thanks for the replies and help.

Tray

The parts are replaceable but you have to pop some tabs and re weld them. It's probably easier and safer to just get a new leg. The super duty ones are the ones that I have on my fifth wheel. They aren't necessarily used for auto leveling, mine is simply independent. I have to actually run the controls and use each leg to level, but I don't have to shim one leg to get the trailer level like I would assume you have to do with the jacks that run off one motor.

Your local RV supply should be able to order the leg. $180 is cheap. When I had to replace a leg I paid over $400.

Jeff in TD

Thanks. When I saw the top and those tabs, plus the welded on ends of the screw, I figured I could heat the tabs and bend them flat and go get a piece of square tube, but like you said I didn't think it would be worth the bother and would be safer to replace it with the correct part.

Upgrading to the super duty legs would be nice, but they are pretty expensive.

I might see what the local shop can do. I have to pick up a new ladder there anyway.

Jaxom

I have independently operated hydraulic cylinders w/ legs on my 5th wheel. I thought that was what you were talking about.
Good luck w/ the repair. Safety is TOP priority.

Jeff in TD

Wow, that must be slick. I don't think I've ever seen hydraulic legs on a 5th wheel...

I should have stopped by the local shop to begin with (great folks). By being willing to wait until they have a big order to save on shipping, they gave me a good price.

It looks like Atwood changed gear ratios a few times over the years, so I suppose I'll count teeth and swap them out if needed.