Landing Gear Fuse

[Monzie16]

Hi,

I am new to towing a 5th wheel and being a rookie, I raised the landing gear too high trying to disconnect and now the landing gear doesn't work. I think that I probably blew the fuse. My question is, Does anybody know approx. where the fuse would be and what kind of fuse it is? I have a '14 Sprinter Copper Canyon 269FWRLS. Thanks in advance!

[Pmedic4]

The fuse is probably a 30 or 40 Amp fuse, and it is located in the front compartment, likely right above the battery. I'm close to my RV to get a photo, but spent a great deal of time last year when I had a problem with mine, when I probably did the same thing running just Landing gear too long, when I couldn't get it to hook up.

I don't remember if the fuse is an inline fuse, or it was on the remote control electrical panel, but it is an automotive type blade fuse. Mine was a 40 Amp fuse, and had to go to an auto parts store to find one of that size. The hardware stores only went up to 30 Amps, which might be what yours is for your model.

[Monzie16]

Thanks Pmedic4!

I will buy a 30 amp and a 40 amp, just to be safe. Hopefully it's not too hard to find.

[JRTJH]

It's likely an inline fuse. It will be in the wiring loom, on the pink wire running from the landing gear motor back toward the auto-reset circuit breaker. (Yup, it's a "double protected" circuit). Here's what it should look like. Follow the pink wire, you'll find it.

[byrdr1]

its likely a mini fuse too.
Mine is a 30a mini in line fuse about 12' from the battery and it was enclosed in the wiring plastic loom. Hard to find in the dark!!!!! even with a flash light..
BUT attitude could affect that problem too.:yawn:
randy

[Monzie16]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone! Hopefully I can get to my trailer tonight and fix it.

[spicercars]

I did the same thing when we had our Copper Canyon and I ended up wrecking the landing gear and had to replace them. I hope yours is just a fuse.

[Ron]

What a lot of us have done is replace the fuse with a circuit breaker so if you raise the landing gear to high again, it will just kick out the circuit and then reset...these can be found at your local automotive supply house....

5301

[jsmith948]

To help avoid over extending or over retracting the landing gear, some of us have painted a red stripe on the movable part of the landing legs (not the snap-jack part - the solid inner tube). That way you'll know when to stop.

[Monzie16]

I replaced the fuse, and it is working again!
It is a 30 amp ATC fuse and it is hanging down right at the front of the compartment and is super accessible.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[JRTJH]

Monzie16,

Now that you've got it working again, it's very important not to run the landing gear all the way up or all the way down. The gear drive in the top of the landing gear assembly is fragile and easy to jam or to chip a tooth on one of the gears. If that happens, you're looking at several hundred bucks to get it working again.

Most of us use paint or reflective tape to mark the top and the bottom of the solid moving leg about 2" above the bottom and 2" below the top. That way, when we run the legs up, as it gets to the marked spot, we let off the switch. That protects the gears (and the fuse) and keeps things in the front compartment "happy"

You might want to think seriously about marking your gear to prevent any more damage should the fuse "simply work slower" the next time :)

[Monzie16]

Thanks John!

I am going to do that for sure. It's a great idea!

[OldCountryBoy]

Just one question.... How do you know where to put the tape or mark without extending the jacks to far? I love the idea, just not sure how to proceed.

[JRTJH]

If you blow the fuse, you went too far.
http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/angry/tearing-hair.gif (http://www.sherv.net/)

Seriously though, if you pay attention to what you're doing, you can tell when the landing gear is about to stop turning. That's close enough !! Mark there and don't go past that point.

Realistically, there's only about 6 or 8" of travel needed if you use the snap pins to move the inner leg into position.

[trucker LOU]

I did the same thing first time out. after locating the fuse buried behind the batts.,I rewired and put the fuse next to the switch.

[Travler]

I just thought I would check after reading about the landing fuse blowing in some of the other post.. What I found was the fuse holder had a 15 amp fuse. The landing gear motor says it needs a 30 amp fuse. any reason whu a 15 would be in instead of the 30 that it calls for. I haven't had any issues with the landing gear working... Any ideas????????

[Travler]

I went back out to look for the 30 amp fuse. The 15 that I found was for the hitch light. (should have known) But I started to tear open the plastic wrap and about half way back to the switch I found a 30 in line fuse. and as some were saying its a 30 mini fuse..So that is something I will get before I go out this year.. sorry for the 1st post. I wrote before I looked ...LOL

[JRTJH]

You may have the wrong fuse installed from the factory???? or ???? or then maybe???? Really, who knows how a 15 amp got installed. If it's working and you haven't had any problems, I'd leave it alone. Honestly, if a smaller fuse operates the system, when you do get the motor into a bind, the fuse will open to protect the motor sooner preventing as much torque to be applied to the gears. That will "over protect" your motor/landing gear system. If you start having issues with the fuse repeatedly, then I'd replace it with a larger fuse, but I'd make sure that the wiring from the battery to the landing gear motor is rated for the increased amperage before just installing a larger fuse.

The 26SAB is a relatively light fifth wheel and wouldn't require as much power to lift as would, say a 40' Fuzion. So, it's possible that Keystone wired that model with a smaller wiring harness and subsequently a smaller fuse. But then, it's just as likely that whoever delivered your RV to the dealer might have blown the fuse when disconnecting and the only replacement he had was a 15 amp.... Who knows ????

ADDED: Glad you found the proper fuse. That sure helps in the speculation department..... Many people are replacing that 30 amp fuse with a autoreset 30 amp circuit breaker. I don't know if it's any "better or worse" as long as you know where the fuse is located and have a replacement handy for "when" LOL

[RedRover]

Same thing happened to me and my new Cougar the first time out. Seems that with such a common occurrence the manufacturer would find a better solution to limiting landing gear travel than blowing a fuse.

[CamperGeoff]

I did replace my in-line mini 30amp fuse for the landing gear motor with an in-line circuit breaker. I had to replace the receptacle, which was easy enough, but the motor continues to "blow" the circuit, in particular on the way up. I am getting pretty tired of this nonsense now. Is is the motor or perhaps the toggle switch? anyone have any ideas?

This seems to be a problem with these 5th Wheels (i have a 2008 Montana 3075RL by the way). Need help before I replace the motor! I am out of ideas as to why this keep on blowing.

[Festus2]

It may be that inner and outer sliding steel "legs" are misaligned and are binding causing a strain on the motor. Has the mechanism been greased lately? I see that your Montana is an '08 and the landing jack gears and inner components need to be greased from time-to-time.

The in-line circuit breaker should have solved the problem but apparently not. Is your battery in good "shape"? Fully charged and able to hold a charge?

[CamperGeoff]

Hi Festus:

All of your questions are great. I do have to replace the batteries, as they are a few years old, and don't charge like they used to. I plan to do that this week.

More importantly, I do like the suggestion about greasing the landing gear. Is there a special grease (like a graphite spray) that works better then others? Is there some place special to place the lubricant?

You don't think it's the motor? (I don't think so, but ......)

Any help is welcome!

~g

[JRTJH]

There should be a couple of zerk fittings on each side of the top part of your landing gear. Both legs have a gear set and both need to be lubricated regularly. Use any good "wheel bearing" or "general purpose" grease and go on a "zerk hunt" to find the fittings. They are probably painted black and well camouflaged so you'll have "fun" finding them. Use a flashlight to make it easier...

It also seems that I remember several years ago, a "factory suggested fix" for blowing the landing gear fuse. If I recall, the factory suggested on "some units that have a history of blowing fuses" to install a second 30 amp fuse in parallel with the existing fuse. Maybe some owners of "years past" models will remember the "suggested repair" better than I do....

You might also check with your dealer (next time you're in for spare parts) and pick his brain to see if he remembers the fusing issues.....

Good Luck

[CamperGeoff]

Hi John:

Great. I do have a grease gun, and flashlight, and will go on a zirk-hunt. I need new batteries too, so those'll get replaced.

I am curious about adding a second 30amp fuse in parallel, or did you mean Serial, as since there is the one pink line, I assume both would go on that wire? I do like using the 30amp circuit breaker, so a second cannot hurt, I suspect.

~geoff

[JRTJH]

No if you install a second fuse in series (one behind the other on that same wire) you'll still only have one fuse to blow opening the circuit and the other fuse would essentially be "useless" or "extra" and serve no purpose.

Installing the second fuse in parallel (side by side with a second wire routing the new fuse around the old one) will give you more delay before blowing the fuse but still protect the wiring.

Check through this forum, there are several old threads about how Keystone used the parallel double fuse to resolve the blown fuse issue in the landing gear circuitry.