HELP! Fuzion 322 Landing gear debacle

[dirtymartini]

We bought our 2010 Fuzion FZ 322 Touring Edition II this past June. While prepping for a trip to Arizona the front landing gear started acting up. Barely raising the front of the unit enough to uncouple the truck.

While troubleshooting an electrical problem I retracted the gear too far and sheared the bolt that connects the crossover rod to the passenger side leg. This unit has a generator and I can't find any access to the passenger side leg other than cutting a hole in the bedroom floor or trying to remove the trim and peel back the panel in front of the leg.

I can't believe the engineers didn't leave access to service that side....well maybe I can given my 50 or so odd years of working on vehicles.

Has anyone had this experience? we leave in two weeks and I need to get this fixed ASAP

Thanks in advance!

[chuckster57]

The crossover tube should be accessible from the front compartment. It will be high up and near the front, when you replace the bolt DO NOT use anything higher than grade 5. It’s designed to shear off as you found.

Retiming the legs- using the motor side set the leg at any length and measure, with the crossover tube disconnected, rotate it so the “follower” leg is at the same length, insert bolt and your good to go.

[dirtymartini]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

The crossover tube should be accessible from the front compartment. It will be high up and near the front, when you replace the bolt DO NOT use anything higher than grade 5. It’s designed to shear off as you found.

Retiming the legs- using the motor side set the leg at any length and measure, with the crossover tube disconnected, rotate it so the “follower” leg is at the same length, insert bolt and your good to go.

Thanks for the reply. By "front compartment" did you mean the storage area underneath the bedroom? This model has a generator so there is no access in the front compartment area.

[dirtymartini]

Here area couple pics of what I am up against. The generator blocks access from the front and all of my solar electronics are fastened to the back wall in the storage area.
It seems my only option is to remove the solar equipment from the wall and try and pull the wall back enough to get in to access the leg. If I get in I'm just going to replace the whole leg.

[chuckster57]

You dont have a compartment door to the generator for service?

Its not the leg that needs to be replaced if the bolt sheared off of the crossover tube.

[dirtymartini]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

You dont have a compartment door to the generator for service?

Its not the leg that needs to be replaced if the bolt sheared off of the crossover tube.

There is an access door in the front, but the generator is inside a sheet metal box with no access to anywhere else.

The first picture is looking across from the leading leg side to the following leg side. The space above the generator would only allow a very small person to crawl over to access the bolt. I'm 6' 215 lbs and there is no way I can fit.

It's just plain ignorant that Keystone would design something this way with no easy access for routine maintenance.

Anyway, the unit being 12 years old, I decided to go ahead and replace both legs and be done with it. After 4 hours I got in and got the following leg out. I un-wired some of my solar wiring, removed a few pieces, and cut into the MDF panel...enough to pull it aside and access the following leg. I'll post some pics in a bit...after I have a celebratory beer!

Now for the back story...This all started because the motor was stalling out trying to lift the camper to level. I found that the DC voltage was dropping to 3 volts when it was giving up. Disconnected the motor from the gearbox and ran the motor in both directions with a full 12 volts. Removed the gearbox and disassembled it. Everything looked good inside, still had grease and no real wear on the gears. I had a 12-volt deep cycle battery that I use to turn the logs on my sawmill. I unhooked the wires from the camper and direct wired from the deep cycle battery to the motor (gearbox hooked back up) It raised the camper without much drop in voltage but as it starined I could hear a clacking-gear skipping noise from the leading leg. I lowered the camper back down on the truck and wanted to raise the legs up to their upper limit so I could make a mark to know where to stop. This is how I sheared the following leg cross-over shaft bolt. I should have had a fuse in-line with my temporary test cable. Before I could pull the lead off the battery the bolt sheared.

After removing both landing gear legs I found the leading side gears worn badly. I will be replacing both.

[dirtymartini]

This is what I had to do to access the following leg. I did a lot of untiring before i could have room to make my cut. After careful measurements I drilled a hole through the board and used my jigsaw to cut through.

I then was able to pull the board back far enough to squeeze in and access the log bolts. Of course the carriage bolt nuts were facing the front of the camper!


After removing the nuts I was able to wiggle the leg out.

The replacement should be here tomorrow.

[Essvar]

I had the exact same issue with my 2008 Raptor, however that unit had access to both landing gear via the propane tank compartments on either side of the trailer. Glad you were able to gain access without pulling the generator.

[dirtymartini]

Originally Posted by Essvar

I had the exact same issue with my 2008 Raptor, however that unit had access to both landing gear via the propane tank compartments on either side of the trailer. Glad you were able to gain access without pulling the generator.

I thought about pulling the generator but then I would have had to cut an access hole in the metal enclosure surrounding the generator.

I really find it ridiculous that they didn't even leave access to grease the leg...

[Mike Honcho]

I had an 08 Fuzion 373. OP is correct in that passenger side leg is inaccessible (other than a very skinny person climbing over the top of generator, screw that). I am a longtime large boater and when things buried need access we make an access panel. Do a nice job and it looks like it belongs there. I cut a large rectangular access panel in the 373 and was able to replace the leg. Drivers side has plenty of room.