Landing gear drive shaft on 2012 Eagle HT

[dlongley]

I just got back from a week in Lake Placid, and I had an issue to deal with that I wanted to give you a heads up on. I set up and leveled everything and then went about our vacation. The next morning I went in to turn on the LP gas and noticed the black bar which is part of the drive assembly for the landing gear opposite the motor, resting on top of the tanks. Uh oh, that doesn't seem right. I looked further and noticed the brass colored drive shaft had literally been ripped apart and had broken free from the motor. I noticed no remarkable noises as I was leveling the day before. I was not near the 'Stop' stickers on the legs.

Fortunately, I was able to find an RV repair guy, and had my dealer ship the part to us. We replaced the part a few days later.

I'm still learning this 5th wheel thing as we've had this Eagle HT 26.5 rks for a little over a year. I don't believe it was anything I did which caused this part to fail. Nonetheless, I understand this drive shaft to act as a shear pin, so that it will break before the gears/motor get ripped apart.

The shaft itself was only $10. The labor/tax was nearly $200. I may pick up another one of these items just to have one handy.

I just wanted to give you all a heads up in case there is a rash of bad drive shafts. My dealer had never heard of this happening to anyone else, so perhaps it's an isolated incident. I can tell you that I'm going to spend extra time making sure the landing gear is not under any undo stress due to not being level.