Fleetwood Motorhome Association, Inc. - Power Gear Electronic Jacks

06/02/2012 12:26 PM

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Reply # 941207 on 880565

Deleted user

I want to thank everyone for the replies. I am scheduled into my sixth repair facility for one last try at getting them repaired. Part of my problems were that we were on the road for the winter and could not leave the rig at a repair facility for a long enough time to get parts after the first or second attempt to repair the rig.

One thing that I have learned from this experience is that I will never buy another RV with Power Gear electronic jacks. All of the replies except for one have been negative toward Power Gear. That one positive reply identified a preventative solution toward one problem, that is excessive rusting of the jacks. To my knowledge that problem is not a problem that I have had. Here are my list of reasons why I don't like Power Gear jacks.

Bad design - If you think about it electronic jacks are really simple to design. All you need to drive the jacks is a way to turn the worm gear up or down with the electronic motor and a way to figure out when the jacks are at the top of the gear and when they are at the bottom of the gear. 95% of my problems are due to a design that only very very experienced technicians can figure out how to work with. I have had 8 to 12 drive/shear pins broken by technicians trying to repair my jacks. The first cause of that difficulty is the strange placement of magnets that determine when the jack is at top and bottom of its play. Only experience can teach how to install these jacks with the magnets correctly installed.

The second difficulty is the control board setup. Again it is non intutive how to set up the system and clearly not for the faint of heart. Again only experience and a large number of calls to Power Gear seem to allow you to do this correctly.

Customer Service - You can not buy parts as a customer from power Gear! They will not identify a supplier to by parts from and have policies to stop customers from buying parts directly. When I was on the road it would have been nice to be able to buy parts and carry them with me till I got to a repair facility that could install them. In addition it takes an excessive amount amount of time to receive parts again making scheduling a repair on the road almost impossible. When we were on the road this winter the longest time we were in one RV park was waiting for Power Gear parts that were incorrectly installed causing more damage than we started out with and requiring again excessive delays to order more parts just to repeat the cycle.

Now lets talk about repair facilities. They will not identify authorized repair facilities. They will shift the problem to manufactures like Fleetwood. Again difficult to deal with on the road. I had repair facilities recommended a state away in the wrong direction.

Lastly telephone support. Again not for customer use. Only for "authorized?" repair technicians!

Jim

07/25/2012 8:26 PM

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Reply # 1019683 on 880565

Luther and Connie Fletcher

I had problems with my electric power gear jacks. I was having to lower and raise them by using a jump box and going straight to control board. At Fleetwood rally in Goshen the last week in June. Power Gear worked on my jacks. It was the front right keeping all from working. New board and jack. Still did not work. They then changed a sensor at the wireing of the right jack under the finder. All work good now.

03/26/2013 3:38 PM

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Reply # 1252306 on 880565

Deleted user

We have a 2008 Discovery with electric jacks. We had problems twice and then my husband realized that the tires were slinging water and mud on the boots around the jacks. He made L shape brackets to go around the jacks to protect them from the water and have had no trouble since. 2 years.

03/27/2013 5:06 AM

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Reply # 1252644 on 880565

Deleted user

I find Power Gear to be very helpful. They respond only via email because of budget cutbacks but they respond quickly their address is info@powergearus.com . They just put out a comprehensive troubleshooting guide. Here is a link to it http://support.powergearus.com/techdocs/82-L0524.pdf .

The most important thing that we can do is keep water from entering the rubber boot that covers the brake. I have siliconed the top if this boot and it has worked well for three years now.

Cliff 08 35E Bounder

04/20/2013 2:47 PM

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Reply # 1273570 on 880565

Deleted user

My coach is a 2007 Pace Arrow with Power Gear Jacks. They have, to my knowledge, all of the factory recommended upgrades. The system, after a re calibration by Lazydays RV, usually levels the coach perfectly unless the terrain is excessively sloped. A RV chassis with leaf springs can't be leveled on sloping terrain as easily as a coach with better suspension and air bags. Living with that is an issue for me. Not the jacks. They've always worked as designed and never failed when left alone to do their intended job.

04/21/2013 8:32 AM

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Reply # 1273855 on 880565

Gary & Jacki Hammond

I have also had issues with my Power Gear Electronic Jacks on my 2008 Pace Arrow. I have found RV World in Yuma, AZ to be very helpful. They have walked me through by phone how to retract my Jacks when locked in the down position. They have also repaired then a couple of times.

Good luck, Gary Hammond

08/10/2018 12:31 PM

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Reply # 6463564 on 880565

Bill & Laura Johnson (Administrator)

I have significant experience with the powergear electric jacks. A couple facts I discovered in the course of my pain, was the jacks should not be greased, that attracts dirt which causes the shaft to bind. clean the shafts and spray with transmission fluid which significantly reduces the dirt issue.

I finally realized after replacing many shear pins that there was a pattern to their failure.

First be sure to deflate the airbags prior to setting the jacks!

Second when set at a site for more than a day the chance of breaking a pin increases because the ground settles and the jack binds. If you re-inflate the airbags before retracting the jacks they take some pressure off the jack shafts, reducing the bind and that stopped my breaking shear pins.

Last item is NEVER let the jacks extend to their full length, use blocks under the jacks to fill the gap. It should be noted that the blocks, if large enough also significantly reduce the sinking into the ground.

By the way, the shear pins are available from Fleetwood Parts, and generally I've had fast response in getting them. I actually kept 4 onboard, just in case. I do have a full powerpoint presentation on how repair the jack if you need it.

Please feel free to call if you need further help.

Power Gear Electronic Jacks - Repair Issues