[DutchmenSport]

Yep, it finally happened. How aggravating and I think I've actually added a few new 4 letter words to my vocabulary! But... long story short ... all is well... not fixed, but "well."

Broke camp from the departing campground on Sunday afternoon with no problems whatsoever. Actually, it was quite uneventful.

Arrived at the new campsite about 3 hours later, no problems (yet). Backed int the site, no problem, angled gravel site, but also convex (you know, U shaped upside down side to side) But nothing drastic. I was able to position the tires so the trailer was spot-on level left-right. Put lumber under all the jacks and unhitched, all was wall. But I did notice the front landing jacks were not behaving exactly right, but nothing to be alarmed at.

Had everything in place, pulled the truck out, and hit the auto level (Lippert 6 point electric 3.0 system). And lo-and-behold .... Right Front error. Oh crap.

I haven't had to deal with an error code in over 3 years now. How do I clear this ... I couldn't. I couldn't. And I still couldn't.

Got into the camper, pulled out my laptop, brought up the Lippert Master Towable Manual, watch a couple You-Tube videos, and still .... I could not clear the error. By now, I'm in total melt-down mode and my language morphed, my temperature rose, my anxiety went through the roof.

I tried again with my wife reading the manuals to me. And then .... POP! POP! POP! GRIND, POP! GRRRR. and then nothing! OH no! Now what.

Over rode everything and got the jacks down enough I could get near level. And called it a day!

This morning, I was able to raise the front (1 jack), but my stack of lumber under both sides of the frame and get the weight off.

So, now I tried re-homing (you know, lower the jacks 6 inches and retract them all). All was well. I cleared the error (finally), front end sitting on my stack of lumber, but ... oh no...... Right front jack did not move. Since the trailer was on blocks now, the wife pushed the button and I pushed up on the jack and Wohooo! The entire shift just slide up into the outer sleeve. Yep... you guessed it ... probably broken gears between the motor and actual jack.

What to do, what to do?

Well, I ended going to Walnut Ridge RV (New Castle, Indiana) and talked the folks there. I decided, since the trailer was on blocks, I'd just go ahead and get a new jack ... everything. They had one in stock .... Got back to the trailer. Removing the old was was pretty easy, but the new shaft was totally different. It did not come with the motor and there was no way it would work. I think the "shaft" was for the hydraulic version, not the electric version.

I hauled everything back to Walnut Ridge RV, with the original shaft and motor. Well .... they fixed me up with the right one this time. BUT it was not in stock. They had to order it from Keystone. They said they'd probably have it tomorrow or the next day at most since Keystone had them in stock.

I kind of wonder why they didn't inquire with Lippert, but hey ... their business, right?

So, it's on order now. Well be here till this Sunday. I told them if they did not get the jack and motor in by Friday, I really needed to know so I can acquire a hydraulic jack to lift the trailer so I can hitch up and head back home!

So, sometimes I do surprise myself at my ability to fix almost anything on this camper. I will say, this is a first for the jacks, other than raising the rears up about 4 inches.

I suppose I should take my own advise... which I'm very bad at doing. When a problem happens with my RV (and it's not a matter of "if" it will happen .... it's a matter of "when" "it" happens), don't panic! Put my thinking cap on my head and work through the problem rather than creating a new vocabulary instead! There will be a solution and everything will be OK again.

Oh, by the way, the jack comes complete with shaft, motor, and foot pad ... $700. But at least I don't have to pay a service fee or a mobile tech an outlandish service fee!

Hopefully, my next update will be that I got the jack and everything is worked perfect again!

Meanwhile .... trails to walk, a lake to swim in, and lots of hotdogs and Smores to eat over the next 6 days!

Gosh I hope I can get it fixed, I really do not want to return home yet with a broken camper!