New CAT landing Gears

Hi,

Not sure if this area has been addressed previously, but thought I would share what happened to my new CAT and my Tow vehicle.

A couple of days ago, I tried to hook up my new CAT to my tow vehicle. I could not get the landing gears to go up or down.
I hooked up the electric cords, thinking the gears would work with direct power. It didn't work at all. I tried to manually
adjust the landing gears and that would have taken way too long. After I and another friend tried several different methods
to raise/lower my landing gears, I got the electrical switch to work, only for a couple of seconds, then it died again.

I now have my CAT hooked to the fifth wheel. I called Explorer USA in Georgetown Texas and explained what had just happened.
The maintenance team suggested I bring my CAT to them immediately, which I did.

After about an hour, the maintenance team found that the tow vehicle, when hooked up to the CAT was draining the CAT's battery!
Plus, the fuse in the tow vehicle was blown and that also was replaced.

I got a new battery and a couple of extra fuses with instructions from the maintenance team, that when I park my RV, to unplug the
negative cable from the battery. Second, when hooking up the RV to the tow vehicle, connect the battery cable and run my tow
vehicle for about 10 minutes....then hook up.

Everything appears to working great. Just wanted to share an experience I had with my new CAT.

Dennis

Dennis,

Something else to aware of, your landing gear AND your slideout are tied into the same breaker. Many of us Cat owners have had situations where we're right in the middle of extending or retracting either the slide-out or the landing gear, and everything suddenly stops until the automatic breaker re-sets itself. If this ever happens to you, you'll will need to buy a larger breaker (80 to 100 amps) to replace the original and inadequate one. That will fix this particular problem from recurring.

TC

Thanks TC,

I would have never guessed about that. I'm off to buy a 80-100 amp breaker!!

Dennis

WOW! That sounds like something is not wired right. You shouldn't have to do all that. I would check into this. We just finished a 9300 mile trip, sometimes we keep the truck hooked up and sometimes we disconnect. We never had to do all you do. We just do the normal thing. If the truck is hooked up we get in it and go. If the truck is disconnected we hookup and go. You really shouldn't have to do all that stuff. Get it checked. Good Luck.. Duke.

If the truck was draining the battery, Then your truck battery would be draining also. I'm not sure how the guy came to that conclusion , but I think the blown fuse fixed that side of the problem.

I'd be willing to put good money down that replacing your breaker is gonna fix that side of the problem also.
I had to replace mine also and it did the trick.

My fuse blows from time to time on my truck, I always keep a couple of spares. and a jumper just in case.

dennistx wrote:Hi,

Not sure if this area has been addressed previously, but thought I would share what happened to my new CAT and my Tow vehicle.

A couple of days ago, I tried to hook up my new CAT to my tow vehicle. I could not get the landing gears to go up or down.
I hooked up the electric cords, thinking the gears would work with direct power. It didn't work at all.

This is a sure sign that your battery is dead. Most of the 12V equipment in the trailer will work off of street power through the power center, but the motor for the hydraulic pump and the motor for the landing gear will not work on street power alone. They need the battery.

I tried to manually adjust the landing gears and that would have taken way too long. After I and another friend tried several different methodsto raise/lower my landing gears, I got the electrical switch to work, only for a couple of seconds, then it died again.

I now have my CAT hooked to the fifth wheel. I called Explorer USA in Georgetown Texas and explained what had just happened.
The maintenance team suggested I bring my CAT to them immediately, which I did.

After about an hour, the maintenance team found that the tow vehicle, when hooked up to the CAT was draining the CAT's battery!
Plus, the fuse in the tow vehicle was blown and that also was replaced.

If the fuse in the TV was blown, I don't think that it was drawing down the Cat's battery. Something else was. It depends on how long it was sitting, but I'd bet that between the amps drawn by the Concertone and the Propane Sniffer that your battery went down on its own.

I got a new battery (I'd check the fluid in the old battery, fill it up to the rings if necessary and try to recharge it. It might just be discharged, not completely bad. Sears has a deal where you can bring in any battery and put it on their tester and check it out for free.) and a couple of extra fuses with instructions from the maintenance team, that when I park my RV, to unplug the
negative cable from the battery. Second, when hooking up the RV to the tow vehicle, connect the battery cable and run my tow
vehicle for about 10 minutes....then hook up.

There are other posts on here about installing a battery disconnect switch. It's a far safer method than disconnecting the black (ground) lead all the time.

Everything appears to working great. Just wanted to share an experience I had with my new CAT.

Dennis

Luck to ya'

TC wrote:Dennis,

Something else to aware of, your landing gear AND your slideout are tied into the same breaker. Many of us Cat owners have had situations where we're right in the middle of extending or retracting either the slide-out or the landing gear, and everything suddenly stops until the automatic breaker re-sets itself. If this ever happens to you, you'll will need to buy a larger breaker (80 to 100 amps) to replace the original and inadequate one. That will fix this particular problem from recurring.

TC

TC,

Not sure how your 28RKS is set up but I traced the wiring on my 29RLBS and as far as I can see the electric motor for the landing gear is wired directly to the battery and not through the fuse for the hydraulic pump motor. Maybe that's the way they do it with the hydraulic landing gear? In the 4 seasons we've used the Cat, I've never had the electric landing gear stall on me.

Just wondering

Interesting how they claim your truck was draining the RV battery. Late model trucks connect power to the RV through a relay that is only energized when the truck is on. Unless there is a problem with your truck between the trailer connector and the relay, I don't think your truck is to blame.