Thinking of removing Hydraulic levelers.

[maddog348]

2007 Itasca Sunova 27'. LEVELERS BAH!!!! AM tired of messing with a failed Hyd sys. Kwikee System taken over by Lippert. On vacation last Spring RT Rear leveler began decending on its own while traveling on the Highway. Lights & Bells ~ Stop!!! hit raise jacks all went back up ~ for about 70 miles. Limped along for a while to primary Vacation spot. AS was under extended warranty wanted our regular repair shop to checkit out. BIG bungees ~ check leveler every 50 mi ~ Home OK. THAT was in June. Shop had to check with mfg. then ins. no longer made had to build. Ok 6 wks Did not cure. Mfg said try this ~ Then that 2 more jacks to build & replace ~~ OOps that did not work. Mfg must be 2 way valve ~ Approved day before extended warranty went out. Shop finally found proper valve ~ OUR $$$ ~but must by 4 of them. Closed for Holidays ~~ Shop called today Levelers are "frozen". Will go thru system again maybe one of new levelers no good.

Note!! other than that may be the HYD Pump -our $$$ --. I am worn out with it~~ Any one just remove levelers & go back to blocks.?? Old Classs C saw a lot of camping with Boards&Blocks. Am afraid to drive it with the levelers decending unannounced.

Thanks for letting me vent.

[ArchHoagland]

maddog if you want to travel north on 99 for two hours I can recommend a shop that replaced my drivers side front leveler after I ran over a complete tire and wheel assembly that came off a pickup truck in front of me. That was great fun....

It jammed my front leveler up into the bottom of my coach and destroyed a 20 foot hydraulic hose.

Also this year they replaced a windshield and repaired one of my air conditioners. They are prompt and knowledgeable.

Central Valley RV

[imgoin4it]

Bruce Brown, I sent you a private mail with my experience.
Howard

[dougrainer]

D.E.Bishop wrote:
I'm going to go with Doug, I took my rig in to my shop, the lead guy worked in the RV industry for quite awhile and I trust him. He listened to my problem, a leaking hose, and said it would cost more for them to fix than it was worth. Both he and the owner said hoses run through cabinets and by the time they tear everything apart and put it back together, it was too much involved time wise for their shop. A RV only shop, quoted me over a grand for the work. I figured screw it, I tore the hose out, paid $100 for the replacement hose and did it myself. Nothing inside anything, easy as it could be. A RV only shop, quoted me over a grand for the work.

The retract springs were an obsolete style and HWH recommended replacement. The springs were about a $100 dollars and had everything on hand to replace. Looked it up on YouTube and adjusted the methods used to fit my job and less than four hours from opening the boxes to drying off after the shower.

My point is not everyone that calls themselves an RV Tech has much of an idea how things work or how to repair them.

There are NO jacks hoses that run thru interior cabinets. ALL Jack hoses run thru the frame rail areas. The only exception to this, is certain LCI systems from over 10 years ago on Georgetown Motorhomes that had the rear slide room return hose run thru the rear jacks and these hoses were under the bed and easily accessable and not run thru cabinets. Doug

[dougrainer]

maddog348 wrote:
D.R.Bain ~~~ Good for you. ~~ Mine does not.

Bain has no clue. He did not read your posts and his system, IF the reservoir gets low, the jacks STAY retracted, the jack down alarm just comes on. NO system when the reservoir is LOW, will allow the retracted jacks to extend at all. Doug

[Mr_Mark1]

Our previous coach had hydraulic leveling AND air leveling. I was not disappointed that our new coach has air leveling only.

I had to replace the Lippert hydraulic pump, because, on the old one, I added more fluid than the Exxon Valdez leaked! LOL!

The only negative about air leveling is that if you need to lift a tire off of the ground, you will need a tow truck.

Safe travels,
MM.

[maddog348]

D.R.Bain ~~~ Good for you. ~~ Mine does not.

[Bruce_Brown]

imgoin4it wrote:
I have the old electric level legs by atwood. No longer work and no longer supported for repair. Maunfacturer says must replace. So I have been doing some research, mostly amoung RV repair facilities with people I know very well. The consensus is go with HWH hydraulic. The brand that started this discussion was what many RV owners thought would better because they are hydraulic both up and down. If a jack pad gets frozen some people thought that "powering" up was better than prying it up by hand. The repair folks say that HWH are just about "bullet proof" and been around forever. Another reason for HWH is that most if not all high dollar coaches use HWH. I'm replacing mine with HWH. Until I get them its wood blocks.

Can I ask what's not working? I have the same jacks and have spent some quality time working on them. Depending on your situation I may be able to help.

[maddog348]

UPDATE

Thanks for all the input - time & ideas. Am limited as to resources so for now will just have legs removed & rest of system capped off. At least I will be comfortable using/travelling in the motor home. Have fought this system since day one. Dealership (CW) and several independent repair facilities. No adjustment on how high the coach went to level on 'auto' ~ seems WRONG to need to have all wheels off ground, as happened occasionally ~ would reset. Manual unsatisfactory. Don't think I will ever 'trust' this system.

Traveled several days with rt rear bungeed up when on way home from aborted vacation. Did not deploy at night. Little more time in site selection - just like we did in the old ClassC. If at a later date it becomes to hard to use block 'system' will/may have legs reinstalled.

Thanks again K

[wildmanbaker]

Like Calvin and others have said, this is not rocket science. Any heavy construction outfit has experience with hydraulic systems, and would be a snap. Yes the OP should be frustrated with not getting it repaired. I don't know what recourse he may have, but maybe the state attorney general for the state this is taking place in could help.
Carrying wood blocks for leveling gets old fast. Ask the ones that are currently doing it, how handy and FUN it is, not to mention having some place to carry them. When we were looking at MHs, the things that it had to have were: an onboard generator with remote start, auto leveling system, dual Paine windows, and at least a living room slide. We carried blocks when we had a TT and a pickup.
Good luck

[D_R_Bain]

maddog348 wrote:
2007 Itasca Sunova 27'. LEVELERS BAH!!!! AM tired of messing with a failed Hyd sys. Kwikee System taken over by Lippert. On vacation last Spring RT Rear leveler began decending on its own while traveling on the Highway. Lights & Bells ~ Stop!!! hit raise jacks all went back up ~ for about 70 miles. Limped along for a while to primary Vacation spot. AS was under extended warranty wanted our regular repair shop to checkit out. BIG bungees ~ check leveler every 50 mi ~ Home OK. THAT was in June. Shop had to check with mfg. then ins. no longer made had to build. Ok 6 wks Did not cure. Mfg said try this ~ Then that 2 more jacks to build & replace ~~ OOps that did not work. Mfg must be 2 way valve ~ Approved day before extended warranty went out. Shop finally found proper valve ~ OUR $$$ ~but must by 4 of them. Closed for Holidays ~~ Shop called today Levelers are "frozen". Will go thru system again maybe one of new levelers no good.

Note!! other than that may be the HYD Pump -our $$$ --. I am worn out with it~~ Any one just remove levelers & go back to blocks.?? Old Classs C saw a lot of camping with Boards&Blocks. Am afraid to drive it with the levelers decending unannounced.

Thanks for letting me vent.

I have found that when my levelers do this I found low fluid level in the reservoir. As long as I top it off once a year it keeps everything from triggering the alarm bells and whistles.

[calvin5445]

This is not this difficult if they are single acting they have springs to retract them. if they are double acting, then the valve is leaking which makes them drop down. they used cartridge valves in a manifold, if the cartridge valves get dirt in them they will hang open and leak
Calvin 90 monaco

[Mr_Mark1]

Maddog, if you can get your coach to Redlands, CA, to Redlands Truck and RV performance, I'm sure they can fix your problem.

I have used them on several occasions and they are a good shop. Everything they have fixed for me on our previous coach was done right the first time (dash air repair, slide adjustment, shade replacement, engine service, etc.).

Recently, they installed the towing equipment on my tow vehicle and adding the SMI auxiliary braking system.

Do not go to Colton Truck Terminal in Colton, CA, .... they are hit and miss. They could not fix my dash air on three attempts (and charged me for it). And, they gave me a bad alignment that I didn't catch for 2,000 miles. Redlands fixed my dash air right the first time and lasted until I sold the coach 3 yrs. later.

Good luck,
MM.

[D_E_Bishop]

I'm going to go with Doug, I took my rig in to my shop, the lead guy worked in the RV industry for quite awhile and I trust him. He listened to my problem, a leaking hose, and said it would cost more for them to fix than it was worth. Both he and the owner said hoses run through cabinets and by the time they tear everything apart and put it back together, it was too much involved time wise for their shop. A RV only shop, quoted me over a grand for the work. I figured screw it, I tore the hose out, paid $100 for the replacement hose and did it myself. Nothing inside anything, easy as it could be. A RV only shop, quoted me over a grand for the work.

The retract springs were an obsolete style and HWH recommended replacement. The springs were about a $100 dollars and had everything on hand to replace. Looked it up on YouTube and adjusted the methods used to fit my job and less than four hours from opening the boxes to drying off after the shower.

My point is not everyone that calls themselves an RV Tech has much of an idea how things work or how to repair them.

[imgoin4it]

I have the old electric level legs by atwood. No longer work and no longer supported for repair. Maunfacturer says must replace. So I have been doing some research, mostly amoung RV repair facilities with people I know very well. The consensus is go with HWH hydraulic. The brand that started this discussion was what many RV owners thought would better because they are hydraulic both up and down. If a jack pad gets frozen some people thought that "powering" up was better than prying it up by hand. The repair folks say that HWH are just about "bullet proof" and been around forever. Another reason for HWH is that most if not all high dollar coaches use HWH. I'm replacing mine with HWH. Until I get them its wood blocks.