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67hvnche's avatar
67hvnche
Explorer
Aug 31, 2020

leveling

newbie here-second owner 2009 Tiffin Phaeton. Looking for help from folks with knowledge of electric jacks. Don't know if I can mention make on the site. Suffices to say that they have been the bane of happy camping in an otherwise great coach. I have had about every issue I can think of with them. As second owner I don't know their full history, but know that one rear was replaced and the other three look original.Controller board in basement was also replaced. OK so I don't ramble here are the first two questions:Are the airbags supposed to (do they have to) dump when auto level is initiated? I have mfg instuctions that say you can enable or disable air dump at your wim, but don't say if it has to be enabled prior to leveling. Also says you can dump air bags, but coach has to be running and they refill in 60 seconds, so don't get point of dumping.Question two. when you separate d.c. motor/transmission from top of jack, physically,the shaft of the leg screw is extending up to engage the motor and there are two holes through the shaft with a pin in each. the lower pin is smaller in diameter and rides on what appears to be thrust washer-why would the lower pin be bending upwards/deforming? once again I won't mention name but if you know 2009 phaeton you will know. thanks for any help
Class A
  • Scottiemom's avatar
    Scottiemom
    Nomad
    Sep 01, 2020
    We had Atwoods on our 2006 Phaeton. Nothing but trouble from the get go. Over the years we replaced them all, some more than once at $700 a pop. Two years ago, 2 jacks broke at once while leveling and made the coach buck like a bucking bronco. Long story short, went to BigFoot in White Pigeon, Michigan, and had them replaced with their system. Very happy with that.

    Okay, with the Atwood system, as Doug said, the air dumps when you engage the autolevel on the jacks. The engine is on and you are in neutral. . . it doesn't air back up during this time of leveling. It airs back up when you turn it back on and engage the retract.

    Not only is the system no longer made and parts are almost non-existent (we tried before spending the $$ on another system), Atwood itself was bought out by Lippert and that's where it died. We found that the Atwood jacks were made to handle much less weight that the Bigfoot system we had put on. WE are very happy with it.

    Dale
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    Sep 01, 2020
    He has Atwood since he states electric and that is what Tiffin installed.
    1. The Controller on your system can and is programmed to dump the Air Bags when Auto level is activated. If your air bags fail to dump, then you may have a fault or the controller needs to be activated. Here is a link to your manual that shows how to activate the air bag dump feature. Page 3--"to set air dump"
    https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws.com/manuals/atwood/leveling/levelegs_system_installation_guide_.pdf
    2. The are NO parts available any more for your system. Atwood dropped the system 10 years ago and very few parts are available. NO controllers and NO jacks unless you get lucky.
    3. THERE IS NO PROBLEM MENTIONING THE NAME OF THE JACKS OR ANY NAME OF PARTS OR SYSTEMS ON A RV ON THESE FORUMS.
    4. Most people end up removing the Atwoods and installing the HWH complete Hydraulic jack systems on Tiffins with the Atwood jacks. Doug

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