Auto leveling jacks

the jacks can be left up or down. owners choice. they own the jacks.
hwh recommends the jacks be extended. its in the manual.
its one of those questions that has multiple answers.

Trackrig wrote:
If anyone has a compelling reason to use the leveling system while in storage, I'm willing to listen.

For me, just to unload the suspension and keep the twist out of the Coach. Our parking spot is not perfectly level.

dougrainer wrote:

What is the whole system you mention? There is only the pump, the 4 lines and the 4 jacks. The Jacks AND the Lines have pressure when the jacks are extended. Slide rooms (HWH) ALWAYS have pressure either extended or retracted. Doug

Each of my 4 jacks has its own motor and pump which shares a common reservoir, each has a wire harness to the brain box under my dash. When the system shuts down, the fluid in the cylinder is trapped by a valve in the jack.
My Slide is a totally mechanical operation driven by a electric motor. when the electrical draw exceeds a certain amperage, as it hits the stops, it shuts off either in or out. no hoses or cylinders in the system.

dubdub07 wrote:
I think it would be better to leave them up and out of the elements and just drive it once a month......

WW

I guess that means you disagree with the HWH manufacturer. Read the link above.

dubdub07 wrote:
I think it would be better to leave them up and out of the elements and just drive it once a month......

WW

Impossible for me to do. Last winter I had over 8 feet of snow in my yard and it was there for months. I clean the snow away from the coach and make a path to it but if I ever pulled it out, I would never get it back up that hill in the winter.

For some of us we have no choice but to let them sit for 4-6 months a year.

Personally mine are ok to leave down, but, last winter one froze to the ground when I was trying to leave for a trip.


I never put mine down without a block of wood or something under it. If you would do this it would not freeze to the ground.

Ours too are always deployed unless we are traveling. However, I do have a garage for the mh when at home and the mh is never exposed to rain, snow, wind, sun or freezing weather.

Recently tho, we had a defective solenoid for one of the jacks and the jack would not hold position. I'm currently in the process of getting that solenoid replaced. Not sure if having the coach on the jacks 98% of the time caused this solenoid to go bad or not.

Ron

I think it would be better to leave them up and out of the elements and just drive it once a month......

WW

Well Gang,
When the big girl is parked in it's cave at home, the button is pushed after I back it in and, the bags are emptied and the jacks come down and, the coach is leveled. DONE! The primary reason I do this, whether it's for a week or, two months, is because our diesel coach, like just about 98% of the rest of them out there, will LOOSE AIR in the bags and settle anyway.

But, we're both in and out of that coach, while it's parked, for several reasons, on a quite often basis. And, due to the fact that, our Kwikee step is not the most stoutly mounted, I place a "step saver" under it to support the weight as we step in and out of it daily.

If I were to not drop the bags and, place that step saver under it, the bags would self deflate, over a short period of time and, guess what would happen to the steps due to having that step saver under there?? There would be (and almost has been) some serious damage to that section of the coach because the steps would be trying to hold that corner of the coach up.

So, that's my reasons for stowing the coach, with the jacks down. I have gone to the HWH site and checked all the comments on jacks down during storage and all that and, they say it's perfectly fine.
Scott

Check with the manufacturer. This question comes up a lot, and there are strong opinions to both sides.

Personally mine are ok to leave down, but, last winter one froze to the ground when I was trying to leave for a trip. It was stuck and took a good bit to free it up. I don't leave them down especially since there is no real good reason for me to do so. If you are storing it why would you want them down? I've heard arguments about flat spots on tires but that's not really an issue anymore on newer tires. A tire doesn't care if it's in the air or has weight on it no more than your stored RV cares if it's level. They can dry rot just as easy in either case. Being on the ground or with weight does not accelerate the process. If you really want to protect your tires, take them off and store them in a garage, otherwise, elements are elements, weighted or not.

Unless your manufacturer has some reason to one way or another I really don't think it matters. But I never really did understand the logic of storing them down. What's the point? What benefit (documented) is there to taking weight off the tires?

One thing is certain, if you have an issue when you go to take it out, it's a whole lot easier if your issue happens when jacks are in the up position than down. You're stuck at that point.