Changing fluid in leveling jacks?

[JerryofWV]

I was reading the manual for my Power Gear jacks and noticed they recommend changing the fluid every 2 years.

I don't know anyone who has changed their fluid ever, much less every 24 months.

Does anyone change the fluid? Is it really necessary?

[Blaster_Man]

If you change it, but sure the jacks are retracted, or you'll put in way too much fluid.

[tropical36]

Believe it or not, there are still some people that are changing their engine oil every 3000 miles under normal conditions and evidently believing that it is contaminated or broken down in some way. Many will say that they've never had a problem by doing so. Well, they still wouldn't have had a problem with changing it every 6 - 7K miles either or even more.
It's no wonder that oil, fuel and other petroleum products have been so expensive, with the amount of waste that we create.
Now, where does it say to change engine oil every 3K miles, otherwise your engine is going to fail you. Only place I've seen this promoted extensively, is by the quick lubes and other stations that do oil changes and their favorite thing is for putting that little sticker on your windshield, which actually means nothing. Exp...there is a mileage reminder on the sticker for your next 3K oil change. So, evidently this means that if your vehicle sits for 5 yrs or so, it still isn't due for an oil change, right?
A little off topic here, I know, but the logic of it all still remains.

[Valkyriebush]

Never changed mine. Jacks Work perfectly. 12yrs. Never gave it any thought until now?

[Effy]

As my wife always tells me; "don't borrow trouble" .

[mtrumpet]

dougrainer wrote:
1. Unless you put DIRTY trans fluid in the reservoir, there is no reason to replace the fluid.
2. HOW would you contaminate the fluid? It is a sealed system except for the reservoir fill area
3. Unlike Transmissions and other appliances that have mechanical gear parts that can wear out and get metal shavings in the fluid, JACK systems have NO parts to wear out and contaminate.
4. In almost 30 years of HYD jack systems and working on them, I have never changed out the fluid and have never been asked to change out the fluid. I also, have never seen or had a failure of a jack system and components that was because there was old/dirty/contaminated fluid.
5. Unlike Transmissions and such, there is NO HEAT or anything like that, to break down the Trans fluid.
6.If you want, you can change your fluid, but it is a waste of time and money. To properly change the fluid would require you completely drain the reservoir(easy on a PG system), not so easy on HWH/LCI type system. You then have to get rid of the existing fluid in the lines and in each jack cylinder. PG and HWH cylinders will have a minor amount of fluid. Power down and power up cylinders(LCI and such) will have to have the cylinders purged to remove all old fluid. Doug

Doug beat me to it, but I completely agree. He has covered it all in his excellent post.

[billsenick]

Never on my 2003, since new.

[cbeierl]

Just fyi, for those with HWH jacks/slides, the FAQ on HWH's site says:

44. How often should I change the fluid in my system?
Rarely, only for a possible condensation problem or contamination problem.

[siggyd777]

Oh NO, on electric jacks you need to change the Electrons !!!
Siggy

[dougrainer]

1. Unless you put DIRTY trans fluid in the reservoir, there is no reason to replace the fluid.
2. HOW would you contaminate the fluid? It is a sealed system except for the reservoir fill area
3. Unlike Transmissions and other appliances that have mechanical gear parts that can wear out and get metal shavings in the fluid, JACK systems have NO parts to wear out and contaminate.
4. In almost 30 years of HYD jack systems and working on them, I have never changed out the fluid and have never been asked to change out the fluid. I also, have never seen or had a failure of a jack system and components that was because there was old/dirty/contaminated fluid.
5. Unlike Transmissions and such, there is NO HEAT or anything like that, to break down the Trans fluid.
6.If you want, you can change your fluid, but it is a waste of time and money. To properly change the fluid would require you completely drain the reservoir(easy on a PG system), not so easy on HWH/LCI type system. You then have to get rid of the existing fluid in the lines and in each jack cylinder. PG and HWH cylinders will have a minor amount of fluid. Power down and power up cylinders(LCI and such) will have to have the cylinders purged to remove all old fluid. Doug

[PastorCharlie]

Mine are electric and I change the Ions about every 6 years. 😄

[John_Wayne]

Change mine every 2 years and replace with Mercon V synthetic.

[J-Rooster]

I've changed mine every 5 years!

[Fun_33v]

I change the dextron 111 every two years 5 quarts & it's good to go in my Kwikee 3000 leveling jacks.It's an easy job.

[Trackrig]

Yes, changed mine. When I bought IT, it was seven years old. After reading all sorts of recommendations of what to fill it with which scared me a little on what could be in it, so I changed it.

Bill