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?

[DSDP_Don]

The levelers use needle valves to control the fluid when the jacks are operating. When the jacks are down and under pressure, the needle valves are seated/closed. If they start getting dirt in them, the dirt can prevent the needle vales from holding fluid and the jacks can pop and drop every so often.

I had Ramco jacks on my Monaco and like a lot of jacks there was a poor design for venting which usually splashed out fluid over time. Which means some dirt might be getting in. I had the issue with my front jack dropping a 1/4" every few hours when I had the front end really lifted. I took a turkey baster and removed as much fluid as I could and then added it new. It helped the situation.

With that said, some of these change intervals can be a little quick. If you decide to do it, you could probably wait another year or two.

[tropical36]

JerryofWV wrote:
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?

I have no plans to do so and other than adding and draining a little from an overfill, it might have never been done since built. Having said that, the rig does have one new jack, so hard to tell when that was replaced, since we did buy it used, back in 07.