Class A without leveling jacks?

[trailerbob]

First, I'm a Long time lurker and learned so much from the experts here on this site. Thanks to all!!!
We have been thinking about moving from a TT to either a used class c or class a in the 29-30 foot range. We went looking around today again to get a feel of which would suit us better used To make a long story short we know that most class c's I've seen don't have leveling jacks but today we ran across a 30ft Class a without leveling jacks. Really nice 2012 Windstar 29X. Appears to be a version of a Thor Hurricane. I've never seen a class a without jacks.
Couple of questions---
1. How common is this?
2. How big of a deal is it in a class a or c. I know my 24 ft. TT rocks and rolls pretty good at times.
3. Any ideas about retrofit?
4. Any comments, experience on a Class A Windstar 29X?

Your words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

[Dutch_12078]

tropical36 wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:

tropical36 wrote:

Adding such, is cost prohibitive, no matter how you do it, so best to forget that idea.

I added levelers on my Bounder so did not consider that to be cost prohibitive. I haven't checked it out but I don't think the difference between factory and add on cost is too extreme.
bumpy

Yeah, but if you're looking to buy, don't you think you'd be much better off, with just getting one, that already has them factory installed?
What kind of money, you talking, by the way?

I agree with getting them as original equipment if possible. But if a unit otherwise fits your needs, and the price is reasonable even factoring in another $2-4,000 for an aftermarket installation, then go for it. No jacks would not be a deal breaker for me in that situation, and weren't on a previous motorhome. I just installed them after the purchase.

[Bumpyroad]

tropical36 wrote:

Yeah, but if you're looking to buy, don't you think you'd be much better off, with just getting one, that already has them factory installed?
What kind of money, you talking, by the way?

I agree 100%. get factory if feasible/available. if there is a good deal on one without factor the cost into the deal.
bumpy

[tropical36]

Bumpyroad wrote:

tropical36 wrote:

Adding such, is cost prohibitive, no matter how you do it, so best to forget that idea.

I added levelers on my Bounder so did not consider that to be cost prohibitive. I haven't checked it out but I don't think the difference between factory and add on cost is too extreme.
bumpy

Yeah, but if you're looking to buy, don't you think you'd be much better off, with just getting one, that already has them factory installed?
What kind of money, you talking, by the way?

[Bumpyroad]

tropical36 wrote:

Adding such, is cost prohibitive, no matter how you do it, so best to forget that idea.

I added levelers on my Bounder so did not consider that to be cost prohibitive. I haven't checked it out but I don't think the difference between factory and add on cost is too extreme.
bumpy

[tropical36]

trailerbob wrote:
First, I'm a Long time lurker and learned so much from the experts here on this site. Thanks to all!!!
We have been thinking about moving from a TT to either a used class c or class a in the 29-30 foot range. We went looking around today again to get a feel of which would suit us better used To make a long story short we know that most class c's I've seen don't have leveling jacks but today we ran across a 30ft Class a without leveling jacks. Really nice 2012 Windstar 29X. Appears to be a version of a Thor Hurricane. I've never seen a class a without jacks.
Couple of questions---
1. How common is this?
2. How big of a deal is it in a class a or c. I know my 24 ft. TT rocks and rolls pretty good at times.
3. Any ideas about retrofit?
4. Any comments, experience on a Class A Windstar 29X?

Your words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

It used to be quite common for a class A not to have any. Now it's very uncommon, unless very high end and with air levelers only.
Levelers are needed as well as at least one slide room to make your purchase worthwhile and both are most always deal breakers for the majority.
Adding such, is cost prohibitive, no matter how you do it, so best to forget that idea.

[mike_brez]

RVER wrote:
PERSONALLY I would not buy anything THOR and THOR owns lots of other companies like Jayco and Keystone among others but 5 or so years ago they were separate companies and many were great companies but since being bought by THOR people seem to complain a lot about quality of build and bad customer service so do your research and ask and ask people with that unit you want. PERSONALLY I would not buy an A without leveling jacks!!

Thor owns Entegra and have not herd many complaints and are great looking rigs.

[RVER]

PERSONALLY I would not buy anything THOR and THOR owns lots of other companies like Jayco and Keystone among others but 5 or so years ago they were separate companies and many were great companies but since being bought by THOR people seem to complain a lot about quality of build and bad customer service so do your research and ask and ask people with that unit you want. PERSONALLY I would not buy an A without leveling jacks!!

[rgatijnet1]

Keep in mind when buying a used coach that RVA hydraulic jacks are no longer supported by the company. The RVA company shut down this year and their webpage has been removed.
Using the wayback machine, here is the last web page for RVA jacks: RVA jacks

[Cranemec]

dougrainer wrote:

Blaster Man wrote:
I'm not positive, but I think you'll find the some of the lower end coaches do not have jacks, and some of the very high end coaches also do not have jacks....Newell, Foretravel, etc. Most of those in the middle do have jacks. My guess is that those high end coaches have a very good air system, thus no jacks.

The high end coaches do indeed have leveling systems. But, you guessed it. They are AIR LEVELING. They also have Air/Hydraulic combined systems also.

Correct that Newells do not have hyd jacks, they use the airbags to level.
Our American Coach has dual air/hyd leveling, it's a great feature that I can use either.

[Chum_lee]

My 30' class A does not have leveling jacks and since I don't have them, I have learned to live without them. I use blocks, but, I have no bias either way. If my current unit had jacks, I would surely use them. That said, I have a few comments. When boon docking, (which I like) I prefer slightly elevated level sites if I can find them. I have found that sites that require excessive leveling are often not good campsites for me because of excessive drainage issues, rock outcrops, off camber exterior space, etc. Parking on a slope also causes entry/exit issues from the main door in that it may be off the ground considerably due to the slope. (nothing a portable stair step won't solve) It can be an issue if you have mobility issues with stairs and need a railing.

Like slides, (which I don't have either, but would use if I did) jacks must retract in order to get underway. Several times now, I have seen otherwise perfectly good RV's that were stuck where they were because the slides/jacks wouldn't retract. Without any mechanical aptitude, the party was stuck until they found someone (with parts if necessary) to help them. Not the end of the world but something to consider. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes not.

Chum lee

[maddog348]

I am no longer AFRAID to drive my coach. HAVE blocks ~ Levelers in a secure dry environment. REMOVED after several years problems and a 6 month run around. Do appreciate ALL help from forum to all my ??s. May try levelers again at sometine ~ BUT ~ not for a while. See "UPDATE" below for brief history.

"UPDATE" last entry as of Jan 4, 2018

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.

[fyrflie]

Bought my 2001 Fleetwood Flair 32’ without jacks.
However, the brackets were already welded to the frame and adding them several years later was fairly simple.
If it were me, I would try to negotiate the price down to compensate for no jacks.
Once you have jacks, you’ll never go back.

[dougrainer]

Blaster Man wrote:
I'm not positive, but I think you'll find the some of the lower end coaches do not have jacks, and some of the very high end coaches also do not have jacks....Newell, Foretravel, etc. Most of those in the middle do have jacks. My guess is that those high end coaches have a very good air system, thus no jacks.

The high end coaches do indeed have leveling systems. But, you guessed it. They are AIR LEVELING. They also have Air/Hydraulic combined systems also.

[Johno02]

Our first RV, a Huricane class A, came without, but either the dealer or the first owner had them installed at the initial purchase. We traded later to a gulfstream 30' class A with factory installed jacks. Would not have one without jacks. We have watched to many others, 5ers. Cs and others trying to level and get set up too many times. We loved our Hurricane, even though it was entry-level, we were too, so it was a good fit!