Update on Lippert Jacks

[garyemunson]

Over a year ago Lippert finally sent me new levelling jacks after several years of my nonstop whining about the "popping" noises they would make, especially in colder weather. Looking back, I'd probably feel justified paying for new jacks if I had one out of warranty that was doing that. There was obviously something very wrong with Lippert's jacks for several years and they have now fixed it. The endless game of putting in "fork oil" or "cat oil" was just a stall that they hoped would kill enough time that people would just give up. As I had complained from day one with ours, they finally relented even though the warranty was long expired. New jacks continue to be quiet as a mouse. There was obviously something very wrong with either the inside finish of the jacks or the composition of the seal material to have caused that extreme "stiction" issue. I'm pretty sure by now none of the new RVs have this issue.

[maillemaker]

The flip-down HWH jacks in my 1990 Winnebago are silent once deployed.

Steve

[garyemunson]

My replacement jacks are proof that it was some sort of manufacturing screwup since the new ones are indistinguishable from the old except for the lack of noise.

[Ralph_Cramden]

suprz wrote:

Ralph Cramden wrote:

garyemunson wrote:
Any Lippert jack making noise is one of the bad ones.

IMO anything made by, distributed by, or associated with Lippert is a bad one. What sucks is with RV's it's next to impossible to get away from Lippert.

That is a true statement! They have bought a LOT of other companies making rv products!

Dam right it's true. Make it as cheaply as possible, make it and any repair parts as proprietary as possible, then price those parts way more than they're worth or just make them not available, so one has to buy the entire product at some inflated price.

Personally I can't wait for the next big industry downturn just to watch Lippert implode. They're a big part of the issue with the quality of newer RV's in general.

[suprz]

Ralph Cramden wrote:

garyemunson wrote:
Any Lippert jack making noise is one of the bad ones.

IMO anything made by, distributed by, or associated with Lippert is a bad one. What sucks is with RV's it's next to impossible to get away from Lippert.

That is a true statement! They have bought a LOT of other companies making rv products!

[Ralph_Cramden]

garyemunson wrote:
Any Lippert jack making noise is one of the bad ones.

IMO anything made by, distributed by, or associated with Lippert is a bad one. What sucks is with RV's it's next to impossible to get away from Lippert.

[garyemunson]

Another symptom the new jacks corrected was when breaking camp and retracting the jacks, the "sticky" ones would cause a jarring drop on retraction, feeling like almost all pressure had to be released before the jacks would start to retract. There was also a "squealing" noise as they retracted (or extended). What really stepped up my complaining was a friend bought a new Coachman and when we'd go camping together and we'd be sitting outside, you'd hear our jacks popping and his were silent (and the exact same make/model jacks). You could hear ours from INSIDE his coach they were so noisy. Any Lippert jack making noise is one of the bad ones.

[garyemunson]

My original jacks were horribly noisy. The replacements are silent. Lippert knows about it and has fixed it. My RV is a Winne Class A (you could have looked in my profile) but any brand using Lipperts from about 2014-16 seem to often have the problem. Earlier ones are quiet as are later builds. "Stiction" is a known problem for hydrauic cylinders in many different applications. Even had it on some hydraulic elevators I had to fix (retired elevator tech here). Back in the 70's Pennzoil sold an additive (lubrizol) that would help for a while. We'd dump it in elevator oil tanks by the 5 gallon bucket. I'm sure in my case the problem was caused by the oil expanding and contracting with temperature and the pistons not being able to move back and forth in response without making a racket. Putting something on the outside of the piston is futile as what makes the noise is the interior seal that rides inside the cylinder.

[maddog348]

My Lippert jacks are very quiet. They are sitting in 'storage'

[RLS7201]

It's not the nature of the beasts. My 1997 HWH jacks don't make popping noises. And they are now 22 years old.

Richard

[ChuckSteed]

Any hydraulic strut is going to make popping noises thru the course of a day reacting to temp and weight changes...

Mine have done this since 2014 and every new 2018 and 2019 that I’ve read posts on still does and still will

It’s the nature of the beast...Stand around any kind of aircraft and you will hear the struts move a bit reacting to temps changes

No leaks is what your looking for...

[Cummins12V98]

Listing what RV you have would be nice!

[garyemunson]

The chemical "fixes" always worked but only for a short period of time.