If you have been camping in an RV (Class A, B, C or even Fifth Wheels) with a leveling system for any length of time you will undoubtedly run into issues with that system. For me I always thought you couldn’t service the leveling system yourself. You needed a professional to do it for you. What I realized was that most “professionals” didn’t know how to fix them. Well atleast they didn’t sound very confident when they said that could fix them.
I decided to go down the path to learn how they work and whats the best way to fix them. Below are some of top mis-beliefs that I had about the systems in my RV:
- The jacks have to be bled to get the air out of the lines – (Not True)
- The jacks need to be “greased” – (Not True)
- If the jack is slow the spring is worn out – (Sometimes true)
- If the jack won’t retract then the valve must be stuck – (Sometimes true)
What I have learned is that there is an easy way to do some basic troubleshooting of a jack:
- If you have a jack that is stuck and won’t retract – The fast way to resolve the issue is to remove the line – If it doesn’t retract then there is something wrong with the jack and it needs to be serviced. Use a floor jack to help it come up.
- If the jack is slow to retract use WD-40 on it. This creates a problem because the wiper is designed to keep things from getting up into the jack. The WD-40 is only going to attract more dirt. If the jack is slow it would be best to have it serviced. Its probably got debris upside the cylinder which is what happened to mine.
- My jack has a grease fitting on the end should I use my grease gun to “grease” the jack. No use the grease fitting for a light oil possible to force out any debris from past the wiper. But really if you get to this point you may just need to have a hydraulic shop service the jack.
Ultimately our jacks are very simple and there is no need to buy new jacks or used jacks to replace the ones that are on our RV’s. Most hydraulic shops can take these apart and repair them for half of the cost of a new used jack. If you are lucky enough to find a mobile hydraulic repairman he could probably fix the jack issue and service them without even removing them from your RV. Just call around in your local area you might just find some one like Ray. Below is the video explaining how the Leveling Jacks work and what Ray did to fix mine.
Hope you enjoy.