Are Leveling jacks useful?

IMPULSE DRIVEN · 07-18-2011, 03:06 PM

I was pondering leveling jacks and wondered if they were useful on my rig or not.

wildtoad · 07-18-2011, 03:10 PM

Don't know the size of your mh but I have had mh's with and without leveling jacks and would not buy another one that did not have them. If the campsite is close to level, you back in, set the brake, and use the buttons or levers to level and stabalize. Of course if you have severe inclines you may still need to get out some leveling boards/blocks but the levelers make most days a bit easier.

4Knights · 07-18-2011, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildtoad

Don't know the size of your mh but I have had mh's with and without leveling jacks and would not buy another one that did not have them. If the campsite is close to level, you back in, set the brake, and use the buttons or levers to level and stabalize. Of course if you have severe inclines you may still need to get out some leveling boards/blocks but the levelers make most days a bit easier.

X2. Wouldn't buy a coach without them.

Possum · 07-18-2011, 03:57 PM

X3 ditto

NITEHAWK · 07-18-2011, 04:05 PM

On our class "C" Georgie Boy we didn't have leveling jacks so we had to dedicate one whole compartment to ramp boards. I firmly believe not having jacks contributed to the tranny failures as I had to rev the H__L out of the engine in order to climb up on the boards.
Our class "A" has jacks. Last winter, in Texas, a 5er owner came across the road and lamented that I had it too easy compared to the 5ers. All I had to do was push buttons and then go to the dump station. Upon returning just push a button to level. He said:"Do you have any idea what we have to go to to do a dump?" I replied yes, as we had owned two 5ers and a class "C"

GET IT WITH JACKS!!!!

num1dgh · 07-18-2011, 04:50 PM

Park in a spot that is not level and spend all night shoving your mate back to his/her side of the bed.

Nuff said. Gotta have jacks or airbags to level!

IMPULSE DRIVEN · 07-18-2011, 05:04 PM

Mine is a class C and they don't come with leveling jacks, but I was wondering if there was any advantage to buying those jacks used on trailers.

4Knights · 07-18-2011, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLIGHTSIMMER

Mine is a class C and they don't come with leveling jacks, but I was wondering if there was any advantage to buying those jacks used on trailers.

The only advantage over not having anything else would the trailer type might control some of the movement when walking around or going in or out of the coach. They are basically stabilizing jacks not intended for leveling.

IMPULSE DRIVEN · 07-18-2011, 06:28 PM

I do have airbags for the rear axles, but I doubet they would be any help for leveling.

frankdamp · 07-18-2011, 08:04 PM

My research indicates that Class C buyers don't usually specify levellers. Most of the used ones we looked at last year were not equipped with them.

Our signature rig has 4 levellers and having had them, I wouldn't want a MH without them. The "automatic" feature is a pain in the tush, except the "retract all" feature. I found that automatic levelling raises all four corners way too high, to the point that you need steps to reach the steps!

I put my rig on jacks when stored in the driveway alongside the garage for the winter. I contacted the system manufacturer about doing that and they said it was a good idea as long as you kept the piston rods clean and wiped down with a rust preventative. They said that you should wipe them down about every two weeks unless you lived "close to saltwater". I was a bit surprised to find that they define "close" as being within 60 miles, as I'm within about 60 yards (across the street at the end of our neighbors' yards).

OldChief7155 · 07-19-2011, 05:19 PM

Trailers usually have stabilizer jacks, NOT to be confused with leveling jacks. Not having levelers would be a deal breaker for me.

HappyCamper2 · 07-19-2011, 05:25 PM

Been with and without. Agree not having levelers would be a no go. Look for a reputable RV dealer and have them installed if you don't already have them. In Arizona we use Little Dealer Little Prices.

Have a great day!

Luv2go · 07-19-2011, 05:35 PM

We had the manual Bal scissors jacks on our Class C, they were very useful on non-level sites. They would lift the front wheels off the ground, but that took a lot of elbow grease

. On current our Class A, we have electric levelers and we would not be without them.

We also put supplemental airbags with in-cab controls on all 4 axle ends of both coaches, they are useful only for a couple of inches of lift, which does not translate to enough degrees of non-level at the fridge to make it useful, at least for our Class A. They do work very well side to side, though, we can be about 3" off level and the bags level us right up!