Community Forums

jerry davis · 12-16-2005, 04:13 PM

While in storage, is it better to lower the jacks and level the coach or leave the jacks stored. I have heard that having the jacks constantly under pressure is hard on the internal valves of the hwh system.

jerry davis · 12-16-2005, 04:13 PM

While in storage, is it better to lower the jacks and level the coach or leave the jacks stored. I have heard that having the jacks constantly under pressure is hard on the internal valves of the hwh system.

Tom and Patty · 12-16-2005, 07:43 PM

Hope someone answers this Jerry. I park mine under cover and let the air out and lower the jacks. It is very level and there is not much pressure on the jacks. I figure if I were staying in one place for a week or two the jacks would be down, and my RV spot might not be too level, with more pressure on one or more jacks. So my thought is it should be OK.

SteveS · 12-17-2005, 08:08 AM

Jerry - If you leave the jacks down and heavily loaded for long periods of time there will be a certain amount of internal leakage and the jacks will retract some. In general, most hydraulic systems I a familiar with are left in a store position with pressures released, or at least not heavily loaded. That being said, the slides retracted are loaded so if you want to go by the same rules, you should also release the slide pressure also. Personally, I would leave the jacks up, not because of internal effects of pressure but because it keeps the shaft protected from the environment since it is no longer exposed when retracted. Long exposure to the environment will cause corrosion and pitting, resulting in leaking jacks or even worse.

Cruzer · 12-18-2005, 05:22 PM

I had concerns about pitting as well but when I talked to HWH they said not to worry and just leave them down during storage. If you are still concerned, remember that the best thing is to exercise your coach and genset monthly. In that case you'll be cycling the jacks anyway, which will redistribute the oil. But, the wipers do a good job and I haven't had any oily, or rusted or pitted cylinder. I might rethink this though if I was in a sandstorm area.