Community Forums

dgerstel · 03-02-2010, 06:32 PM

Yet another opinion!!

On my '02 I had no real issues with this, except for the fact that the jacks had to be, at least started, down to move the main slide. On this coach, which is 5' longer, I have experienced chassis twist. As the photo posted earlier shows, the slide changes its position in the opening when on the jacks. I have not had any sticking problems, jacks up or down, once I lubed the top seal on the slide with powder. Due to the tolerances in building these coaches, I am sure that everyone has different problems with which way their slide operate best, jacks up or down.

The thing that I have found, having the Smart Beds, is that the chassis twists differently, depending on what order the jacks deploy. As all Apex and SE owners know, we always have to make sure that the Smart Bed doesn't hit a slide rail cover when opening, after leveling on the jacks at a new location. HWH may say that their system doesn't twist the chassis, but that is not exactly true.

Renipladlo · 03-02-2010, 07:00 PM

Dealer & Manual:
When arriving at Site: Level the coach, which means dump air, level w/Jacks, then put out the slides.

When Departing Site: We dump tanks, stow shore cord & Fresh water Hose. Then we Retract the Slides, store Jacks, Start Engine, let bags pump up using the fast idle feature on the Smart Wheel (on/off & Resume button), by the time the bags have inflated, we have made our "road ready" checks.

This allows engine to warm up a little before putting a big weight load on those cold parts, and Cummins said fast idle for 3-4 minutes won't hurt it at all. Occasionally my big (DS) slide hangs a bit, but this is attributed to WRV's crappy installation. This is also the slide that leaks when the rain hits it from the correct angle, or the wind is blowing it in.

8 days until over with school and then I will be a certified RV Technician – YESSSSSSSS!!!
Alpine owners get discount, gray hair helps too!!

azloafer · 03-03-2010, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by azloafer

Thanks, I am going to copy this to a word document and save it; pending what Freight liner says, I'll be able to make a decision. I'll post their answer. Thanks for the info. Joe

There is no actual switch marked "air Dump" in my
coach, BUT there is a way to do it. This is from
Freightliner:

You have no air dump switch, but your suspension
has an auto dump that works in conjunction with your
jack system. It is not imperative to dump the air bags
for storage or parking because the coach will settle
on its own. On the other hand, If you feel that you
want to dump it you can always manually lower the
jacks “just enough” to activate the bags to dump.

Nice that they responded so fast. Joe

robbstein · 03-03-2010, 05:04 PM

I'm not sure what your coach manual says, but my Winnebago manual says level first (which includes the auto dump) then slides, with reverse for the road, slides than jacks.

With the HWH system you can hit the road as soon as they store and the last red light goes out. If the system hasn't completely cycled yet (about 7 minutes), once you start the engine, power on the slide control and hit store. The system will complete the cycle and shut off as you go down the road.

azloafer · 03-03-2010, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbstein

I'm not sure what your coach manual says, but my Winnebago manual says level first (which includes the auto dump) then slides, with reverse for the road, slides than jacks.

With the HWH system you can hit the road as soon as they store and the last red light goes out. If the system hasn't completely cycled yet (about 7 minutes), once you start the engine, power on the slide control and hit store. The system will complete the cycle and shut off as you go down the road.

That's what I do. I also have a window open when moving slides in or out to relieve the air pressure on the windshield. You have probably seen several posts about that. Joe