Community Forums

GaryG · 08-31-2007, 02:27 AM

I store my motorhome for 3-4 weeks at a time between outings. Is it better to level the coach with the hydrolic jacks or keep them up?
Thanks

2007 Fleetwood Revolution 40E
2007 Honda CRV toad

GaryG · 08-31-2007, 02:27 AM

I store my motorhome for 3-4 weeks at a time between outings. Is it better to level the coach with the hydrolic jacks or keep them up?
Thanks

2007 Fleetwood Revolution 40E
2007 Honda CRV toad

GaryKD · 08-31-2007, 02:32 AM

This choice is all personal preference. It matters not which you choose. From one Floridian Gary to another, I'd store the coach with jacks up.

An example of each method is:
1. Each year millions of coaches are "stored" for months, with their jacks down, without any problems. This happens when snow birds park at their winter CG and never move.

2. Millions of RVs are stored each year with jacks up and there is no damage to tires.

GaryG · 08-31-2007, 05:35 AM

Thanks gary, I never thought about all the snowbirds.

AFChap · 08-31-2007, 04:56 PM

My chassis mfg (Spartan) and my leveling jacks mfg (HWH) recommend storing with jacks down.

I'm not sure how we can say storing with jacks up "and there is no damage to tires." Tire damage would be mostly invisible (unlike jack damage), and there are thousands of RV blowouts each year, so who's to say that isn't part of the cause. Based on tire mfg recommendations, there is more likely to be tire damage than not in a storage situation with full vehicle weight left on the tires.

DriVer · 08-31-2007, 05:26 PM

According to the Michelin rep I spoke with in Perry, GA this year at the FMCA International Rally he suggested that taking weight off of your tires in extended storage is the next best thing other than periodically moving the motorhome. Sitting in one spot for extended periods of time does weird things to the belts and sidewalls. He suggested that premature failures can be attributed to tires being allowed to sit idle with a load directed on the small contact patch with the ground.

Folks that store vehicles for really long times will remove practically all the weight off of the tires.

You can always use your HWH jacks to raise the vehicle (carefully) and then place a jack stand on the frame.