Community Forums

Dav5942 · 08-02-2007, 05:23 PM

For anyone interested in ordering the electric jacks on their new coach-forget it! If they fail in the down position and the failure is due to a component failure other than the motor the only way to retract them is to remove them! If you are parked on a hard surface-good luck-you can dig a hole a foot deep or jack up the coach a foot. Just dug the hole at the Russian River in Alaska(fortunately dirt underneath)-now awaitng for the new jack from Atwood. The electric jacks are another cost reduction by Newmar(and other manufacturers) that does not work!!!

Dav5942 · 08-02-2007, 05:23 PM

For anyone interested in ordering the electric jacks on their new coach-forget it! If they fail in the down position and the failure is due to a component failure other than the motor the only way to retract them is to remove them! If you are parked on a hard surface-good luck-you can dig a hole a foot deep or jack up the coach a foot. Just dug the hole at the Russian River in Alaska(fortunately dirt underneath)-now awaitng for the new jack from Atwood. The electric jacks are another cost reduction by Newmar(and other manufacturers) that does not work!!!

"007" · 08-02-2007, 06:14 PM

You can't even power them up with a 12v jumper wire,

thats a bummer.

Hope your trip is going well, other wise

, was in those parts you have been visiting lately, back in the 50's. Stay safe.

Oemtech · 08-03-2007, 06:17 AM

I hijacked your comments to ad to a thread over in the Winnebago area. It seems that Winne is looking at electric jacks also.

jjbsmith · 08-04-2007, 05:15 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dav5942:
For anyone interested in ordering the electric jacks on their new coach-forget it! If they fail in the down position and the failure is due to a component failure other than the motor the only way to retract them is to remove them! If you are parked on a hard surface-good luck-you can dig a hole a foot deep or jack up the coach a foot. Just dug the hole at the Russian River in Alaska(fortunately dirt underneath)-now awaitng for the new jack from Atwood. The electric jacks are another cost reduction by Newmar(and other manufacturers) that does not work!!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Wow! I wonder what CoachCare would have done. Our Level Legs jacks failed on day two of or first trip. We wrote down the events because they were so bizzar. We were lucky they failed in the up position. I don't envy you having to dig your way out.
Our Level Legs failure went like this.
"When we attempted to use the Level Legs alarms went off and the Level Legs keypad flashed continuously. Unfortunately the suspension air had dumped and the legs had not deployed. We figured it was tow-truck time again so we attempted to drive the unit a short distance to a level spot in the farmyard. To our surprise when the park brake was released the air suspension lifted the unit back to normal ride height but again unfortunately every time we applied the service brakes there was a horrible ratcheting sound from the Level Legs. We figured that the legs were attempting to retract while in the fully retracted position. The ratcheting sound is probably a slip clutch. After a bit of maneuvering all the alarms stopped and the ratcheting sound stopped. The instructions indicate that if the Level Legs are retracted 9 times in less than 30 minutes the system will shut down. My guess is that I must have applied the service brakes 9 times. The Level Leg system must have shut down saving us from a 100-mile tow-truck ride. Unfortunately the Level Leg problems had seriously compromised our family reunion. Frustrated we decided to continue the vacation without the Level Legs."
I hope you can continue with your vacation.

socal114 · 08-07-2007, 03:19 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dav5942:
For anyone interested in ordering the electric jacks on their new coach-forget it! If they fail in the down position and the failure is due to a component failure other than the motor the only way to retract them is to remove them! If you are parked on a hard surface-good luck-you can dig a hole a foot deep or jack up the coach a foot. Just dug the hole at the Russian River in Alaska(fortunately dirt underneath)-now awaitng for the new jack from Atwood. The electric jacks are another cost reduction by Newmar(and other manufacturers) that does not work!!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Problem is I don't even think hydraulics are offered as an option...I am getting ready to order an 08 Ventana and had concerns about the electric jacks.

"007" · 08-07-2007, 06:06 PM

A thought about the electric jacks what causes the jacks to go up and down

a reversal of the battery and ground to motor of jack from the control unit. I thought I read some where that someone applied 12v to plug of jack to retrack his jack. He didn't say he reversed polarity so just wondering if it would make a difference doing the reversal.

Dav5942 · 08-08-2007, 02:17 PM

If the gears/rods break they jam up and there is no way to move up or down unless you disassemble the entire jack(if its only the motor that fails you can retract the jack with a wrench-500 turns per inch-about 3000 revolutions if fully extended). Disassembly is about impossible without removing the jack-which is what Atwood recommends since they replace the entire jack.

Just put the new one in here in Anchorage the authorized Atwood dealer(nice people,also Newmar service only dealer) was of no help-so installed it myself. With the new jack retracted we were able to raise the rear about four inches using two by eights in order to get enuough clearance.

Have questioned both Newmar and Atwood on why it failed and how to remove when over a hard surface-no reply!

Forget Coach Net as all they did was refer us to the nearest dealer-which was far easier to do thru Atwood.

Would definitely recommend hydraulic jacks unless someone has heard of a reason why they also would not retract.

Also you must locate the control box which both Atwood and Newmar were unable to help with, and unplug the six pin plug-otherwise your other three jacks will continue to rachet intermitently forever(this info is NOT in the manual and took four phone calls to confirm).

Hope any future failures are not over a hard surface.

We also had to remove the mud flap(rear) and bend the aluminum superstructure(breaking the weld) to provide enough clearance for the jack removal.

Sorry to ramble on-but thought it was worth it-as we will not be recommending electric jacks unless a design change is made to allow for easy removal/retracton.

"007" · 08-08-2007, 03:49 PM

Thanks Dave for the info, for all the problems maybe with HWH at least you could force them to retrack.
Have a good trip the rest of the way.

jjbsmith · 08-08-2007, 06:42 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dav5942:
Also you must locate the control box which both Atwood and Newmar were unable to help with, and unplug the six pin plug-otherwise your other three jacks will continue to rachet intermitently forever(this info is NOT in the manual and took four phone calls to confirm).
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dave, where did you find the contol box? My jacks are retracted and we are afraid to use them because they wigged out on us at the begining of our holiday (jacks attemted to retract every time we applied the service brakes). We are home now and I am taking the unit to my dealer in Sept. I'm sure my dealer might like a heads up on the location of the control box. I also have a Newmar Allstar so the control box is likely in the same spot.

Dav5942 · 08-08-2007, 07:39 PM

Bob, Our control box is located in the front driver side fuse compartment at the top. The six pin connector is the 2nd one from the left.

jjbsmith · 08-09-2007, 04:38 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dav5942:
your other three jacks will continue to rachet intermitently forever </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dave, thanks for the photos. I will show them to the RV tech before he attempts to deploy my jacks.
Did your jacks attempt to retract every time you applied the service brakes?
When did your jacks attempt to retract? After you removed the broken jack? or before you removed the broken jack?
Sorry to bother on your Alaska vacation.
Thanks

Dav5942 · 08-09-2007, 07:06 AM

Bob, had no problems until the jack broke. Without it being retracted the system kept ratcheting the other three jacks. PS-we are on a permanent vacation-no problem responding as long as we have internet.

Brentage · 12-07-2008, 05:54 PM

I'm having a problem with my Atwood Levellegs and I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar symptom. It seems that my two rear legs stop the moment that they hit the ground and immediately think that they are fully extended. there is no leveling at all. I've been told that the warranty won't extend to me as I am the second owner and for some reason the warranty is non-transferrable.

If I can't get this fixed for a reasonable amount I'll look in to replacing these over-priced bolts with some HWH levelers. Has anyone had any experience with this?

sorry for the rambling nature of this post, but I'm a bit confused.

thanks