Leveling Jacks

[par]

Hi Folks,
We are on our yearly trek from Ontario (Can) to Texas with out 36FL and the front leveling jack on the off-door side drops about 6 inches after driving for 4-5 hours. Anybody have this issue and any suggestions to stop this? I'm afraid it slips down further.
Thanks,
Paul

[jrgkfg]

Look at the two valves in the front compartment and make sure they are both open all the way. If they are you could always close the valve for that side of the trailer and see if the jack still comes down. There could be a check valve that has a bit trash in it and is not closing all the way or a leak some where that is allowing air in that jack. You might get lucky and flush out the check valve after cycling the jacks a few times. Good luck!

[par]

Hi John,
What a coincidence, this is Paul & Anita on the way to BOH!!!
I opened the front compartment and all I see are the 3 valves for the slides. I see a bunch of solenoids but no actual valve I could actuate.
Having said all this, today is the first day it hasn't dropped. Now we have gone through a significant temperature difference in the last 5 days, 30F to 90F in Mt Pleasant TX. I wonder if this could be temperature dependent.
Thanks!
Paul

[travelin' texans]

With all your slides in & jacks up, check the fluid it should within 1/4-1/2" from the fill port when full, may have gotten low & pumping air. Do not add oil with slides/jacks deployed or you'll overfill & have a big mess when you retract.
I add 15w Maxima motorcycle fork oil, this also stops the popping/creaking of the jacks with temperature changes.

[par]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

With all your slides in & jacks up, check the fluid it should within 1/4-1/2" from the fill port when full, may have gotten low & pumping air. Do not add oil with slides/jacks deployed or you'll overfill & have a big mess when you retract.
I add 15w Maxima motorcycle fork oil, this also stops the popping/creaking of the jacks with temperature changes.

I checked it today and added a quart of fork oil that was given to me by Randy at the Redwood repair facility a couple of years ago. I could actually see a fill line on the container when I got inside the compartment. I went about 1/4" above but there is still plenty room before it overflows.
Let's see what happens and thanks for the suggestion!
Paul

[travelin' texans]

Originally Posted by par

I checked it today and added a quart of fork oil that was given to me by Randy at the Redwood repair facility a couple of years ago. I could actually see a fill line on the container when I got inside the compartment. I went about 1/4" above but there is still plenty room before it overflows.
Let's see what happens and thanks for the suggestion!
Paul

Hope you all jacks up & slides in when filling the reservoir? If it was a quart low you may have to operate slides/jacks a few times to work the air out. Hope that cures your problem.

[par]

Yes, I checked it just as we arrived at a campground so all cylinders were in. I will work the jacks tomorrow before leaving.
Thanks again!
Paul

[shrode]

I found this disappointing. While manually operating the side jacks on my 2017 31SL, I got an "Excess Angle" error when I tried to retract them. The only way to get them up was to "Auto Retract" all of the jacks. My expectation was that when in manual mode, I should have full manual control of jacks regardless of the RW angles.

[travelin' texans]

I've had that once, I just manually lowered the opposite side a bit to change the rv angle. In my case I think the system was smarter than me, it was at fairly weird angle.

[shrode]

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

I've had that once, I just manually lowered the opposite side a bit to change the rv angle. In my case I think the system was smarter than me, it was at fairly weird angle.

My problem was that the low side was the side I needed to retract in order to add more boards...I ran out of stroke. The angle was only about -3.5 degrees. I still think manual should mean manual!

[RCAircraft]

Originally Posted by shrode

My problem was that the low side was the side I needed to retract in order to add more boards...I ran out of stroke. The angle was only about -3.5 degrees. I still think manual should mean manual!

I agree. I also ran out of stroke once and was locked out except for the Auto Retract option. As an Auto Retract cycle would lower the nose too close to the ground and possibly bend or damage the generator exhaust pipe or exhaust pipe hanger I placed two 8-ton jacks under the front area frame (one on each side) then hit Auto Retract. Afterwards, I raised the front jacks and removed the jack stands. Those jack stands prevented damage to the gen exhaust. Haven't used them since. If the RV site looks uneven I place stackable RV leveling pads under those jacks that could exceed their available extended stroke. That is not often. Just a lot of stuff to carry for those "just in case" events.