Jacking for tire change??

[speedjester]

How do you jack up one of these MH.. There is no Jack and no really accessible jacking points.. Can you use the leveling system to replace a Tire and do brake work??

[Witch Doctor]

It depends on your system. If you have the big foot or ground control NO, If you have the level up yes you can. I do not have a MH but I think yours is called the Big Foot system. The level up is the only one per there advertisement and it's shows it in there CD they give you. It compares all there systems features and which each can do or can't. Atleast by there recommendations.

[Ford Idaho]

You do know that the torque is in the 160 foot pound range or higher.
You will need an impact wrench that can put that out.

Jacking the MH up is the easy part changing out a set of dual tires, not so easy.

At any rate the jack should go under the axle along with a jack stand for safety.

[speedjester]

I'm not planning on doing it myself.. Just wondering what is done in a tire changeout situation..I asked dealer about jacking points and he said they use leveling system... My rv inspector told me that's a no no..Then I was talking to a guy with a new Georgetown and he told me he had a recent tire change..and the guy that came out used his Leveling system to raise the tire..just want to know what to expect..

[Ford Idaho]

I see, I guess it would depend on the tire service tech and you.
Odds are you will have to wait in the event of a flat on the road so you will have time to deploy the level system if you want to.

At a shop they may use a jack for speed and safety or they will use the level system so they do not need to bring out a jack and stand, again this depends on the tire service and you.

If it was me I would prefer the jack and a stand.

[harderd]

That would have to be one heck of a jack!

[Ford Idaho]

A 20 ton floor jack under the pumpkin would lift the whole back end off the ground with ease.

[Witch Doctor]

It's your MH and for what you paid and what the cost would be for damamge I wouldn't allow them to do it. Dealers will do anything to make it easy. Also a repair service would have a jack to lift it. This is from Lippard.

[Campin Cajun]

The consensus is not to use the leveling system to lift the coach, but I see at least one coach in every campground we go to on a site with either the front or rear wheels off the ground.

So, I guess what I am saying is, it can be done, but it is not recommended.

[Iggy]

The levelers on my 2014 Georgetown is rated at 8,000 lbs each.
For just changing a tire is no biggy. I would try and put some wood under the jacks front or rear whichever tire you plan to change and go into manual mode and raise the front or rears as needed.
I can't understand why you all say it can't be done for a short period to change a tire unless you have a leaking hydraulic system which is another problem.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by Campin Cajun

The consensus is not to use the leveling system to lift the coach, but I see at least one coach in every campground we go to on a site with either the front or rear wheels off the ground.

So, I guess what I am saying is, it can be done, but it is not recommended.

I see that all the time to. I do not understand there thinking, If your wheels need to lifted off the ground, why don't they put blocks under it then let the pressure off the system?

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by Iggy

The levelers on my 2014 Georgetown is rated at 8,000 lbs each.
For just changing a tire is no biggy. I would try and put some wood under the jacks front or rear whichever tire you plan to change and go into manual mode and raise the front or rears as needed.
I can't understand why you all say it can't be done for a short period to change a tire unless you have a leaking hydraulic system which is another problem.

I understand your point, but I'm not saying it lippert is. In fact when lippart put new breaks and hubs on my unit at the rally they used it to pick the unit up enough to put stands under it then let them off.

[Ford Idaho]

Originally Posted by gljurczyk

I understand your point, but I'm not saying it lippert is. In fact when lippart put new breaks and hubs on my unit at the rally they used it to pick the unit up enough to put stands under it then let them off.

Not the first case of "Do as we say, not as we do" from a manufacture.

I guess as a temporary use such as what you posted would be okay but I would be uneasy with it.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally Posted by Ford Idaho

Not the first case of "Do as we say, not as we do" from a manufacture.

I guess as a temporary use such as what you posted would be okay but I would be uneasy with it.

Your correct, you can twist a light weight frame or any frame pretty easy, then you are talking big bucks. I had my unit serviced at a dealer and he said a piece of cake he has jacks where is the control panel, I said no you don't, go get a floor jack.

[Campin Cajun]

And just for comparison, I saw two Newmar Mountain Aires at a campground lift their front wheels off the ground while set up. I did notice that the hydraulic rams are 3 times the size of mine.

I believe they have the HWH systems also.

[chrisbailey13]

Originally Posted by gljurczyk

I see that all the time to. I do not understand there thinking, If your wheels need to lifted off the ground, why don't they put blocks under it then let the pressure off the system?

I have been at more than one CG where my MH has had to have the front wheels off the ground to make it close to level. Because the GT's don't have air bags in the rear, sometimes the front Jacks have to be extended to that point just to get level.

I was at one CG that was so bad, I had to ask the host for a new site because my front jacks ran out of lift before the coach was level.

Seems like I remember reading in one of the books that came with the Coach that they DO NOT recommend using the leveling jacks for maintenance on the vehicle.

[speedjester]

I wonder if they don't recommend the use for maintenance because of the liability... There is no safety redundancy if one of the lifting jacks happens to fail...I mean if you don't have a jack what are the chances your going to have the right size jack stand...

To be honest I'm not sure I would trust a 3 or 20ton jack that some tow truck operator has rolling around in the back of his truck for the last 3 yrs...I have seen tow truck operators throw jacks on the ground and proceed to change a tire...while stopping every few minutes to jack the car back up because the jack was leaking and letting the car come down..Plus the idea of jacking 10tons up off the Pumpkin is another Story... Seen a few of them buckle/dent under the weight....I would like to see all that weight spread out over a bigger area...or several points of contact....

[speedjester]

Quick question...Has anyone ever experienced/or know of a catastrophic failure of the leveling system that dropped the Rv..

[Jim Sullivan]

When we had a tire issue on the road, and again when we had the wheels balanced, the levelers were used the raise the unit. To avoid torquing of the frame or other issues, the entire front was raised evenly, not just one wheel.

That was on a 335.