Electric vs. Hydraulic

[DKRITTER]

We are looking at Cedar Creek 5th Wheels and another brand and one thing I noticed was the CC had hydraulic slides and leveling systems.

The other brand uses electric to achieve the same purpose.

Why would one be better than the other?

[iceblaze580]

I have the electric on my 5th wheel I'm sorta happy with it a friend of mine has the hydraulic leveling system on his. I think the hydraulic is faster and stronger both systems have pros and cons

[Sterlingsilver]

X2 Hydraulic is much faster.

[arpipeliner]

I would say hyd. Only one pump and I know hyd are strong.

Just guessing the electric would have to have a motor on each jack to level. To me that would mean six motors and gear packs. I could be wrong, have know experience with electric.

Everyone that I have met loves the auto level. All have been hyd.


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[Gitiup]

Hydraulic IMO is the way to go.

[danno2u]

On my XLR, I had three electric slides and electric landing gear. Each slide used a different type of motor to drive it in & out. I had to have one of the slide motors replaced (a schwintek slide) and I had two relatively minor problems with the electric landing gear -- the interconnect broke between landing gear and there was an electric short in a connection. All issues were fixed under warranty.


On my Cedar Creek Silverback, I have hydraulic slides and hydraulic level up. The system has worked great. I much prefer the hydraulic now that I have had both types.

[Jim34RL]

Originally Posted by DKRITTER

We are looking at Cedar Creek 5th Wheels and another brand and one thing I noticed was the CC had hydraulic slides and leveling systems.

The other brand uses electric to achieve the same purpose.

Why would one be better than the other?

I was almost already to purchase a brand new Jayco Pinnacle 5th wheel in Feb 2015. In discussing the unit with the salesman, I found out each leveling leg was electrically driven vs hydraulically driven. I asked why and the salesman explained that Jayco did not use hydraulics because as far as Jayco was concerned electrically driven components were more reliably.

As a retired design engineer who dealt with electrical over hydraulic components every day at work I informed him that I did not see it that way. We always had more issues with the electrical side than the hydraulic side of the system. Loose connectors, corrosion of the electrical terminals, power surge failures and broken wires due to flexing when the component was moved and so forth.

Will we did not purchase the Jayco because of the electrically driven components. We went with the Cedar Creek model.

[ependydad]

The one thing I like about electric over hydraulic is that with electric, you have separate switches for each slide. Unless extra plumbing is added for hydraulic, I think most of the time- you don't have control over which slides go out and the order that they do.

(But, that's just been forum reading and I could be wrong.)

[ttanous]

CC hydraulic slides each have an individual switch. I use them all the time when I want a particular slide to go out or in. I personally would not buy a coach with electric jacks. That to me is the cheap way out. My 2015 are very very easy to turn. 1/2 turn for off or on and they are very smooth. My last coach 2008 had hydraulic slides with switches from keystone and the switches had been a little harder. I have actually not seen a coach with hydraulics that could not be switched.

[Sterlingsilver]

Part of the issue is simply cost. Higher end trailers are almost always Hydraulic because that's what buyers want. An exception is the electric Schwyntech which is desirable for sldeouts in the bedroom or where space inside the slide is at a premium.

[Kenz]

My coach has one switch that operates both hydraulic slides at once. I can see the benefit of hydro levelers, but as of now I prefer electric slides.

[DKRITTER]

Thanks everyone, we bought a 36CKTS yesterday afternoon.

We are moving from a TT to this 5th wheel, now I have a few days to figure out what I don't know. Guess what my biggest question is... Hydraulics I know very little about it so a little insight would be greatly appreciated.

I have had stabilizers on all my TT's but never the Level Up system it sounds fairly straight up but I'm concerned about tweeking it if needed.

The slides also sound simple, I have found the isolaters, what is it I need to know?

[Sterlingsilver]

Don't mean to be blunt but reading the instructions will go a long way. If you need help understanding what you read, we are here for you. The Level Up is really a 3 point balancing system. The jacks work in 3 pairs, front , left back and right back. The system lowers jacks to get a reference point, then works to get side to side right and then works the front landing jacks to get front to back. If it thinks it's OK and you see that it's off, you can manually adjust it and tell it to re-calibrate. It's not perfect but it's pretty good if you are not camping on some cockeyed terrain.

[DKRITTER]

Originally Posted by Sterlingsilver

Don't mean to be blunt but reading the instructions will go a long way. If you need help understanding what you read, we are here for you.

Sorry I offended you with my question(s). We have just purchased the unit and as of this moment have not taken possession of the unit or the instructions. Trust me I seldom need help understanding what I read.

[ttanous]

DKRitter you might want to check out YouTube. There are several videos helpful in describing the level up system. This helped me a lot to understand the operation and how they work. My two cents worth.

[alicemerrill]

We have 2015 Cedar Creek 38CK. The kitchen and dinning room are hydraulic. The bedroom and hallway are electric. Had a small problem with the electric. Two motors were not working together so the room on one side would stick out 4" more than the other side. My FR rep rep told me how to fix it. So I would say hydraulic is the way to go. Plus we have 6 hydraulic leveling
My husband LOVES IT. Just our opinion. Hope this helps

[muddyrode]

i have hydraulic sildes in my wildcat with just one switch the lightest slide will alway go out or in first as it has the lease resistance if for some reasone you want one of the others to stay in until last just have someone hold it in thus more resistance then stop the pump it will stay in.
at goshen the techs were working on two om my slides and that the way they did it

[MichaelDStark]

My fifth wheel has one switch for all three slides. They slide out or in one at a time. However, located on the control panel outside, there are three valves. If I want to maneuver a specific slide, and not the others, I simply close the other valves. Essentially, I'm turning off the hydraulics for the others.