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Old 06-13-2015, 11:07 AM   #1
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Lippert hydraulic landing gear

I have a 2014 Silverback 29ik. We have the lippert hydraulic landing gear /jacks. They both seem to work fine operate in both directions ok. No fluid leaks. Simple retract and extend switch, no blown fuses.

My issue is as follows:

Park 5er on relatively flat brick paver or concrete pad. Extend landing gear, unhitch tow vehicle. The passenger side hydraulic jack seems to extend slightly more then the drivers side hydraulic jack. Causing a slight left to right leveling issue. I can't for life of me get trailer level side to side.

Both jacks run off same hydraulic pump/fluid system as do the three slides. By visual inspection I'm not leaking fluids, fluid levels seem ok in reservoir which tells me seals in jacks/Rams ok.

By visual inspection frame is straight and true all welds in tact. Haven't even bumbled a curb in this trailer.

My question is there a way or procedure to adjust the two hydraulic landing gear jacks? I see nothing in the trailers documentation from forest river or lippert.

I'm relatively certain it's a hydraulic jack pressure issue between the two landing gear but strangely I'm just not seeing the obvious symptoms of why its occurring.

I'd prefer not to haul a bunch of wood blocks to drive the trailers low side wheels up on to in order to correct this if in fact there is something I can do to address this at the landing gear.

Thanks in advance for help or ideas.

Brock






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Old 06-13-2015, 12:20 PM   #2
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Check your manuals again or go online to CC or Lippert in case you are missing one. There is a procedure to recalibrate the system. Do that first. If that doesn't correct the problem you may have a landing gear that is binding for some reason. Each leg has a sensor to detect when it has contacted the ground. If a leg is binding the sensor may think the leg is all the way down and stop moving it any lower. Also try putting a large block under that gear so it doesn't reach the point where it is stopping. Then see if the unit is level.
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Old 06-13-2015, 03:43 PM   #3
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Brock,

It sounds like the Level Up is confused about where level is, a Zero Point Calibration might be needed.

Here are links to the manuals I found.
http://lci1.com/assets/content/suppo...ers_Manual.pdf
http://lci1.com/assets/content/suppo...ting_Guide.pdf
http://lci1.com/assets/content/suppo...heets/0262.pdf

You can find more at http://lci1.com/support-center

As I remember, you manually level it, then press a series of buttons to tell the system to remember this as "level".
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Old 06-13-2015, 03:54 PM   #4
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Had similar issue, opposite side. No way to adjust them (front jacks) independently. Mine had a bad jack...replaced by Lippert. See post:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ack-61792.html
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Old 06-13-2015, 05:05 PM   #5
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Brock did not say he had levelup rendering all info pertaining to levelup useless. So shall we wait until the OP enlightens us?

Meanwhile, Is there a difference in height from the ground to the pad of the landing gear when the gear is fully retracted?
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Old 06-13-2015, 07:03 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Duckogram View Post
Brock did not say he had levelup rendering all info pertaining to levelup useless. So shall we wait until the OP enlightens us?

Meanwhile, Is there a difference in height from the ground to the pad of the landing gear when the gear is fully retracted?
Good question on the retracting. Mine fully retracted equally and flush to the frame. It came down to a faulty jack that was not fully supporting it's fair share of front weight, that got worse overtime, about 6 months. It finally lost all it's pressure and retracted further, almost all the way. What supprised me is that it held enough pressure when I extended it manually, to allow me to get it on my truck.

Zero point will not help the front, if off left to right. The front landing jacks work together.
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Old 06-14-2015, 02:49 PM   #7
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I have the same developing problem but opposite. The curb side seems to always be lower, causing the coach to lean. I'm going to go to my local hydraulic shop and purchase a valve to put inline so I can independently adjust each leg.
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Old 06-14-2015, 07:46 PM   #8
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I have a 2014 Sandpiper. Lippert front hydraulic gear. 4 slides on one side always 1.5 inchs low. Had ram replaced still a problem. I have to level unit side to side by driving up on 2 X 8. It is a poor design problem. Individual control of jacks would fix it. Lippert tells me they are not made to leve trailer side to side just up or down. The fix is add level up. So I inquired and level up is not an easy add on. It has to be completely added and the system on there now comes off. I'm out of warranty in 4 months, going to see about getting jacks re worked to work separately.
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Old 06-14-2015, 10:57 PM   #9
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Assuming the OP only has front hydraulic landing gear and not level-up ... open system hydraulics follow the basic principal that the least resistance moves first. If one side of your fiver is heavier than the other, the heavy side will always lag behind a bit. The heavy side will also retract ahead of the light side. The bedroom slide will add weight making it heavier than the curb side. 05CrewDually has a fix ... add a blocking valve or flow control in the system so you can control left to right.
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Old 06-15-2015, 08:50 AM   #10
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Thanks dieselguy. I will have this done as soon as warranty expires. Is the blocking valve adjustable manually. What you described is exactly what is happening. Jack
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Old 06-15-2015, 09:05 AM   #11
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A blocking valve is just that a valve that blocks flow. It will be either on or off and have to withstand say 2000# psi of system pressure. A flow contol valve acceptable of same pressure will be adjustable. A blocking valve (ball valve) can be installed in the extend line going to the cylinder that raises the highest. When you want the low side to catch up with the high side, shut the blocking valve off to the high side cylinder and bump the button till level. Just don't forget to open it back up. Do not go to Lowe's and get a ball valve for water lines ... they are not made for the pressure in our hydraulic systems.
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Old 06-15-2015, 01:06 PM   #12
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Petfect, thank you.
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Old 06-15-2015, 08:11 PM   #13
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I don't like this. It's bad business to expect the front jacks to have anything to do with side to side leveling. You risk twisting the frame. Don't be lazy. Use blocks/planks to get side to side level. It's better for the suspension, even if you have the Level up system.
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Old 06-15-2015, 08:28 PM   #14
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You may have air in the system. Extend and retract the legs their full stroke a couple of times. It may displace the air into the tank. Just a possibility.


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Old 06-15-2015, 09:38 PM   #15
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Sterlingsilver are you saying that even with the six point level up system one should use blocks and planks to level side to side? What are your thoughts on electric front jabs extending simultaneously. Rear stabilizers down, rv now level. Then you open slides and they hold rv level. Never bent a frame doing that cause the electric jacks don't seek a fluid level. Not lazy here its just a pain in the rear to guess how much the hydraulics will equalize.
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Old 06-15-2015, 10:29 PM   #16
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I agree about Level Up ... that's what it's touted for as an option ... self leveling with out dragging the stack of wood around you used to do. Although there may be air in the system ... the way the front jacks are plumbed without Level Up ... the heavier side will always lag the lighter going up and be in advance going down.
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Old 06-16-2015, 05:53 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sterlingsilver View Post
I don't like this. It's bad business to expect the front jacks to have anything to do with side to side leveling. You risk twisting the frame. Don't be lazy. Use blocks/planks to get side to side level. It's better for the suspension, even if you have the Level up system.
I agree, (partially) I don't think anyone is, or should, expect the front hydraulic landing gear to level side to side. This is not there their job, and by no means are they capable of doing this. The trailer should be level side to side before you are unhitched from your truck (not including the level up system). The hydraulic landing gear will generally lower one at a time until one reaches the ground and feels resistance, then the other will drop. Once both are on the ground, they should raise together at an even rate. If one is raising more than the other, there may be a bad seal or air in the lines that is compressing. The level up on the other hand, is designed to level side to side without the aid of blocks. Granted, I wouldn't do this with an extreme out of level condition, but that's my preference. The Level Up system is capable of lifting the entire trailer off the ground, and I've seen it done by factory techs. As for the OP, I would do the simple things, like bleed the air off, as I mentioned earlier, and check for any type of leak down in the system. Also, eliminate human error by making sure your trailer is perfectly level at the axles, then check your system for level at the landing gear to see if there is a twist caused by your landing gear.
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Old 06-16-2015, 06:16 AM   #18
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Thanks dieselguy. I will have this done as soon as warranty expires. Is the blocking valve adjustable manually. What you described is exactly what is happening. Jack
If you are still in warrenty, DON"T Play with it take it in. It should not be doing that as you know, I wouldn't be doing any thing to the system until your out of warranty, or you will VOID it. Until then just use block's even if it's a PIA for now....
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Old 06-16-2015, 08:30 AM   #19
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Perhaps not looking ahead, I’ve opened a can of worms about the possibility of adding a valve to enable the 2 front hydraulic jacks to make a fiver sit level side to side. I do agree the 2 front hydraulic jacks should not be used to mimic a Level Up system … it could stress the frame. What I was short sidedly relating to is a situation I have in my own driveway. The drive way is level side to side, but not front to back as it naturally slopes a bit toward the street. The left side of my fiver is heavier than the right due to a couple of slides adding weight. With the axles sitting near level, the heavier side always slightly lags the lighter side when I unhook from my truck. The heavier side always slightly leads the lighter side when I lower it down back on the truck … it is a bit annoying. The cylinder never drifts after any use. I deal in hydraulics by trade … I have tried bleeding any air in the system, but the end result is as described above. Any time two cylinders are tied together with no flow control or balancing valve … if one has a lighter load … it will move a bit faster … that’s the way things happen in hydraulics. Just to enable the capability to make the fiver sit level on near level ground I proposed adding the blocking valve … maybe I need to re-bleed my system yet again ………. I never had this issue with the old electric jacks on my previous fivers … if it was level coming off the truck … both electric jacks pushed it up the same side to side.
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Old 06-16-2015, 08:48 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by dieselguy View Post
Perhaps not looking ahead, I’ve opened a can of worms about the possibility of adding a valve to enable the 2 front hydraulic jacks to make a fiver sit level side to side. I do agree the 2 front hydraulic jacks should not be used to mimic a Level Up system … it could stress the frame. What I was short sidedly relating to is a situation I have in my own driveway. The drive way is level side to side, but not front to back as it naturally slopes a bit toward the street. The left side of my fiver is heavier than the right due to a couple of slides adding weight. With the axles sitting near level, the heavier side always slightly lags the lighter side when I unhook from my truck. The heavier side always slightly leads the lighter side when I lower it down back on the truck … it is a bit annoying. The cylinder never drifts after any use. I deal in hydraulics by trade … I have tried bleeding any air in the system, but the end result is as described above. Any time two cylinders are tied together with no flow control or balancing valve … if one has a lighter load … it will move a bit faster … that’s the way things happen in hydraulics. Just to enable the capability to make the fiver sit level on near level ground I proposed adding the blocking valve … maybe I need to re-bleed my system yet again ………. I never had this issue with the old electric jacks on my previous fivers … if it was level coming off the truck … both electric jacks pushed it up the same side to side.
Same situation here. I think the three of us (you, me, & Jack) are on the same page. I just need to find the time to pull a line to see what thread it is for a fitting adapter. I may look into getting another electronic valve and mount another switch for left/right controls. I built electric jacks for leveling aft the axles so I will use them for leveling. I had my Wildcat on one front landing gear before with no ill effect so I'm not worried and warranty is up.
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