Hydraulic leveling jacks

[edgewant]

I've been chasing a popping noise in the hydraulic levelers and in the process of following instructions from Equalizer went to look at the pump and manifold, In the process I noticed there is no retract line for the right front jack plumbed to the valve body. I've attached a photo to show that port on the manifold is capped. Since the system works properly there has got to be another manifold or tee that allows that jack to share retract pressure with another line. Can anyone clear this up for me?

[silver]

Don't know what to say. My 2008 Berk has the line.

With regard to popping noise there have been numerous postings on this forum regarding popping noise and the jacks punching through their pads. The noise is apparently the pad giving way. You might want to search for threads regarding jack pads in the Berkshire section.

[Campin Cajun]

I don't think it's possible that two jacks could share a retract line. Wait a minute....................

Ok that's long enough, it is possible that they can share a retract line if and only if the two front jacks work together going in that direction, which is possible because others have stated that on the latest models we cannot work each jack individually.

[Campin Cajun]

The popping noise is coming from air in the system, there is a procedure to follow to fix this, which I think you were working on when you made your discovery.

The jacks breaking through the pads is a whole other issue. You will only hear that noise once and from what I have read it's loud and shakes the coach.

[silver]

I might add I would be under the coach tracing the lines. Does not sound right.

[edgewant]

Got and have done all the bleed procedures. Have read all the posts. Emailed Equalizer and am still having the problem. Landing pads have not punched through and appear to be in good shape. Can't trace the retract line from the jack because it disappears above the frame forward of the basement.

[VinceU]

Originally Posted by edgewant

Got and have done all the bleed procedures. Have read all the posts. Emailed Equalizer and am still having the problem. Landing pads have not punched through and appear to be in good shape. Can't trace the retract line from the jack because it disappears above the frame forward of the basement.

Lippert dwgs show pairs of jacks with returns in parallel, saves hose and no control is necessary when retracting

[edgewant]

Berkshires have Equalizer systems. What you say may apply but then I don't understand how you can retract the left side jacks without retractiing the right front.

[edgewant]

OK. Anybody with a 2013 or 2014 that can look at their hydraulic manifold and provide feedback would be really appreciated.

[dan-nickie]

My 2014 looks the same as yours. I just checked it.

[edgewant]

The way I see it this means that if we attempt to manually level and need to retract/lower the left side of the MH the right front will also lower. I don't like this. Manually leveling is complicated enough and how to work around this is not clear to me. I've got an email into Randy Hauser. I'll share whatever he says.

[edgewant]

Equalizer (at Randy Hauser's request) says the two front jacks are "tied together". They have yet to explain the logic behind that decision or how you can lower the left side of the motorhome without lowering the right front during manual leveling. Guess instead of lowering the left side you have to raise the right?

[edgewant]

OK I have to eat a little crow. My jacks had not punched through the pads but the pads were offering no support when parked on hard surfaces. The jack rods were resting on the bolt that secures the pads to the rods. The pads would actually spin after leveling. The pads don't appear to be deformed but they certainly are not doing their job. Equalizer is reviewing my case and deciding whether they are going to send me replacement pads at no cost or whether to charge me since they say I'm out of warranty.

[I-RV]

I have many wooden pads that have the impression of the Jack's bolt and nut embedded in the wood. It appears that there is a design problem with the pad not having an ample dished out area.


2012 Berkshire 390BH

[frankatp]

I have the same popping noises. It can be very disturbing at 3 in the morning when the thing goes pop. What year did you say your Berk was? Frank

[edgewant]

2013

[edgewant]

Update: after replacing the leveling jack pads with the redesigned pads my popping noises continue. The noises can come from any of the four jacks and don't appear to consistently follow any pattern although generally they don't begin until an hour or two after leveling. They also appear to be more apt to occur when there is a temperature swing of 20 deg.

Equalizer wasn't much help and quit responding to my emails when I argued with them that the system was still under warranty because the documentation in the motorhome said it was warranted for 2 years. Equalizer's position was that it had a one year warranty.

I contacted Randy Houser to get help and begin to pursue warranty resolution. But I attempted one last thing to resolve the problem. I have read that Lippert recommends the addition of a Catapillar product 1U-9891 Hydraulic Oil Additive. I also read about one Entegra Motorhome that was having the same issues and Equalizer recommended the same additive. I could not get an official position from Equalizer about using the additive so I removed all the ATF from the hydraulic reservoir (about 5 quarts) replaced it with 4 quarts of Mobil One synthetic ATF and 1 quart of the Cat additive. Now, 5 days later after cycling the jacks multiple times the popping appears to have gone away.

This may be premature because the weather here in Tennessee has been unusually cold with no real big swings in temperature but I will update in a few weeks. Hope this helps others if they have this same annoying problem.

[tmmar]

edge,
Strange that Equalizer would make the recommendation of the CAT additive to one owner and not another. Also, if the documentation that you have says it has a 2 year warranty, I don't know why they would not honor that!
Tom

[edgewant]

Equalizer claims that reduced the warranty in the summer of 2012, when my motorhome was being build. They said it was done in agreement with Forest River. Randy hasn't said one way or the other but Andy at Forest River sent me the replacement pads. I'm no longer dealing with Equalizer since they won't respond to my or Forest Rivers emails.

[Campin Cajun]

edge, do you hear the popping on a regular basis or just when there is someone moving around in the coach? I have some popping noise but it is only when someone is moving around inside.