6 point Lippert Hydraulic leveling

[Jakieboy]

The key to reliable performance and longevity of any hydraulic system is the cleanliness of the hydraulic fluid. We love our 6-point Lippert Leveler on our Cardinal 5th wheel, and we make sure we wipe all dirt and debris off the exposed cylinder rods whenever we are breaking camp. I am trying to figure out how to install a "kidney loop" type of off-line filtration system on the hydraulic fluid reservoir in order to keep the fluid as clean as possible - all the time. If I am successful, I will report back.

[jacknife]

Take a small screw driver pop the key pad off unplug for a few seconds replug . Should come on unless there is no juice.

[jimrose]

Love the convenience but we were stranded for over 15 hours ( Sunday evening )when one of our front jacks stated leaking due to poor manufacturing. Whoever crimped that hydraulic line only crimped 1/8" of tubing onto the fitting and it finally blew. Had the unit 2 weeks. Had to wait until Monday morning to find a hydraulic shop that could crimp on a new fitting. Also lost most of the hydraulic fluid which was difficult to refill due to tight location. Still like the system but when they fail it's a problem

[Jakieboy]

Hate to say it, but the high pressure, hydraulic systems installed in our current generation of RV's are not assembled with the care and precision required by professional hydraulic systems that are used in manufacturing today. Until and unless that deficiency is addressed by the manufacturers of RV's, we consumers will continue to suffer failures and troublesome problems with hydraulic systems that should not occur. This is my opinion only, based upon 30+ years of experience in the hydraulics industry. I welcome comments from others who may be more enlightened than I.

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by Jakie-Boy

Hate to say it, but the high pressure, hydraulic systems installed in our current generation of RV's are not assembled with the care and precision required by professional hydraulic systems that are used in manufacturing today. Until and unless that deficiency is addressed by the manufacturers of RV's, we consumers will continue to suffer failures and troublesome problems with hydraulic systems that should not occur. This is my opinion only, based upon 30+ years of experience in the hydraulics industry. I welcome comments from others who may be more enlightened than I.

You are 100% dead on.

What I know is hydraulic system have been around longer than I have and I am in my 70's. They are NOT a cutting edge tech, they are solid, reliable and they WORK and do it well and in my exp failures are rare. My engine hoist which has sat outside in the weather for about 10 years still works with no issue, same for my 12 ton press, don't use often anymore but when I do they work ..so does the hyd on my John Deere, work and reliability.

SO the fact that there are any issues at all only tells me that either assembly procedures or quality of materials comes into play, built right out of proper components and they will last and last with out issue.

[Jakieboy]

17 Oaks. You are absolutely correct in your assessment of the inherent virtues of electro-hydraulic systems. In theory they offer advantages over other working systems. In practice, they require absolute perfection in assembly and testing prior to being released for public consumption. In reality, this is not always available in the assembly shops I have witnessed at several RV manufacturing facilities. Assembly technicians sometimes view the installation of hydraulic leveling systems the same way they view the installation of water plumbing systems. This is wrong. The cleanliness and precision requirements for installation of hydraulic systems are far more rigorous. Training is the key.


Enough said. American factory workers are the best......when they know what is expected of them.

[Jim34RL]

Originally Posted by Jakie-Boy

Hate to say it, but the high pressure, hydraulic systems installed in our current generation of RV's are not assembled with the care and precision required by professional hydraulic systems that are used in manufacturing today. Until and unless that deficiency is addressed by the manufacturers of RV's, we consumers will continue to suffer failures and troublesome problems with hydraulic systems that should not occur. This is my opinion only, based upon 30+ years of experience in the hydraulics industry. I welcome comments from others who may be more enlightened than I.

I spent 40 years working in design at a large construction/mining manufacturing company. I have seen cut O-rings,blistered hoses, cross threaded fittings and mis-assembled valves. These failures were occurring on $100,000 + machines. They were both Foreign made and US made machines. I have seen horses blow off of machines and failed O-rings with in 5000 PSI system, I have had my oil bath several times do to these failures.

Anything assembled by man and design by man is going to fail, nothing last forever and sometimes it'll fail right now. Just be thankful that no one was injured or worst when a hose or O-ring has failed.

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by Jakie-Boy

17 Oaks. You are absolutely correct in your assessment of the inherent virtues of electro-hydraulic systems. In theory they offer advantages over other working systems. In practice, they require absolute perfection in assembly and testing prior to being released for public consumption. In reality, this is not always available in the assembly shops I have witnessed at several RV manufacturing facilities. Assembly technicians sometimes view the installation of hydraulic leveling systems the same way they view the installation of water plumbing systems. This is wrong. The cleanliness and precision requirements for installation of hydraulic systems are far more rigorous. Training is the key.


Enough said. American factory workers are the best......when they know what is expected of them.

Originally Posted by Jim34RL

I spent 40 years working in design at a large construction/mining manufacturing company. I have seen cut O-rings,blistered hoses, cross threaded fittings and mis-assembled valves. These failures were occurring on $100,000 + machines. They were both Foreign made and US made machines. I have seen horses blow off of machines and failed O-rings with in 5000 PSI system, I have had my oil bath several times do to these failures.

Anything assembled by man and design by man is going to fail, nothing last forever and sometimes it'll fail right now. Just be thankful that no one was injured or worst when a hose or O-ring has failed.

You guys are right on. There is an almost never ending clash between the operational side of business vs the financial side and all to often the VP of Fin wins as they are usually CPA's.

Trust me on this, the VP of Fin is far more interested in how many rolls of Scotch tape you used rather than how well you sealed up the box for mailing. As a retired CTO and engineer I fought these guys day in day out. And my words of: 'You only one chance to do it right the first time' always fell on deaf ears.

Few companies and this goes in spades for the RV business, ever look at post fielding costs, if they did they would apply a strong QC program, use better materials and better trained employees and what your profitability go up. But in their view that requires more money up front...yes, but it save more money in post fielding costs.

From my eyes I look at the Lippert system and wonder who the heck designed this system. But then most of my engineering has been based upon mission critical requirements, breakage and going down COST$$$$$ measured in minutes.

This is my 4th RV, Motorcoach, Truck Camper, Jayco and Cedar Creek 5th wheels. My motorcoach, the oil drain plug for the diesel engine hung down BELOW the frame on bottom edge of the RV. I drove out of a shopping center on a main street and left the oil plug behind, lost 36 quarts of oil and cost $5000 to repair. Major flaw and of course the RV company did not stand behind it even tho they knew it was a flaw.

My Jayco 5th, they forgot to seal the front cap on top. There I was sitting in bed, watching TV and noticed water on my night stand, went to wipe it off thinking it was condensation from m water bottle and back of hand got wet, turned on light and had water, spraying out of the electrical plug in on the inside of the nose cap. Jayco told me I had not inspected the roof, not under warranty as a result...My reply. Do I need to inspect the roof daily, I have only owned it 2 months. So after 2 mo of ownership I traded it in on my Cedar Creek, told the dealer about it and ate $10k loss. BEWARE of the Jayco 2 year warranty!

My truck camper, Arctic Fox 1150, '08, bought for $23k, sold in '16 for $20k, never had a problem with it...

[Jakieboy]

The issue of build quality in the RV industry is certainly not limited to hydraulic systems. We have visited several RV manufacturing facilities where we were given comprehensive tours of the facility. I watched in horror at the lack of care and precision in assembling various components, alignment of slide-out mechanisms, and other activities. Quality control standards seemed to be absent in even the most highly regarded brands. In the past 16 months that we have owned our Cardinal fifth-wheel, I have spent numerous weeks tracking down and fixing assembly flaws that never should have occurred. At least it keeps me out of my wife's kitchen!!

[17 Oaks]

Originally Posted by Jakie-Boy

The issue of build quality in the RV industry is certainly not limited to hydraulic systems. We have visited several RV manufacturing facilities where we were given comprehensive tours of the facility. I watched in horror at the lack of care and precision in assembling various components, alignment of slide-out mechanisms, and other activities. Quality control standards seemed to be absent in even the most highly regarded brands. In the past 16 months that we have owned our Cardinal fifth-wheel, I have spent numerous weeks tracking down and fixing assembly flaws that never should have occurred. At least it keeps me out of my wife's kitchen!!

IMO the issue comes down to the business model they use. Many on here are old enough to remember the Auto b-model of the 50's and 60's. Buy a car, drive it off the lot and as you roll over the curb, the a catastrophic event occurs and your rear wheels are still on the dealerships property. Their response: 'You got a problem, that's YOUR problem'. It was so bad the Feds had to get inviolved and literally force the companies to stand behind their products...the Fix Or Repair Daily is gone, I am on my 4th F 350 and only a few minor issues have occurred and all covered under warranty with no push back.

I will say that out of my 4 RV's going back to '99 this Cedar Creek has had only a few issues that needed to be addressed. And FR/CC did step up to the plate, told me where I could go when my dealer could not get to it in a reasonable time and paid to have the work done. Here's to ya FR.CC

My motor coach, bought new, spent on average of 1 week per month for the first 12 mo of its life at the dealer for repairs. In month 12 I told them to buy it back, I had had it, no more! They did and I will never own one of those again in my life.

[Jakieboy]

The RV industry, as we know it, is still a relatively new industry in the US in the grand scheme of things. Brands seem to come and go. Dealerships, at least here in Southern California, seem to come and go. Turnover among the employees at all of the dealerships in SoCal is extremely high. We have had warranty issues with our new Cardinal 5th Wheel since new, and each time we visited the selling dealership we were told to meet with a different employee - for 8 months this went on. We finally met with the General Manager, who assigned our case to a single employee who knew his job depended upon satisfying our gripes. Job was finally done. This should be standard practice, and may become so as the industry becomes more mature and stable - we hope.