RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Class C Motorhomes: Leveling Jacks

January 25, 2019 becauseican Comments 0 Comment

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SEIGER

HILTON HEAD ISLAND

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Opinions: Are leveling jacks needed on a C or B+ motor home?

mod ed: Fixed upper/lower case issues.

* This post was

edited 06/07/11 10:21am by an administrator/moderator *

Eyegor

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You are sure to get a wide variety of opinion on this. Let’s start by getting our terms straight. When I think of leveling jacks that means jacks that are capable of raising and supporting the vehicle. Stabilizing jacks simply minimize or eliminate suspension movement while parked.
Like most RVs, class C’s will need to be leveled for maximum comfort and appliance efficiency. This can be accomplished with blocks, ramps, jacks, or airbags. Stabilizing is usually accomplished by various types of jacks; bottle, scissor, etc.
Personally I don’t sweat it very much. As long as I am within 2 degrees I ignore leveling. I’m cheap so I use lengths of 2×8. I don’t bother with stabilizers. A little rocking doesn’t bother me.

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GrumpyandGrandma

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As Eyegor said you will get many opinions and MHO is they were well worth the cost after we had them put on our 2001 32′ DESIGNER. We had Big Foots installed and they are designed for leveling, not just stabilizing.

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Westronics

Redmond, WA

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FWIW, here’s what I do.

I have four stabilizing/leveling 5,000-lb scissor jacks installed on my frame. Two just forward of the front tires, two just aft of the rear tires.

When parking, I first get a level as a can, within reasons, by picking my spot carefully. I try to make it so that any leveling is minimal and mostly with the front down a bit (since it is far easier to raise the front than rear). I then use the jacks to level that last little bit and for stabilization.

This works well for me. A couple of points:

1. When doing something like this, be careful not to introduce twist into the frame. At a minimum, that can jam up the house door.

2. When the jacks are down, the amount of movement is minimized, but not eliminated. Te house is mounted to the frame by some form of rubber bumpers so fixing the frame in place will not eliminate all house movement.

Are the jacks really needed? No. They are nice, but one can get by pretty well without them.

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rjstractor

Auburn, WA

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They are certainly not needed, but given the choice between getting out and turning cranks and sitting in the driver’s seat and pushing buttons, I’ve done both and I know which I prefer. [emoticon]

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TyroneandGladys

Chandler AZ

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Eyegor wrote:

Like most RVs, class C’s will need to be leveled for maximum comfort and appliance efficiency. This can be accomplished with blocks, ramps, jacks, or airbags. Stabilizing is usually accomplished by various types of jacks; bottle, scissor, etc.

Personally I don’t sweat it very much. As long as I am within 2 degrees I ignore leveling. I’m cheap so I use lengths of 2×8. I don’t bother with stabilizers. A little rocking doesn’t bother me.

X2 but do not forgot if boon docking a shovel and a hole works good just remember to fill it when you leave.

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Dusty R

Charlotte Michigan 48813

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The leveling jacks like you see on many class A units add quite a bit of weight, and most
class C’s don’t have room for a lot of extra added weight.

Dusty

j-d

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We’ve had HWH Kickdown jacks on a short (24’/158″WB) and a long (31’/218″WB) Class C. Waste of time on the short C because the side-to-side spacing is too close on a C chassis AND the short wheelbase put them too close front-to-rear. This meant that jack(s) raising either end or either side also raised the other. We could end up with one front wheel off the ground before the coach was level on a fairly true campsite.
Much better in that regard on the long C. But these jacks seldom want to kick to vertical every time. Or they extend enough before they’re vertical that I find myself on the ground swinging them vertical against stiff springs while DW works the controls.
Also, being so close side-to-side AND on pivots so they’ll kick down, they don’t add much to coach stability.
Scissor jacks on corners would stabilize better, and if they’re LIFTING jacks and you use a cordless drill to turn them, you’ve got “power” jacks.
BigFoot may be better…
On Class A coaches, direct acting (not kick-down) jacks, as they say in some circles – youbetcha!

If God’s Your Co-Pilot Move Over, jd

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Dan86300zxt

Andover,New York

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I added 7500lb leveling jacks to our class c.(bought affordably off ebay)
-I welded them directly to the frame and built 12″x12″ pressure treated feet for the bases.
*They lower and raise very quickly with a cordless drill, then the final adjustment is done with a short ratcheting wrench.
-It takes all of 10 minutes to level….and can take the entire weight off the wheel if needed, but not recomended due to instability in the design of scissor jacks.(In an emergency however, I personally would not have a problem changing a tire, using the jacks)

rear jacks

[image]

front jacks

[image]

ron.dittmer

North-East Illinois

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Interesting experience on the jacks j-d. I’ve wondered about that myself.

There was a time I thought it would be nice to have those fancy electro-hydraulic levelers, but people have trouble with theirs, more people than I would have thought. Those levelers also add significant weight and generally are installed in a way that does not impress me. Very tacky wiring, mounting of controls, etc. If they were near free I’d say “Sure”, but adding the high cost made it easy to talk myself out of it.

We have a short 24 foot B+ with no jacks of either kind. We use the Lynx product. The rig is fairly stable from the added heavy duty front and rear stabilizer bars, primarily installed for better handling.

We most often primitive camp, so we end up in all kinds of camping scenarios. On rare occasion we are forced to camp on a steeper grade, so we will level as best we can with the Lynx blocks and live with it for a night. We mind it a lot more than our fridge.

For the new RVers, these are Lynx blocks, wheels chocks, and top caps. I like using them. They store nicely, light weight & easy to handle, and with Hoppy Levels, easy to know how many to stack up.

[image]

This is a Hoppy Level with the graduated scale. #1 means 1 inch, #2 means 2 inches etc. 1″ = 1 Lynx block high. It’s very easy to know how high to build before you get started.

[image]

2007 Phoenix Cruiser model 2350, with 2006 Jeep Liberty in-tow

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