Add leveling jacks

[nedhead8233]

Howdy all.
I'm hitting a dead end on some research and thought perhaps some of you may have some answers I'm looking for.
I have a 15k lb 39' 5th wheel. The front landing gear are hydrolic and work wonderfully - they self balance, meaning I do not have independent control of each leg. For now, I am manually leveling side to side on blocks. I've looked into many(all) of the leveling systems and am having a hard time deciding how to proceed. Specifically, I keep coming back to the question "Why can't I just add two electric jacks right behind my rear axle and use them to level side to side, then use the existing hydrolic landing gear to level front/back?" It doesn't seem like it would put any more torque on the frame than any of the self-leveling systems that want me to replace my landing gear. Have any of you set something like this up? Do you have a reccomended jack? I'd like to find some that could support about 7k or 8k pounds each that I can activate with a manual switch.
Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions.

[djousma]

laknox wrote:


That's the same system I have. Frankly, your buddy should have complained to his dealer and KZ about it while under warranty. Likely the wrong capacity jacks were installed at the factory. I'd certainly check what the capacity of them are and replace them with larger jacks. Pretty simple; 4 or 6 bolts on each jack and 2 wires. Frankly, I'm surprised a Gold had only a 4 point system on it and not 6.


Lyle

Lyle...he did get them swapped out for the 6-point, when he traded the KZ in on a Cedar Creek Hathaway edition. 😄

[laknox]

djousma wrote:

laknox wrote:

djousma wrote:
My opinion, stick with hydraulic. More than enough power to autolevel front to back, and side to side, and the controller make them all operate in sync, IOW, if it calls to level side to side, all 3 jacks on that side operate together. What you describe would torque the frame if not all operating in unison.

As for electric jacks, my buddy had them on his prior 5th. They didnt have enough lift capacity to level, only to stabilize.

It is odd to me, that a RV builder wouldnt go to 6 point hydraulic leveling if they already had front hydraulic jacks and presumably hydraulic slides as well.

Might check out lippert's system.

That's because your buddy had electric =stabilizers=, not electric =jacks=. Basically, he had what amounts to the old scissor jacks, but with an electric motor on them to save cranking them down. Electric jacks, OTOH, are true jacks, with plenty of lifting power. My 10.5GVW KZ can be lifted completely off the ground with the 4 jacks of the 4-point leveling system.

Lyle

Lyle,

It was the lippert 3.0 ground control 4 point leveling system. IOW, the front legs, plus 2 additional behind the wheels. And I know what lippert publishes (20K capacity), but for whatever reason on his KZ Durango Gold(weighed in at about 16K) they just were not up to the task.

$3500 for GC 3.0 6-point vs about $6000 for 6-point hydraulic. Quite a price to pay after the fact.

That's the same system I have. Frankly, your buddy should have complained to his dealer and KZ about it while under warranty. Likely the wrong capacity jacks were installed at the factory. I'd certainly check what the capacity of them are and replace them with larger jacks. Pretty simple; 4 or 6 bolts on each jack and 2 wires. Frankly, I'm surprised a Gold had only a 4 point system on it and not 6.


Lyle

[schlep1967]

There could be a problem with adding jacks behind the wheels depending on when you use them. As long as you level left to right before dropping the landing gear you should be fine. Just adjust the leg extensions to match the already level trailer in relation to the ground (one may be extended further than the other). Just like if you had to put one side up on boards.
If you unhook first, your front legs are already set at whatever angle the ground is and then you jack one side up, you can easily bend the frame.

A complete one touch system would be the best way to go, but you can do the half step of two jacks as long as you keep the right sequence of events.

[fj12ryder]

Lantley wrote:
Auto leveling is great feature. But I'm not sure I could justify the cost of an aftermarket install. $4000-$5000 grand is a big number?
I would really have to look at my trade in value and overall cost to upgrade were.
I would have to consider putting that 5K into a newer RV vs. putting it into a leveling system. Although I understand it's hard to start over when you have a rig that you are comfortable with that has all the kinks worked out.
I also think I would be more inclined to start over with an aftermarket system vs. retrofitting what I have.
I think I would want parts designed to be synced together vs. manipulating my existing system.

I pretty much agree with that. To me the costs far outweigh the real advantages. As near as I can tell, you pay around $4,000 so you can level your trailer with a button instead of blocks.

My only issue is I don't have unlimited funds. I look at the traveling I can do with that $4,000 and suddenly I don't mind having to mess with the blocks.

If the unit came with the leveling system would be one thing, I still couldn't afford it no matter what, but the idea of adding one on just doesn't appeal.

[Lantley]

Auto leveling is great feature. But I'm not sure I could justify the cost of an aftermarket install. $4000-$5000 grand is a big number?
I would really have to look at my trade in value and overall cost to upgrade were.
I would have to consider putting that 5K into a newer RV vs. putting it into a leveling system. Although I understand it's hard to start over when you have a rig that you are comfortable with that has all the kinks worked out.
I also think I would be more inclined to start over with an aftermarket system vs. retrofitting what I have.
I think I would want parts designed to be synced together vs. manipulating my existing system.

[juzplanekrazy]

My last trailer only had the front gear driven legs and hand crank scissor legs in the back. This new one has the 6 point auto level system and hitch height remembering.
I could never go back to the old one after using this auto system. What a dream to use. Push a button, unhook, push a button and it's done.
Worth every dollar it cost.

[bjlakatos1]

twinstick wrote:
You can buy the Lippert 3.0 compete system from etrailer. It doesn't look too bad to install. I've looked at it, just can't quite pull the trigger on it yet.

I installed it on my 40' Chaparral a few months back. It is very nice to use auto levelers for 99% of the time. Install went well although it took time.

[sayoung]

I paid just under 4500 installed in the factory shop for the 6pt hydraulic Equalizer System . That was 3yrs ago this Septemberso probably a bit more today.
A lot of $ yes but for the setup ease and when I had a blowout & just raised it up, worth it to me, we had decided to hang on to this rv but if I was thinking upgrading that would be the way to go.

[djousma]

laknox wrote:

djousma wrote:
My opinion, stick with hydraulic. More than enough power to autolevel front to back, and side to side, and the controller make them all operate in sync, IOW, if it calls to level side to side, all 3 jacks on that side operate together. What you describe would torque the frame if not all operating in unison.

As for electric jacks, my buddy had them on his prior 5th. They didnt have enough lift capacity to level, only to stabilize.

It is odd to me, that a RV builder wouldnt go to 6 point hydraulic leveling if they already had front hydraulic jacks and presumably hydraulic slides as well.

Might check out lippert's system.

That's because your buddy had electric =stabilizers=, not electric =jacks=. Basically, he had what amounts to the old scissor jacks, but with an electric motor on them to save cranking them down. Electric jacks, OTOH, are true jacks, with plenty of lifting power. My 10.5GVW KZ can be lifted completely off the ground with the 4 jacks of the 4-point leveling system.

Lyle

Lyle,

It was the lippert 3.0 ground control 4 point leveling system. IOW, the front legs, plus 2 additional behind the wheels. And I know what lippert publishes (20K capacity), but for whatever reason on his KZ Durango Gold(weighed in at about 16K) they just were not up to the task.

$3500 for GC 3.0 6-point vs about $6000 for 6-point hydraulic. Quite a price to pay after the fact.

[twinstick]

You can buy the Lippert 3.0 compete system from etrailer. It doesn't look too bad to install. I've looked at it, just can't quite pull the trigger on it yet.

[dpgllg]

I would add a complete auto level system if it all possible. I just push the auto level button and the system does all the work. Couldn't be easier.

If you add separate rear jacks then it will be difficult to level side to side. If you can't adjust each front jack by itself you will get the rear level side to side but never the front. I think that this might put unwanted stress on the frame.

Dave

[laknox]

djousma wrote:
My opinion, stick with hydraulic. More than enough power to autolevel front to back, and side to side, and the controller make them all operate in sync, IOW, if it calls to level side to side, all 3 jacks on that side operate together. What you describe would torque the frame if not all operating in unison.

As for electric jacks, my buddy had them on his prior 5th. They didnt have enough lift capacity to level, only to stabilize.

It is odd to me, that a RV builder wouldnt go to 6 point hydraulic leveling if they already had front hydraulic jacks and presumably hydraulic slides as well.

Might check out lippert's system.

That's because your buddy had electric =stabilizers=, not electric =jacks=. Basically, he had what amounts to the old scissor jacks, but with an electric motor on them to save cranking them down. Electric jacks, OTOH, are true jacks, with plenty of lifting power. My 10.5GVW KZ can be lifted completely off the ground with the 4 jacks of the 4-point leveling system.

Lyle

[sayoung]

nedhead8233 wrote:
Thanks sayoung. I did reach out to them and got the response below. If I can't integrate into their auto-level system, I'd prefer to go electric instead of adding another hydrolic system.
From their support:
I have a question first, are you wanting to integrate the rear jacks and the front jacks and run them all from one control system? If so then you will have to purchase a full 4 point leveling system from us. We can’t integrate with jacks from another system. If you are good with what you have and only want to replace the rear 2 jacks and are ok with just running those off of a control system, then we do have 2 point systems that we could sell you.

It maybe the travel length of your existing piston . Your or their shop can change the existing jacks and go a complete 4 or 6 pt. System. Our rv is 35 ft and I went with 6pt and glad I spent the difference. We drove from Tx to Elkhart and they installed in their shop. We r retired so it was a nice trip.
I can pick the entire rv off the ground. You can raise/lower front individually and control side to side or front to back.

[djousma]

My opinion, stick with hydraulic. More than enough power to autolevel front to back, and side to side, and the controller make them all operate in sync, IOW, if it calls to level side to side, all 3 jacks on that side operate together. What you describe would torque the frame if not all operating in unison.

As for electric jacks, my buddy had them on his prior 5th. They didnt have enough lift capacity to level, only to stabilize.

It is odd to me, that a RV builder wouldnt go to 6 point hydraulic leveling if they already had front hydraulic jacks and presumably hydraulic slides as well.

Might check out lippert's system.