Hydraulic jacks vs air leveling

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I don't have the air leveling on my present coach (wish I did), but on the Beaver I used to have both types were installed. I never used the jacks, except to test that they worked, and the air leveling was quick and easy (touch one button). They'd hold level for several months while in storage, so air leakage wasn't a problem. I also didn't have any conditions where I'd wonder if the jacks would sink into the soft ground, since I didn't deploy them.
 
Cooler? Who cares as long as the coach ends up level?

Air leveling is nice in that there are no jack "feet" to punch holes in pavement or turf or get stuck in the mud. However, air has a somewhat less range in which it can achieve level, since the air bags only lift so much. A good hydraulic system can cope with rougher terrain. Coaches in the price class that offer air leveling probably aren't parking on really rugged ground, but I've seen some prepared campsites that still have a pretty good slant to them and the hydraulics on our previous coach were sometimes extended to the fullest, perhaps even lifting a tire or two off the ground. Air leveling can't do that. This sort of situation comes up when the flattened and level "pad" area of the campsite is shorter than the wheel base of the coach, an not unusual situation if you drive a 40-45 ft rig.
 
Another thing... One of the commentes I often hear in talk about Propane tanks that eitehr makes me cringe or laugh depending on how I'm feeling has to do with the visual overfill indicator valve.

I will read: You have to open that valve to let the air out cause you can't compress the air.
SAY WHAT.. If I can't compress air why do I have several AIR COMPRESSORS around here?
(The other thing is there is no air in that tank, just propane gas, but hey, I know that)

How does this apply to Air v/s Hydraulic leveling

Well as it turns out you can also compress Hydrauilc fluid, but it takes thousands and thousands of pounds per square inch and the amount of compression you can achieve is.. Very tiny.

Air, on the other hand, is easy to compress.. For example if you have a 1 cubic foot box and you need 2 cubic feet of air.. All you need is less than 15 PSI to push that 2nd cubic foot in
My bicycle tires are 60 PSI, that's over 4 times as much air, as they would hold water or hydraulic fluid.

So air leveling, if the wind is gusty or you move. the Rig can get to rocking rather well  I mean it's like sitting on springs

But with Hydraulic leveling.. Much more "Stable"

I'm currently sitting on jack stands.. not that.. Is stable squared, Solids well .. The jack stands will collapse before the steel is compressed.
 
I had jacks on our first coach. As Gary said it had a good lift range for leveling. Actually used it to lift tires off the ground one side at a time to change tires.

I've had Air Leveling on the last 2 coaches. Advantages are being able to use it where you wouldn't want to put down levelers. Rest stops for lunch, truckstops, other parking spots (vs camping). No worry about levelers sinking in the ground. I had this happen several times.
Disadvantages: Limited range, maybe a little more rocking in high winds when parked.

Overall I like air leveling more.

ken
 
One thing I noticed about the hydraulics on our coach was, when It was cold out the jacks really slowed up in their operation, and that was lifting and retracting. Not sure if air would be like that.


Bill
 
Define cold Bill. I'm north of the 45th Parallel but my future unit will transport us to warmer climates as snowbirds.
Are we talking 30F or 0?
Also, is "slowing" an issue or just slower?
 
Gary, by "cooler" I meant ease of use, flexibility, stabilizing ability and such. Sorry for my lack af clarity but your reply is what I was after.
 
John From Detroit said:
Another thing... One of the commentes I often hear in talk about Propane tanks that eitehr makes me cringe or laugh depending on how I'm feeling has to do with the visual overfill indicator valve.

I will read: You have to open that valve to let the air out cause you can't compress the air.
SAY WHAT.. If I can't compress air why do I have several AIR COMPRESSORS around here?
(The other thing is there is no air in that tank, just propane gas, but hey, I know that
Click to expand...


    I can only guess that what they are talking about is that air is not compressible back to a liquid state. Not like the Freon's or LPGs. That is why there are purge systems on large chiller compressors.
 
I have Hydraulic jacks and slides.
Having one system for both is nice and I have found that with Hydraulic slides it's not as important that your
perfectly level and they still work fine.
IMO with a gear or cable driven slide unit if one slide (or more) are pointing uphill then the motors and gears have to work harder.
Whereas with hydraulic cylinders pushing or pulling the slides it doesn't really effect them as they could probably move at least 3 or 4 times
the weight of what they do under normal level conditions.

IDK much about the air leveling - so this maybe the same with either system but with my jacks I can tilt just the front (maybe even a corner) and
tilt the coach froward or backwards to help rain water run off the slides instead of pool on them.


Are you still shopping for a MH?  If so, do you have a short list?
 
Jeff,
  We used to set out for Arizona in October or November from Canada, and come back the end of March. We did run into temps of 0 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius and colder. The jacks would definately slow up and in fact a few times I had to help some of them up with a 2X4 I used to carry along. Once the temps warmed up the jacks operation would return to normal.


Bill
 
RedandSilver said:
I have Hydraulic jacks and slides.
Having one system for both is nice and I have found that with Hydraulic slides it's not as important that your
perfectly level and they still work fine.
IMO with a gear or cable driven slide unit if one slide (or more) are pointing uphill then the motors and gears have to work harder.
Whereas with hydraulic cylinders pushing or pulling the slides it doesn't really effect them as they could probably move at least 3 or 4 times
the weight of what they do under normal level conditions.

IDK much about the air leveling - so this maybe the same with either system but with my jacks I can tilt just the front (maybe even a corner) and
tilt the coach froward or backwards to help rain water run off the slides instead of pool on them.


Are you still shopping for a MH?  If so, do you have a short list?
Click to expand...
Our original quest was for a new 3500 SRW duramax and a lightly used 5'er. That puts me over 100k right out the gate. I'm still fine with that but for 20-40k more I can roll into a DP of 2002-2007 vintage (looking high end) and get what I really want but DW not so much. That is the battle I'm fighting. I know she needs to be all in or I will hear about it every time something breaks...and they will. But with a new duramax and a well cared for late model 5'er our risk is minimized. She is the practicel one as you prolly guessed.
Motorhome short list would include Foretravel 320 or a newer model Country Coach, Newmar or similar. All in budget of 150k including inspection, solar, power plant upgrade if needed, tires if needed, all else to be road ready.
Not buying until later this year so really no pressure. Ok, that was bs! I need to get this right!
Floor plan is decided, have done many rv shows and been to Lazy Days Tampa 5 times. Not bad for a Michigan boy. ?
Again, snowbird home for 4-5 months and off grid out west as much as possible during that time.
Thank, Jeff
 
Air leveling all the way...but you are only going to find it on the high level coaches. For example in the Entegra line you can only get it on the Cornerstone.

I think if you talked to people who have had air leveling and other leveling systems they would pick the air leveling systems...

 
We had hydraulic jacks on our previous DP and air only leveling on our current rig.

No question that air is nice but can have limits on excess slope sites.  It is very nice to just pull in, hit a button twice and let the coach level.  No jack pads, no waiting for jacks to retract in cold weather, no concern that jacks might put dimples in hot asphalt. 

We've had this coach for nearly 4 years now and traveled across the USA twice and many other trips.  Haven't been anywhere yet where we could not level well enough to be comfortable in the coach.  Bottom line, I now prefer air leveling. 
 
I hate to say it, but we haven't used the #@%*& jacks for two years except for when our tires were replaced (made them jack up the damn things when done). If you don't stay on top of hydraulic/spring return jacks the things won't come back up when you wish. (I've actually thought about having Bigfoot jacks installed (two way hydraulic) just to fix this.) I've already replaced one ($550 as I recall) and started sticking almost immediately.

Consider this a vote for air leveling!

Ernie
 
LOL!  :D    By the time you get an Entegra Cornerstone (or American Eagle or Newmar Essex...) you are probably more concerned about comfort & convenience than adaptability on less-than-ideal campsites. Especially since most of those are 45 footers nowadays. Chances are you are using a big rig resort than a hilly county park.

The hydraulic jacks provided in that class of coach will be double-acting rather than spring return, and come equipped with large "feet" to help alleviate ground contact problems. Notice I said "alleviate", not "prevent", though. And some coaches may have both hydraulic & air, sort of the best of both worlds.

I've seen one other compliant abut air leveling and that is intermittent noise from the auxiliary air pump. Most every air system will lose pressure while parked (some sooner than others) so the system includes an auxiliary pump to keep the pressure up while the engine is off. I've seen a surprising (to me, anyway) number of people complain about that pump cycling, e.g. in the middle of the night, and asking how to shut it off. I can see being startled the first time it happens, but after that I would just shrug it off. Apparently some people cannot.

Anyway, make the choice based on your the sorts of campgrounds you use. If not sure, hydraulic is the most flexible choice, but nothing says you can't be a bit short of perfect level if your air system isn't quite up to it.
 
If an air leveling compressor cycles more than every couple of days I would be looking for an air leak. But then slow air leaks are hard to find.


Side story

I current have a Valid/PowerGear system. Lost the compressor this summer while at the FMCA rlly in Springfield, MA. The compressor label was obscured by the final under chassis painting by Monaco. Called Valid, but they said I had to call powerGear. PowerGear was no help at all as they no longer partner with Valid and could have cared less. I then called Monaco and they gave me the PowerGear part number. With that Valid was able to locate the proper Compressor. Valid is in BC and only ships overnight to "end users". Cost $450 (350 plus shipping). When I got the pump it was a Firestone that is readily available on Amazon for under $200. Pissed off about the price, but it is a better compressor because it allows for a remote air intake. Using this you can get the air intake further from the road spray under the chassis.


ken
 
Once you have air leveling you probably won't want to go back to anything else.  We had three Class Cs with jacks and then Terry B convinced us to get air on our first diesel pusher.  Loved it and required it on our current DP.  Once again, thank you Terry for the good advice.

ArdraF
 
I looked at a used Tour that had an aftermarket air system that allow you to level with air, and also it would use air to control lean in a turn, etc.  I remember the sales said it was an expensive add on, and it had a control box on the dash, but I cannot remember the name of it for anything.
 
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