Scissor jacks on class A?

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ScubaCamper

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Chattanooga, TN
RE: 2006 Damon Daybreak 3060 (no slide outs) - loaded weight: about 16,000-18,000 pounds

I?m considering installing four 5,000 pound scissor jacks to help with stabilizing the RV. Currently, we?re just using the plastic leveling blocks under the tires, but that still allows for a good bit of flex when walking around, or even with the odd ?sewing machine leg? action. :)
After searching online, it?s difficult to find much out there for class A motorhomes as most of them already have some sort of leveling system already installed.
Are scissor jacks okay to use on a class A?
Additionally, there is only one level affixed to the dashboard - a left to right level. Is there a best spot to mount a front to back level somewhere?

Sorry for the ignorance - still learning...
 
My stabilizers were disabled for a couple months due to running over a tire and wheel assembly someone lost of the freeway buts that's another story. So in the meantime I bought two scissor jacks and tried them.  Didn't help much at all. 

I put them under the existing pads. 
 
Stable and level are two different things.

Once the rig is level, scissor jacks could be used for stability. It's doubtful that scissor jacks could lift the frame to level the rig.
 
HappyWanderer said:
Stable and level are two different things.

Once the rig is level, scissor jacks could be used for stability. It's doubtful that scissor jacks could lift the frame to level the rig.
Click to expand...
Thanks, hadn?t considered the difference between the two...
Installing an automatic hydraulic system seems a bit pricey for a 12 y/o MH...
 
Thinking back to our first motorhome in 1984, I had to level it with blocks and I had no idea what "stabilize" was.  I wonder if I still had it, if I would think about it not being stable as I've spent a lot of money trying to stabilize RVs since then, even stabilizing the stabilizers (JT strongarms) :)

Anyway, as stated above scissor jacks are probably a waste of time as they can't hold the weight without flexing themselves.  Probably hydraulic pin jacks and timbers would do it?
 
I went to a lot of trouble to install scissor jacks on our first motorhome, a 1986 Bounder. It did not help at all, as the jacks could move easily 90 degrees from direction of scissors.
 
If you're installing scissors jacks, angling each jack 45 degrees (i.e. so the handles point towards the corners of the RVs instead of towards the sides) will do a lot to help the back and forth motion.

Tioga George put a set of 4 scissor jacks on his Class C ten years ago but he wasn't very happy with them.  Like others have said, they're really not up to handling the weight of a motorhome.  Consider a travel trailer is pretty evenly balanced fore to aft since only 10-15% of it's total weight is on the hitch, while a motorhome may have 1/3 of it's weight on the front axle and 2/3 of it's total weight on the rear axle.  That makes for a lot more weight at each corner for the jacks to handle.

As far as mounting a front to back level, the inside of the driver's side door is a good spot so you can see it while maneuvering around.
 
I had some screw-type jacks that I put under the frame rails when our teenage son camped with us. It seems like he never walked, but rather clomped everywhere. It was so bad that you couldn't keep a pot of water on the stove!

Since he no longer travels with us, I don't bother with the jacks.

 
I've wondered why I don't see more jacks on motorhomes....
but I wouldn't consider them for stabilization as much as for leveling.....a poor man's leveling system. 
I mean a good bit of the time to get level it's just a matter of lifting one corner or one side a few inches.  You can easily do that with a jack without taking anywhere near the full weight onto the jack.... but with a big enough jack in the right place you can even lift a wheel off the ground.  I wanted power levelers but the MH we found didn't have them.  I considered installing a hydraulic system, but ruled it out for a couple of reasons.... so I've considered trying it with a small jack a few times just to have the capability to take a few inches out of the suspension travel for leveling...... perhaps experimenting with portable jacks first, but it just hasn't proven to be a big enough problem for it to float to the top of my to-do list
 
"a poor man's leveling system" which is correct if you don't have anything to level or stabilize on the rig. My old coach doesn't have a leveling system and sure wasn't going to spend 3-4K on a 1989 coach that needed other work. I bought 4 heavy duty scissor jacks and for now they work just fine. They "DO" lift the frame and level the coach (15,000 lb)  and the front 2 are at a 45 degree angle as someone mentioned above. I used to used the drill/driver impact but, I have found that the drill in the low speed/gear does a much better job powering them up once a load is on them, it's quieter for the guys next to me too. I was going to weld them on but I' working on a set of four square weld on tongue jacks powered with some 12 volt gear motors that will lift the motorhome off the ground if needed, this will be less than 1K. Only drawback with these ,will be a little back and forth play in the extensions but, for power up and down I'll live with it. Back to scissor jacks, they will work but have their limits and in a pinch they are doable
 
Our previous 1995 Coachmen 33' Class A didn't have leveling jacks when we bought it. I found a single pump manual push button 4-jack hydraulic system from Bigfoot on sale at the time for about $1500, and installed it myself in about 10 hours spread over two days. The hardest part was drilling 16 half-inch holes in the chassis to mount the cylinders, and the next hardest was routing the two hoses from each cylinder to the pump location. All in all, the results were well worth the effort though. Our current coach came with a fully automatic Bigfoot leveling system, but the manual system worked plenty well enough.
 
My 95 Challenger had those on it when I bought it, worthless in my opinion. I removed them and bought a HWH leveling system from a scrapped coach with the same chassis. My son-in-law helped me remove them and I installed them on my coach. The guy sold me the system for $500.00, best $500.00 I spent on that coach. 
 
I tried to install them last year on my 95 Fleetwood Southwind but the frame rails were so far above the ground the Jack's would be maxed out.  Also they would be so far under the storage compartments they would be a pain to crank.  Took them back to Camper World.
 
Charlie 5320 said:
My 95 Challenger had those on it when I bought it, worthless in my opinion. I removed them and bought a HWH leveling system from a scrapped coach with the same chassis. My son-in-law helped me remove them and I installed them on my coach. The guy sold me the system for $500.00, best $500.00 I spent on that coach. 
Click to expand...

Are you referring to the Bigfoot EZ-Level hydraulic system I installed? Or the scissors jacks the OP referenced...
 
NY_Dutch said:
Are you referring to the Bigfoot EZ-Level hydraulic system I installed? Or the scissors jacks the OP referenced...
Click to expand...
The scissors jacks, I gave them to a buddy and he put them on his coach. He just uses them for stabilization, but carries stacks of 2x10s to put under them. I wouldn't even consider buying a coach without  hydraulic levelers on it again. I'm way too old to be crawling around trying to install another set. I'm on my last coach now anyways. I liked the HWH 4 valve manual system better than anything I've had since. On my Dolphin the front jacks go down together, then you do side to side with the rear. It works but I don't really like the set up.
 
Charlie 5320 said:
The scissors jacks, I gave them to a buddy and he put them on his coach. He just uses them for stabilization, but carries stacks of 2x10s to put under them. I wouldn't even consider buying a coach without  hydraulic levelers on it again. I'm way too old to be crawling around trying to install another set. I'm on my last coach now anyways. I liked the HWH 4 valve manual system better than anything I've had since. On my Dolphin the front jacks go down together, then you do side to side with the rear. It works but I don't really like the set up.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for clarifying that.

I prefer dual acting leveling systems like Bigfoot over the spring return systems, and there's no question that HWH has a product line that works well in the RV industry.
 
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