PowerGear leveling system fail.....now my front jack brackets are bent : (

New to MH ownership....have camped about 5 times with my Class A 30' Fleetwood Storm and PowerGear leveling system.  Long story with a question at the end....

I pulled into a state park campsite and it wasn't very level.  It was a back in site, short, with the front probably 9-12" lower than the rear, and it sloped a bit downwards to the driver's side, although not as bad as the front/back slope height.  No problem, I thought.  That is what my power leveling system is for.

Well, I put it in AUTO with the parking brake on and let it do its thing.  After it gave up (front was still lower than rear, it leveled OK left to right), the front wheels were off the ground (I could spin them by hand).  It just didn't look right.  I lowered the jacks and tried again in AUTO.  Same thing.  However, when I went to check the second time, I could see that the front two jacks were "bent" from the left/right sloped side load.  I lowered the RV and looked underneath.  The metal brackets that are welded to the PowerGear hydraulic jacks were bent.  The passenger side bracket is slightly pulled away from the rails of my F53 chassis and noticeably bent, and the driver's side one is slightly bent but not as much as its side load was "pushing" against the chassis rails so had no where to go.

So this obviously sucks for me    I would have guessed that the system wouldn't allow extension of the jacks far enough where a normal campsite sloped side load would bend the jacks....or worse the F53 chassis frame! 

Have you ever heard of this happening?  How in the world do you fix something like this?  I see it's just a hydraulic line and 4 bolts holding the jack on but the metal brackets that the hydraulic jacks are welded to are bent and will need to be......what?  Bent back to level or have new brackets welded on?  Do I take the bent jacks to a metal shop of some sort?  If the jacks were just a few hundred bucks I'd probably just replace them but from what I have read online, they run about $1000 each!

......Or do I just continue to use the system with bent jacks and not worry about it?

Advice appreciated.

I'm guessing from your description that the brackets are part of the jack assembly and the brackets just bolt to the chassis? If so, I would remove them and see if a metal fabrication shop pr machine shop can bend them back without cracking. Failing that, make new ones and weld in place of the old ones.

Sounds like the Fleetwood Engineering dept skimped on the loading specs for yours. An all to common shortcoming in RV design. They add features and options but forget to check whether the extra weight or power load or whatever overloads other components, e.g jacks and axles and tires. They undersized the Equalizer brand jacks on my coach too, but they upgraded them free of charge when I complained.

Gary RV Roamer said:

I'm guessing from your description that the brackets are part of the jack assembly and the brackets just bolt to the chassis? If so, I would remove them and see if a metal fabrication shop pr machine shop can bend them back without cracking. Failing that, make new ones and weld in place of the old ones.

Sounds like the Fleetwood Engineering dept skimped on the loading specs for yours. An all to common shortcoming in RV design. They add features and options but forget to check whether the extra weight or power load or whatever overloads other components, e.g jacks and axles and tires. They undersized the Equalizer brand jacks on my coach too, but they upgraded them free of charge when I complained.

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OK, thanks.  I guess I'll hunt in the phone book for a metal fabrication place and see if they can be bent.  I'm concerned that that the initial bend plus the bending back will lead to metal fatigue which will make the bracket weaker for next time : (

ualdriver said:

OK, thanks.  I guess I'll hunt in the phone book for a metal fabrication place and see if they can be bent.  I'm concerned that that the initial bend plus the bending back will lead to metal fatigue which will make the bracket weaker for next time : (

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I would talk to the metal shop about beefing them up.
Bill

WILDEBILL308 said:

I would talk to the metal shop about beefing them up.
Bill

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Will do.  Maybe I went them to bend and fail (worse case scenario) BEFORE they bend my chassis frame rails?  Or should I not worry about it?

Gary......how would the average person know if the jacks were undersized?

Gary......how would the average person know if the jacks were undersized?

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An average, aka non-techy, person might not. An obvious symptom would be inability to lift the coach very much, or bent jack rams or mounts (as in this case). A more subtle symptom is creaks and groans after the jacks are set, or failure to remain extended, but these could also just be malfunctions. The RV builder or jack system maker becomes aware after numerous owners report problems of this sort and then conclude either the jack is inadequately sized for the job, or the jack is not actually capable of handling its rated load (a jack design defect). No doubt lots of finger pointing between RV maker and jack maker when this happens.

Buyers tend to think that an RV is so expensive that it ought to have the best of everything in its construction, but that high cost is also what forces RV builders to be extremely cost conscious and sometimes make poor decisions in component selection. We talk about "engineering', but there is actually not much real engineering analysis involved. It's more like shade tree mechanics talking things over and deciding such-and-such ought to be good enough, and then they find out later that they underestimated a bit or missed a key factor. In the case of jacks, direct weight is easy enough to estimate (with a fudge factor for safety margin), but side loads are extremely hard to guestimate. RV makers aren't generally doing the kind of mathematical analysis and/or testing that would identify side loads under a variety of conditions, so they rely on "field testing" (you & me).

The jack makers, ever mindful that cost is foremost in the RV builders criteria, probably went a bit light on the side-load capacity as well. They know they can win business from their competitors if they can produce a less expensive jack, so they cost engineer as well.  HWH, Power Gear, and Atwood have repeatedly introduced less expensive jack systems to win business from RV builders, but many of these have proven unreliable in actual use. Witness the electric jack fiascos, HWH's kick-down jacks, and other short-lived "innovations".

Is it still under warrante?

Thanks for the explanation Gary! So it seems in this case you kinda sorta have to rely on the manufacturer and "their team" to make the correct selection

Yeah, and to confess if they screw up.

Attached is the photo showing how much the worst of the two jacks bent.  It isn't pretty : (  The yellow shock and the mud flap are pretty much vertical to the ground so you can see the angular difference. 

I called an acquaintance of mine who works part time at a body shop.  He told me he wants to try to use a "take along" to bend it back to the vertical using the opposite chassis rail as leverage, but said he wants to see it first.  I don't know if I'm brave enough to try that but I'll post back with the results.  I'm not hearing many "me too" stories so I'm guessing this doesn't happen too often......

Looks like both front jacks bent towards the same side, so almost surely a side-load problem as you described. You might contact Power Gear and send them photos, to see what they say. A Storm isn't so heavy that it likely would be beyond the levelers capability. And if PG says the problem is the jacks are undersized for the coach, you can report the problem to Fleetwood. But if still in warranty, go direct to Fleetwood. This might even qualify under the 3-year structural warranty that most Fleetwood coaches have.

Gary, I work with some mechanical drives used to lift 2 ton stainless doors in the phama industry. You have basically a screw jack, which means there are bushings or guides to keep the screw aligned with a worm gear motor. If the screw will not retract, it is bent and the jack is trash. If the mounting arrangement is  bent or twisted, the chassis failed and can be boxed in or improved by a weld shop. To try to use a Comalong to pull it back will most likely bend the jack worse.

Typically these are hydraulic jacks, Frank, rather than screw jacks. Gary gave good advice (as usual).

Buffalo Frank said:

Gary, I work with some mechanical drives used to lift 2 ton stainless doors in the phama industry. You have basically a screw jack, which means there are bushings or guides to keep the screw aligned with a worm gear motor. If the screw will not retract, it is bent and the jack is trash. If the mounting arrangement is  bent or twisted, the chassis failed and can be boxed in or improved by a weld shop. To try to use a Comalong to pull it back will most likely bend the jack worse.

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Those are not screw jacks.  Those are hydraulic rams you see extended to the ground.  There are springs attached to retract the foot when the fluid pressure is removed.  The OP says it's the mounting plate/bracket that is bent.  If I was going to try to use a "come-along" to straighten them, I would attach to the entire hydraulic cylinder, and not to the extended ram.  One wouldn't likely be able to bend the entire cylinder rendering it unusable.

Sorry, just trying to contribute, wont happen again

Frank, we don't mind, in fact we welcome contributions. Mistakes happen all the time, but fortunately they generally get corrected. Most of us have had this happen to us, so don't be shy about contributing.

No worries, Frank. Such things happen and usually nobody takes offense.

Besides, Frank is right that trying to bend it back risks damage to the mechanism, whether it is mechanical or hydraulic.  However, I figure ualdriver has little to lose at this point. The alternative is to replace the entire jack anyway.

ualdriver said:

Attached is the photo showing how much the worst of the two jacks bent.  It isn't pretty : (  The yellow shock and the mud flap are pretty much vertical to the ground so you can see the angular difference. 

I called an acquaintance of mine who works part time at a body shop.  He told me he wants to try to use a "take along" to bend it back to the vertical using the opposite chassis rail as leverage, but said he wants to see it first.  I don't know if I'm brave enough to try that but I'll post back with the results.  I'm not hearing many "me too" stories so I'm guessing this doesn't happen too often......

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Yes it may be possible to straighten the jacks with a"come along" I think it will still be a good idea to have some reinforcement welded to the mounts and possibly the frame so they don't bend again.
Bill

if  warranty good contact fleetwood and power gear, good chance if no fault of your own fleetwood is good about standing behind there products