automatic air vs. automatic hydraulic leveling system

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silversmith

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Feb 22, 2010
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Looking at Monaco (Camelot/Dynasty) and would like the pros and cons for automatic air vs. automatic hydraulic leveling system in a full-time (7 months on the road and 5 months snow birding) environment.  Or, would it make more sense to go with the dual system?  Which system is best when in snowbird mode where the RV sits for weeks at a time in an extended/up position?
 
We have air leveling on our Monaco and love it!  No fussing around.  Just push the button twice and it does it's thing.  A big advantage is you no longer have to worry about jacks sinking into hot asphalt or soft dirt.  When we arrive home where it will sit until our next trip, we don't do anything at all.  We don't level it.  We just let it sit on its tires.  We progressed up through hydraulic jacks and now have air leveling for the second time.  Terry Brewer convinced us to get it when we ordered the last one and we're sold!  By the way, I'm not sure you can have both air and hydraulic.  I "think" it's one or the other, but not both.  Someone will correct me if I'm wrong!  Also, it has to be factory installed during its building, not retrofitted later.

ArdraF
 
I believe the HWH air leveling system can be retrofitted to an existing chassis, even one with hydraulic jacks, so one could have both systems.
 
I had air leveling on our Country Coach a few years ago. I've also had hydraulic leveling on three coaches. I did like the air leveling and sometimes miss it. You push the button and walk away to do other chores. By the time you get back the coach is level. The only problem is if there is a lot of movement in the coach it will try to re-level again. Doesn't happen often but it can. I wish I had both systems so I could choose the one best suited for the moment. If I could do it again and had the choice I most likely would go with air first.
 
I like my hydraulic system because when down the jacks lift the tires off the ground. Thats the way I camp in it and the way I store it.>>>Dan
 
It's not good to keep the tires off the ground.  On a diesel pusher, the parking brake is the rear wheels only, so with them off the ground, there is no brake.  It's also hard on the suspension to take all the weight off the tires.
 
We had hydraulic leveling on our first coach and air leveling on the next two. I prefer air leveling, but I don't think it would be a "deal" breaker for me.

Both would be great and I actually drove my first air leveling coach from the factory straight to White Pigeon, MI to have Big Foots installed. They screwed up my appointment, and I was not thrilled with their answers to some of my "install" questions so I left and never added them. I never really felt the need.

ken

 
 
I have a center door in my Amrican Tradition, when on the jacks the door opens smoothly, when on the wheels the door tends to stick or scrape on the bottom of the door opening.>>>Dan
 
RV Roamer said:
I don't think it makes much difference, as long as they are fully automatic. I've never owned a coach with auto-air, though.
Click to expand...

Equalizer offers a combination of both air and hydraulic levelers. They do not recommend retrofitting due to the complexity.
 
From my observation, air leveling has a more limited range than hydraulic, but that probably depends on  which hydraulic system you are talking about and the chassis it is installed on.  Probably not more than a couple inches difference, though, so maybe not a big deal.

I don't see the choice between the two as a decision point between two coaches. Nor would I pay extra to have one vs the other.
 
We have both on our Beaver. The air leveling is great for a quick leveling during a lunch stop at a rest area or a one night stay at a Walmart ( common courtesy is not to use jacks in a parking lot.)

You can't beat the hydraulic for good solid feed when leveled, especially when there is a strong wind. Hydraulic is no good on soft ground unless you carry some large 2x12 blocks. Yes, hydraulic will allow leveling on a greater slope than air.

They both have their positive and negatives. I'm sure glad we have both.
 
I designed and installed a manual leveling system on my GMC 4106 and it works great with ten inches of range at each corner independently. My American Tradition has a hydraulic system that also works well and is automatic, but needs to be on level ground to deploy. sometimes thats a real pain in the butttt.>>>Dan
 
Good summary, Chet.

The auto hydraulic system on my 2004 American Tradition works well and has decent range. Works on some pretty awkward sloped sites, as long as the range is adequate. If the range comes up short, I put a wood spacer block under the jack to give it a bit more lifting range and then re-level. I also put a spacer under the nearest tire so that I don't lift it off the ground.
 
Another benefit of air leveling is that if there is a steep driveway you must use you can lift the entire coach 5+ inches so as not to hit the bottom of your coach.  BTW, This is extremely hard to do with hydraulic jacks!  :)  :)
 
JerArdra said:
Another benefit of air leveling is that if there is a steep driveway you must use you can lift the entire coach 5+ inches so as not to hit the bottom of your coach.  BTW, This is extremely hard to do with hydraulic jacks!  :)  :)
Click to expand...

You can also lower the entire coach for a low clearance obstacle as well.
 
Gary,

An air suspension coach can lower itself if it has a dump switch. I agree the range of leveling is somewhat less than hydraulic systems. When we had the Country Coach I used to put Level Lynx blocks under the front wheels in order to allow the air system to level properly. Now I only use them under the jacks to prevent any discoloration on my painted pad. :)  I still enjoyed the air leveling a lot but both systems combined would be really great.
 
To those who replied --- you all had very interesting comments and a great deal for us to consider before our purchase.  Ideally, if one could arrange for both systems that would be the way to go.  I had not given a lot of thought to the air system in a windstorm and having to make adjustments to the leveling system.

This may be a rumor that hopefully will be clarified here -- but could we have a grounding issue with the hydraulic system (jacks to the ground) in an electrical storm?
 
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