automatic air vs. automatic hydraulic leveling system

[Jim Dick]

Silversmith,

You are already grounded with your power hookup. I doubt the jacks would make much difference.

As far as making an adjustment to the air system, it's automatic. You don't have to do anything. Just a minor annoyance with the small pump operating, whcih you may not even hear.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The additional grounding with the hydraulic jacks is more of a plus, not an issue. It is one more way for any stray electricity to pass harmlessly into the ground.  There are a very few scenarios where it is better to be insulated from the earth than to be well grounded, but not many.  A stick house, for example, is intentionally well grounded to real earth per the National Electrical Code.

 

[ArdraF]

As far as making an adjustment to the air system, it's automatic. You don't have to do anything. Just a minor annoyance with the small pump operating, whcih you may not even hear.

We hardly ever hear it, so it's not even annoying.  What we would hear might be some air hissing if it's expelling air, but we hardly ever hear that either.  It simply isn't an issue.  I've heard it if a whole group of people come inside at one time, but that's about it.  Like Jim says, it does its thing and we ignore it after the initial leveling.

I just thought of something else.  Automatic air levelers are MUCH nicer in bad weather.  In the case of hydraulic jacks you might pull into a site when it's pouring rain and the jacks can't quite make it level.  We always carried wood blocks to put under one or more of the jacks when the terrain was really uneven.  It was not fun to have to get out in the rain to put those pieces of wood under the jack.  We no longer carry wood blocks. 

ArdraF

 

[crackodawn]

We have auto/hydraulic jacks and they are push button automatic. The tires never come off the ground.

One thing about jacks though, with the recent heavy rains in the last couple of years, there was a time when I jacked up the ol bounder to avoid water flooding. Without jacks, that downpour and the resulting swift rising water would have come into the places it shouldn't have gone.

The Journey's jacks operate smoothly and are trouble free. What is nice is that it takes some pressure off the tires.

 

[mphy98]

I did not see it mentioned here, so what about tire changing?  You can do that with hydraulic jacks.  To the best of my knowledge air cannot.

 

[Ned]

Even if you can raise your wheel off the ground with hydraulic jacks, you shouldn't not rely on them for support while removing a wheel.  You should put a jackstand or blocks under the axle to support the weight before removing the wheel.

 

[ArdraF]

I agree with Ned.  Hydraulic jacks are not designed for tire changing and could be very dangerous if the hydraulic system failed.

ArdraF