Hydraulic Leveling

[Jerry Emert]

Big newbie question here so have patience!  Most of the leveling I've seen on coaches has the cylinders or legs come down and touch the ground.  When demoing my new to me 2003 Patriot Thunder Lexington C-12, that didn't happen.  After crawling around on the ground for several minutes both salesmen determined that the hydraulic system levels by pressing on the frame instead of the ground.  Seems wrong to me.  Is this how it works or are they playing me?  My final inspection is coming up Monday so I'm frantically trying to soak up all the info I can.  Thanks in advance.
Jerry

[Karl Welhart]

Jerry,
Welcome to the club... Yes, the jacks land on a pad welded on top of axles.  This system of leveling is commonly call the IDS system.  I was not aware of any 2003 model with this type of leveling system.  Anyway, mine has worked very well for 12 years, but recently develop some leaking problem on the two front jacks.  Some BAC members have had problems with failing control units.  Also, problems with the leveling brains that can be replaced with a newer style of unit.  

Good luck with your final inspection.

[Gerald Farris]

Jerry,
The leveling system that your coach has is a system that the SMC Corporation (owners of Beaver at the time) designed and had built by IDS. The jacks operate between the frame and axle. This design system was installed on virtually all of the 2001 and 2002 Patriot and Marquis coaches as well as the early production 2003 models until the stock was exhausted.

Parts for the system if you have a failure, can be difficult at best or impossible to find. However, there have been several fixes developed by club members or BCS (Beaver Coach Sales) that can correct most problems. The system was installed on many coaches, and failures are not common, but they can happen.

Gerald    

[Jerry Emert]

Thanks Karl, how can you tell if they are working or not?  

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Jerry,
Welcome! One advantage of this system IMHO is that the coach sits low to the ground when leveled at a campground. Also the ECU checks every 15 min or so and auto adjusts if it goes out of level. My 01 Contessa has the system and it works well even though it sometimes made a bit of noise when retracting.
Steve

[Jerry Emert]

Jerry,
The leveling system that your coach has is a system that the SMC Corporation (owners of Beaver at the time) designed and had built by IDS. The jacks operate between the frame and axle. This design system was installed on virtually all of the 2001 and 2002 Patriot and Marquis coaches as well as the early production 2003 models until the stock was exhausted.

Parts for the system if you have a failure, can be difficult at best or impossible to find. However, there have been several fixes developed by club members or BCS (Beaver Coach Sales) that can correct most problems. The system was installed on many coaches, and failures are not common, but they can happen.

Gerald    

Thanks Gerald.

[Jerry Emert]

chock one up for the salesmen!  Thanks Steve

[Karl Welhart]

Jerry,

When you press the power switch on the control panel to the on position, the yellow lights will go around in a circle testing the levelness of the coach (after you slides are out).  After 30 seconds the light will be steady and then you can press the AUTO button on the control panel.  Then the system will do a air dump for about 2 minutes.  Then the jack will start a double down cycle until the coach is level.  When level, the center (middle of the left, right, front, rear buttons) green light will come on steady.

I may have a copy of the manual if you need one.  Hope this is helpful...

[Jerry Emert]

Karl, I'm going to pick it up Monday.  I'm sure I will have more questions then and in the following weeks.  Thanks to all so far.

[LaMonte Monnell]

I have had my @001 Contessa for a little over two years and my left rear jack is leaking. The only way these jacks can have new seals installed in them is to find a hydraulic shop willing to cut the cylinder to replace the seal then reweld them and reinstall.

 I am going to the HWH factory in July and have the hydraulic jacks removed and the lines capped.

Then they will install an air leveling system using my existing air bags.

 I didn't want to take the chance of opening these jacks up and keep having continual issues with them.

But many have had good luck for years with no issues, just not me of course!

Good luck and enjoy your coach!

[Terry Melot]

"Then they will install an air leveling system using my existing air bags."

Hope you're not motion sensitive?  Air bag level will leave you with a floating coach. When one person walks around, the entire coach rocks. I would get motion sick.

I will add coach to ground hydraulics if the time comes when I can't get the old frame to axel hydraulics working.

[Gerald Farris]

My 2000 Marquis has both air leveling and frame to ground hydraulic leveling. I usually use air leveling and virtually never use the hydraulic leveling system because of multiple reasons. The air leveling does not twist the coach as bad as the hydraulic system does, and this gives you less windshield problems. It is hard to tell much difference in movement inside the coach between air and hydraulic leveling. The air leveling system is simpler to use because it cancels and the coach airs up to ride height when the engine is started, no jacks to raise. Less maintenance issues from jack and hydraulic line leaks. No worry with jacks getting stuck in soft ground or damaging assault pavement. In short, I would not have a coach without air leveling.

Gerald    

[LaMonte Monnell]

I am not too worried about any motion with air leveling, I have lived on boats before and was always moving in some kind of direction.
I just want to have something if I happen to get an unlevel site now and then.......
haven't had any use of my hydraulic system this year at all due to leaking jacks.
And we have done fine with just removing the airbag air and lowering the coach!

[Joel Ashley]

I know some are sensitive to the movement associated with air leveling, but it sounds like you wouldn't be one of them, LaMonte.  We had a live-aboard cruiser before getting into land yachts, and experienced crossing the Columbia Bar, stormy San Juan anchorages, and rip-tide salmon fishing for many years.  Moving to terra firma and a coach with jacks was okay and they helped stabilize in a big blow, but were a pain in the rear reliability and repair-wise, especially when they got stuck in the down position.

Our Beaver didn't come with them.  We emulate Gerald's attitude, and if I had jacks I'd rarely if ever use them.  Our HWH air system is easy to use and it works well.  Since like us you are used to sea legs, I think your plan is spot on.  To us, any motion from our moving inside the rig is practically imperceptible.  To someone not used to their house moving, I can understand having the sense of stability jacks endow.  Only in high winds, though, do we fret much, and that's only due to flapping slideout covers - bringing in windward slides fixes that.

One issue Gerald might offer input on is the auxiliary compressor associated with air auto-leveling.  I'm not sure what HWH does in that dept. when they do the install themselves.  Many factory installed pumps are subject to failure due to their location and quality.  Gerald and others recommend certain ViAir compressors for the job of automatically maintaining level once attained.  It might be something you'll want to discuss with HWH.

Joel

[Stan Simpson]

The #1 reason we chose our Beaver over other coaches was because it has air leveling only. I have 2 replacement hips and crawling under our old coach to put blocks under the jack pads, and then doing it again to remove them, was just too hard on them. I went as far as drilling holes in the blocks so I could pull them out using an awning hook, but that didn't eliminate the crawling under to place them.

We would never buy another coach without air leveling. The rocking is not an issue for us. Its hardly noticeable.

Stan