Leveling legs

[saflyer]

Does anyone know the brand/model of hydraulic leveling legs on a 2005 Holiday Rambler Ambassador 40 PLQ? Is any information printed on them? I don’t have the build sheet.

Also, any advice on a source for them?

Ed

[Dwight Lindsey]

Our 2005 Monaco Knight has RVA Jacks.  Your coach may as well.

https://www.rvajack.com/

Dwight

[Gary 05 AMB DST]

Last year my right rear jack wouldn't hold a load, slowly lowered and twisted the frame. Noticeable on our two-piece windshield. My passenger side, upper corner would be affected. I talked to RVA and they were back ordered on the jack, $880. Knowing it would take months to get a jack, I removed it and found a hydraulic shop that could rebuild it. It took them 2 days and it cost $80. Glad that RVA was back ordered. I had to remove the batteries to open up the back panel of the battery bay to get to the hose and bolts. Patched the opening with a shiny new piece of sheet metal. It was a easy job.

Gary 05 AMB DST

[BradHend]

5 hours ago, saflyer said:

Does anyone know the brand/model of hydraulic leveling legs on a 2005 Holiday Rambler Ambassador 40 PLQ? Is any information printed on them? I don’t have the build sheet.

Also, any advice on a source for them?

Ed

Could I ask what’s up with your levelling system?
My rear driver side jack sticks down on my ‘05 Cayman ever since I bought it last year.  Quite annoying and often difficult to get it to retract by myself. Basically stopped using the whole system for now. 
Haven’t decided whether to pull it to see what a reseal kit and dressing the plunger will do, or to just replace them.  
They are spring return and quite rusty even on the plungers surfaces.  Not cheap items to replace, so hoping a repaint and a descent servicing will suffice. 

[Dwight Lindsey]

Brad:

I had a similar problem with one jack on our 2005 Knight, which would not retract.  Our problem was the retract valve.  If it's not clear to you which valve controls the problem jack, you can put the jacks down a bit.  I wouldn't jack the coach, maybe just touch the pavement.

Then, at the hydraulic pump, manually release the valves one at a time.  You should be able to see the two working jacks retract.  If you find one valve that does not retract the jack . . . that would likely be the problematic one.  I bought a new retract valve stem.  At the time the owner of RVA (since retired) told me that simply removing and re-installing the valve stem would often solve the problem.  I bought the new valve stem, installed it, and it's been fine since for a lot of years.  I don't recall exactly when I did this, but it was probably about 8 years ago.

You would want something like this:

https://www.rvajack.com/RVA-Hydraulic-Pump-Assemblies-and-RVA-Hydraulic-Pump-Parts/86030445-1-16-22-5-32-Retract-Valve-Stem-only-Solenoid

There seem to be three different ones, for different models, so you would need to find out which model jack system you have.  If that's not immediately clear you could call RVA and ask them how to identify your system.

Dwight

[vanwill52]

RVA has been reincarnated, and they offer some (not all) parts.  Their price for a complete pump assembly with motor and controls was less than $800.  I bought one to replace my noisy unit.

As another poster mentioned, you are FAR better off to take a leaking jack to a hydraulics shop and have it rebuilt.  The early ones (like my 2000 Dynasty) were single-acting cylinders with spring return, and the exposed part of the piston was not even plated to resist corrosion.  Not a great design, but the piston seal (the part that would cause it to leak down) is on top of the piston rod, well-protected far up into the cylinder.  The exposed cylinder rod has a decent wiper, but I still extend the jacks and clean/polish the rod frequently.  If you do not do that cleaning, they can begin to fail to retract completely, and it's seldom the fault of the spring.  It is that the dirty/corroded jack shaft causing too much friction on the wiper.

[saflyer]

On 1/28/2022 at 5:49 PM, BradHend said:

Could I ask what’s up with your levelling system?
My rear driver side jack sticks down on my ‘05 Cayman ever since I bought it last year.  Quite annoying and often difficult to get it to retract by myself. Basically stopped using the whole system for now. 
Haven’t decided whether to pull it to see what a reseal kit and dressing the plunger will do, or to just replace them.  
They are spring return and quite rusty even on the plungers surfaces.  Not cheap items to replace, so hoping a repaint and a descent servicing will suffice. 

One of mine has a leak. Shop sent it to out of town company for rebuild. Then shop owner went off the deep end when I wanted it back after 6 weeks. (I’ll leave out the details for legal reasons.) Our winter trip is in jeopardy. Now I have to deal with overhaul shop and since they probably have it under my FORMER shop’s name I anticipate problems getting it back without legal expenses. So need to find the source for legs. Hope to know more about retrieving my original Monday.

Is there model or capacity information printed on the leg? I don’t want to crawl around under the rig looking for something that isn’t there.

Edited January 30, 2022 by saflyer

[Jerry Ellis]

The Power Gear leveling system on my 01 HR Scepter did have a sticker on the jack with a model number so at least in *some* circumstances the info is there. I can appreciate your desire to not crawl under the coach though. 

Going at this from a different direction, I would think that the jack would have been provided as part of the leveling system to Holiday Rambler/Monaco. Then maybe figure out what jack would have been supplied with that system. With that in mind, is there a brand name printed on the control panel on the dash? In the box of manuals that was supplied with the coach, mine included one for the leveling system. Maybe that'll have some information.

I was able to locate used replacements at Colaw's and Visone but I had the model number off the jack.

https://colawrv.com/

https://rvparts.visonerv.com/

[saflyer]

24 minutes ago, Jerry Ellis said:

The Power Gear leveling system on my 01 HR Scepter did have a sticker on the jack with a model number so at least in *some* circumstances the info is there. I can appreciate your desire to not crawl under the coach though. 

Going at this from a different direction, I would think that the jack would have been provided as part of the leveling system to Holiday Rambler/Monaco. Then maybe figure out what jack would have been supplied with that system. With that in mind, is there a brand name printed on the control panel on the dash? In the box of manuals that was supplied with the coach, mine included one for the leveling system. Maybe that'll have some information.

I was able to locate used replacements at Colaw's and Visone but I had the model number off the jack.

https://colawrv.com/

https://rvparts.visonerv.com/

Great information. I was able to contact the company that is repairing my jack and they found it. (It was removed mid-December by my FORMER chassis service company. Funny thing is the rebuild company didn’t get it until last Friday!) If nothing else they will be able to give me any information printed on the jack. I’ll check my package of information that came with the coach, also.

Ed