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Old 05-22-2015, 07:39 PM   #101
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All, here is the new i just heard. A technician heard my issues with jacks....same as most of you. One of the jacks dropping few inches....the monitor keep saying jacks down and beeping....showing error message which needs reseting.
He recommended to add Caterpillar additive to the fluide. First I heard this I basically wrote it off....as I had heard all the horror stories from you all.
We also have a slide issue for which another technician had to call Winnebago for support. While on the phone with them technician also mentioned my issues with the leveling....guess what? The Winnebago advisor said we have had good luck with adding Caterpillar additive! Strange ha.
Any way I had a technician adding this today. Easy and I could have done that also. I will update you when we leave our campground and get on the road if this helps....
Stay tuned.


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Old 05-22-2015, 08:32 PM   #102
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My Georgetown had he same issue... What I found helped is when I retract I hit manual and hold he all retract button..and keep holding it for a few seconds after he light goes off..Also take a Allen wrench and make sure all the manual valves are closed...Thank you
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Old 05-25-2015, 09:19 PM   #103
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Hello fellow Leveling system victims,

After hours of conversations with RV professionals, it's becoming evident that if one holds on to a MH for an extended time, the jacks aka leveling system will fail and require some costly repairs. My Voyage has the Kwikee system, later acquired by Power Gear Co. and then acquired by Lippert.

Failure of the system required the replacement of a jack and that didn't totally fix the problem. According to the service manager, parts to correct the "seeping down" of jacks while the vehicle is in motion, are no longer available or take months to deliver.

Now, I'm doing a marathon trip from FL to WA and return and praying the system doesn't swarm before I get home. The system is operating at about 60%. I'm also searching for a jacks pro that can repair the system once and for all. This has been going on for over a year.

Just landed in Nashville and went to the Winnebago dealership and learned that their recommended system is HWH and will promptly encourage a system replacement for more than $6000.00. "Just leave the MH and come back in a month and we will have your problems solved". YEAH-RIGHT!

Someone asked how many leveling system dis-satisfaction issues are out there? It's frustrating to have a nice MH, paid for and well maintained, and then find out that the weak link in the satisfaction ratio is beyond fixable. RVers expect solutions to situations that may arise with their MH's and aren't happy with less.

There are leveling systems out there that do meet our expectations and the RV community is too close knit to allow a less than stellar manufacturer to put out inferior products and poor customer service.

Nashville heading West by Memphis, Little Rock, Denver. If you have one of those RV mechanics that only come by once in a lifetime in my path to WA, please reply. Help!
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Old 05-26-2015, 12:11 AM   #104
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My Lippert Jacks occasionally indicate a jack down warning light when parked for a period of time. I crawled underneath once to see if a jack had come down or if there were any leaks. Didn't see any obvious problem A dealer told me that a jack has to only come down a small amount to have the light come on. My MH has been parked for nearly a month now, so time to for another trip under the MH...
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Old 05-26-2015, 05:18 AM   #105
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Me too

Before I saw this thread I inadvertently started another one thinking I was the Lone Ranger. Silly me! Sorry about the other thread.

This 2014 Itasca Sunstar 31 KE has the Lippert hydraulic jack system. It is still under warranty and ultimately I will bring this issue up with under the warranty. But as the dealer is far far away I tend to let the list get long before I need to go there to save time and big fuel dollars.

Here's the glitch. After a using the moho each time I clean it up, service and park it with leveling jacks fully retracted. In the past couple of months I have noticed that when I go back after a few weeks of it sitting idle, and start up, I get an alarm that the jacks are extended and I must go through a retract exercise- even though the jacks were not purposely deployed.

I have visually checked the jacks and have noticed the left rear jack is settling down on its own about 1- 1.5 inches after several days- maybe a week or two of sitting there with no activity or action. The reservoir does not appear to be depleted in anyway between checks

The hydraulic reservoir and reads full (down maybe 1/2 inch from the cap.)

When I have crawled up under the rig and I do not see any significant discharge of fluid around the jack. I do observe that an ever so small (maybe less than a teaspoon) amount of fluid may have emerged somewhere around the jack likely sometime back over the past 7 months and there is no visual evidence of any current leakage (no puddles , drips or runs of fluid anywhere in the vicinity of the jack).

During travel use I have seen no deployment and get no alarms on the console (yet).

Sounds like I am in the club.

On Hydraulic world this sure seems like air in the lines or weak piston seals?

Anyone have any updates on success with the Caterpillar additive? Is it working?
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Old 05-26-2015, 09:38 AM   #106
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americanrasc, did you read my note above re adding Caterpillar additive? That should make the fluid thicker and prevent some of the leakage. I dont know if it works but was recommended by Winnebago. I just did it.
Will update you if it worked.


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Old 05-26-2015, 10:32 AM   #107
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americanrasc, did you read my note above re adding Caterpillar additive? That should make the fluid thicker and prevent some of the leakage. I dont know if it works but was recommended by Winnebago. I just did it.
Will update you if it worked.


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You also have to consider the temperatures where you live, use, and store the motorhome before using the Caterpillar additive. We live and store our motorhome in Wisconsin. The winter temperatures often go below zero.

Last year it was -8*F when we were getting ready to leave for Florida. When I tried to store the jacks I got an error code and everything stopped. I found out there was a very short retract time period programmed into the system. The fluid (without the Caterpillar additive) was so thick the jacks wouldn't retract before they reached the time limit and set an error code.

Thanks to one of our members I was able to clear the code and raise the jacks. If you only use your motorhome in warm climates the additive may work well. However at -8*F it would have compounded our problem.
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Old 05-26-2015, 10:43 AM   #108
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Hikerdogs, good point...we will be in CA for a while with warm climate.


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Old 05-26-2015, 01:47 PM   #109
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Looking forward to reports on the Cat fluid after its been used for a while. For the most part we are a rather warm climate (with a few really cold days) each year.

Is there any more descriptive name for the fluid or is it marketed just as Caterpillar fluid??

Is there some sort of limit to how much should be added (I am assuming its an additive not a replacement fluid?)

Thanks for the follow up.
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Old 05-26-2015, 02:10 PM   #110
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Originally Posted by americanrasc View Post
Looking forward to reports on the Cat fluid after its been used for a while. For the most part we are a rather warm climate (with a few really cold days) each year.

Is there any more descriptive name for the fluid or is it marketed just as Caterpillar fluid??

Is there some sort of limit to how much should be added (I am assuming its an additive not a replacement fluid?)

Thanks for the follow up.
Have you seen this document from Lippert?
http://lci1.com/assets/content/suppo...heets/0295.pdf

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Old 05-26-2015, 03:03 PM   #111
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I tried the "press all four buttons" reset and it didn't work. I found this in my book. I'll try this and see if it clears the timeout error.
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Old 05-27-2015, 12:14 AM   #112
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MutinyGuy, I didnt know this document exists. I simply took a quart of fluid out and added a quart of Caterpillar additive. Hope its OK.


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Old 05-27-2015, 08:13 AM   #113
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I tried the "press all four buttons" reset and it didn't work. I found this in my book. I'll try this and see if it clears the timeout error.
Ok, so I did this reset last night and it worked. I cycled the jacks out/in and worked them a little. They went up and turned off the "jacks down" light like it should. Success!
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Old 05-30-2015, 05:09 AM   #114
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Have you seen this document from Lippert?
http://lci1.com/assets/content/suppo...heets/0295.pdf

JIm
Thnx. Had not ! Will try to pick some up and give it a shot.
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Old 05-30-2015, 10:57 AM   #115
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Originally Posted by dezrtracr View Post
My Lippert Jacks occasionally indicate a jack down warning light when parked for a period of time. I crawled underneath once to see if a jack had come down or if there were any leaks. Didn't see any obvious problem A dealer told me that a jack has to only come down a small amount to have the light come on. My MH has been parked for nearly a month now, so time to for another trip under the MH...
I have had this problem since day one, and my motorhome is over 1 1/2 years old. The dealership has replaced all four return lines with better quality hoses and the entire power unit. They believe there probably is a slight leak in one of the internal jacks seals which is causing the pressure to drop. No visible leaks on the outside. Not going to worry about it because I do not get the buzzer while driving down the road.

Good luck.
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Old 05-30-2015, 11:21 AM   #116
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Wow, wow, wow! I just read this entire thread looking to see if I had posted in it. Nope. So here goes:

2008 Winnebago Destination. (I'll condense this)
2011 alarm sounded jacks down. (did everything everyone else has done.)
2011 July, Forest City, IA, Winnebago service factory. They could not fix it. I asked if they tested the 1500 psi pressure port and the reply was "We don't have a gauge." (Seriously!) They had already replaced all four hydraulic lines.
Dealer near me replaced all solenoids - didn't work.
The problem continued until 2013 when all the "Reed" switches were replaced. (Hmm! I told them that at the beginning that it was a Reed switch - Reed swith = magnetic sensor on each jack wired in series. In my system pin 6 shorts to ground on control panel when all sensors are closed.)
2013 started again with a drop down of jacks on one side. Continuing problem.
2014 Replaced pump, solenoid and 3 jacks. The jacks were sent to a hydraulic shop for testing and all 3 had a slow leak. The shop was not able to repair (new seals) because the jacks are a sealed unit and would have to be cut (torch) to get to the seals. Re-welding would void any warranties from the shop.
2015 Ongoing saga and now when leveling the left front jack will not hold it's level position. Continuing to try and get that problem fixed.

Oh, this is a Kwikee hydraulic jack system from 2008 vintage before Lippert bought them out. I think the jacks were still made for them by Lippert back then, but not positive.

After Forest City I pulled the control panel out and put in a toggle switch. When the alarm went off I would pull over and check the jacks. None would be down and i'd just throw the switch and disconnect power to the controller. DW would be climbing the windshield when the alarm was going off.
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Old 06-03-2015, 09:53 PM   #117
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Update....we drove from Las Vegas to San Diego without the "Jacks Down" warning sound and alarm. We did use the Caterpillar additive. I will give you update when we drive longer distance.


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Old 08-16-2015, 03:18 PM   #118
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We are still driving without the warning light and sound for "jacks down".
Additive seems to be working. Will be heading east from west and will update if it is back.


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Old 09-25-2015, 07:41 AM   #119
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I just read this entire post. We have had the buzzer & light occasionally over the past 3 years, but after doing a retract it would not come back. Knowing that any shop I took it to would most likely not be able to duplicate it due to never knowing when it would come on, I have never taken it back to the dealer for service of the jacks system other than an updated control pad or relay for the 20,000 lb rear jacks timing out. That issue has never come back.
Now for the most recent update, we just made a trip from CA to NC that took us 10 days with a few stops along the way. We deployed the jacks at varying temps & altitudes. The first day we had a buzzer & lights come on we were at 4000'. I did a full autolevel & retract , verified the jacks were up the system turned off by itself & we drove on, from that point on every 3 minutes the light would come on & the warning buzzer would sound. We were on NV highway 95 & there literally was no place to stop or pull over for 20 miles. The first chance we had we stopped & repeated the process several times & the system still malfunctioned. At the next town & at about 2500' We stopped did a complete re-level & retract. Then I shut down the engine waited 30 seconds , started it up again all was good for the next several days & we were again at altitude of 7000' with no problems when we rolled out the next day. Again at 9500' we had no problems in the Rocky Mountains of CO. Then back to apprx 800' the malfunctions started all over again. This ruled out it being an altitude issue. This time we went as far as killing the the chassis power before it would no longer give us the buzzer & lights every 3-5 minutes.
I did look at the pump & reservoir to see if I was low on fluid or had a loose wire , did not find any problems there however there was some small amount of seepage found. Now that I have the motorhome at home & a few weeks to work on it & will make sure all lines are tight & add a quart of hyd stabilizing fluid per lipperts recommendations.
I do have an extended warranty, but I am still hesitant to take it to the dealer for this. Only if I find that there is a major component failure will I then take it to a repair facility If Lippert won't send me the parts.

Thanks for all the help from the previous posts here.
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Old 09-26-2015, 06:24 AM   #120
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I had a lot of the same problems with my 14' Adventurer but they were not affected by altitude, mine were affected by temperature. The colder it was, the longer they took to retract and sometimes timed out before the rears were fully retracted. Had the pump/valve assembly replaced and I believe that the problems are gone. BUT I have yet to use them in cold weather as it was a very hot this past summer since the swap out. In my case altitude did affect them in the sense that in Montana and Wyoming it got down to the 40's and 50's this past summer when I was camping in the mountains and I experienced the jack problems.
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