There is nothing quite as frustrating as finding a parking spot at the campground after a long day on the road only to press the button that operates the RV’s leveling jacks and have nothing happen.
When this happens it has the possibility of ruining what was supposed to be a fun trip. It could also give a bad ending to what was a fun getaway. Having your jacks not work as they should be quite frustrating.
It is even worse when they are down and won’t go up as that means you are stuck in your location for an indefinite amount of time. The positions your jacks are stuck in can make a major difference in how critical having a fix is.
This is because when your RV’s jacks are in a raised position not lowering down, it wouldn’t necessarily ruin the entirety of your trip. That being said, it is something that you would want to be addressed as quickly as possible.
If you happen to park on a reasonably flat surface, then your RV’s jacks not coming down can be an annoyance rather than a critical failure. You most likely can go about your day, and enjoy your holiday.
Sorting out the issue would be something you can address when you get back home. Nevertheless, if you are using a travel trailer and your jacks do not lower, it means that you cannot unhitch your truck to set your camp up.
This article aims to provide tips to help you troubleshoot why your RV’s jacks would not go down.
Conduct Basic Tests
While it might seem that this step is pretty rudimentary, it can help you accurately begin your troubleshooting. There are certain things that you will be able to seamlessly observe when performing a basic test on your RV’s jacks.
The first thing you should do is to press the jack down button, is there a sound of machinery working? If you do not hear a sound, then it could mean that there is no power reaching the leveling jack system.
This could be because of something as basic as a fuse blowing. Nevertheless, if you press the button and you do hear your RV’s jacks trying to work but seemingly failing, then it is more than likely a complex mechanical issue.
Your next step would be to operate each of your RV’s jacks one at a time to see if the issue at hand has to do with the entire system or if it’s limited to your RV’s rear and front jacks.
Doing this might even help you narrow down the cause to a single jack. Once you have performed this round of basic testing using your RV’s control panel to no avail, it would be time to head to the next tip.
Visual Inspection
It is important to remember that having your level jacks not go down is something that nearly every RVer has faced or will face.
This step would rely on you walking around your RV and actually looking closely at each of your jacks to discover if there are glaring issues stopping your RV jacks from lowering down.
At this time you should pay attention to the ground to see if your RV has sprung a hydraulic fluid leak. If you happen to be RVing during the winter, it could be that your RV’s jacks have been frozen to the body of your RV.
If this is the case, you can spray a little bit of warm water at the base to help loosen the jacks. If there is no visible leak of hydraulic fluid and your jacks are not frozen, then at this point you should move to the next stage of troubleshooting to sort the problem out.
Read Up Information In Your Owner’s Manual
The owner’s manual will always contain in-depth information concerning the operational procedure of numerous components in your RV and the jack system is not left out.
While you might have read the manual around the time when you purchased your RV, this is a great time to reacquaint yourself with it.
You should get your manual from where you keep it, most people with a travel trailer tend to put in their truck, while those with an RV leave it inside the RV for safekeeping.
The Owner’s manual is bound to have in-depth troubleshooting tips that could help you figure out the issue. Most owner manuals have a troubleshooting chart with detailed steps that owners can use to figure out what the problem is and what caused it.
Given that you want your jacks to come down, you are most likely just getting to the campground so you do have more time and there isn’t that much a sense of urgency.
If you read the owner’s manual and you follow what it says to no avail, it would be time to move on to the next step, which would be to manually lower.
The manual will offer some guidance on doing this safely and given that there are numerous systems in use in RVs today such as Lippert, Quadra Bigfoot, and HWH, you will have to refer to your owner’s manual to ensure that you follow the procedures suitable to your RV’s particular system.
You should also never be too quick to dismiss your owner’s manual when it comes to providing additional insight into any problems that you might be facing.
Manually Lower Your RV’s Jacks
HWH systems jacks are the most common hydraulic leveling jack systems used on RVs today. These jack systems tend to have a manually triggered override which will enable you to lower the jacks down or retract them as the case may be.
When it comes to retracting the jacks there will be a manual release valve that has to be opened, which would then allow the jacks to be pried open.
LCI Manual Mode
- Press the on/off switch
- Push the up arrow a couple of times till the screen shows it is in manual mode
- Press the enter button
- Press the button marked front to lower the front jacks
- Then repeat the process for the rear and middle jacks
- You could also choose to push left for the left-sided jacks and the right button for the right-sided jacks
HWH Systems Manual Mode
For starters, the ignition has to be in the ACC or On mode. The parking brake has to be set before the system can turn on.
- To turn the starter on push the on button
- The power-on light will come on
- With the system on, select the directional arrows, you intend to use.
- Press the dump button to ensure all the air is dumped before you move to lower the jacks.
- The jacks will lower in pairs so you will have to lower the back jacks first and then the front ones.
Manual mode has the ability to be a great quick fix to sort out your RV’s jack problems.
Request help from those around you
If you have tried all you can and your RV’s jacks still won’t lower down, then it might be time to request help.
- Requesting for help could mean asking those in the campground for assistance. You are bound to find someone that has faced a similar issue with your jacks system.
- Additionally, you could choose to get help from the manufacturer as we very manufacturer has a customer support phone line and you could get someone to put you through the problem and fix via the phone.
- Another way to get help is via RV roadside assistance services such as Good Sam or AAA. If you have a membership with any of them you can simply call them so you can either have a word with a certified RV mechanic or have them send somebody out to you to get the problem sorted.
- If you don’t belong to a roadside assistance service or your provider does not have coverage in your location, you can have a word with the campground or RV park office to get referred to someone that can handle the issue.
- Whichever method you choose, you should never be scared to request help. Doing so can help you fix the issue sooner than just doing it alone.
The great thing about RVing is if you have done it long enough chances are you have encountered a problem that you weren’t sure how to solve.
The RV community is one that is great at coming together to help each other given that they have all encountered such an issue at a point or another. What you should do when you get help is to be willing to pay it forward for the next person.
Conclusion
Using the steps above to troubleshoot why your RV jacks are not coming down can help make things easier when you encounter such a problem.
While it might be that the issue causing the problem is far more technical, you can enjoy your camping trip and then get back to have an RV expert check things out.
