Adding electric/hydraulic Leveling Jacks

[W0X0F]

I know that this has been discussed before but please humor me and help if you can! 

I'm tired of running the tires up on planks, logs, stones/boulders and small children/animals  "Devil2" to level out our R/V!  has anyone tried retrofitting an electric or hydraulic jack system to their class A/C?  Has anyone scavenged a system from a parts yard and installed it?  I've done a quick search and found a coupe of manufacturers of add-on systems, but they are not cheap.

Thanks in advance!

HD

[cosmic]

I bought 4 scissor jacks at my local pricess auto store and I welded them to all 4 corners of the frame.
Now I park and reach under with me cordless drill and turn the nut that raises and lowers the jack and in seconds my rig is level, and best of all when you get up in the middle of the night nothing shakes at all.
If you can't get your mechanic to weld them for ya. just drill and bolt them on.
This was the cheapest way that I found to do the job and It's just as fast and way way cheaper then electric jacks. these days you can get a cheap cordless drill for $20 and just leave it in your rig.

[Oz]

Before getting my mechanical jacks, I considered this same option and resourced it pretty well.  At the time, we had a lot of rigs at the junk yard and I could get a set of electric jacks at a reasonably affordable price. 

However, after looking the donor vehicle over thoroughly, the amount of time it would have taken to extract the system and add it to my rig just wasn't worth it.  I would have had to add fuse and power source links too. 

A hydraulic system would have had it's own issues as well.  In the end, I just sighed and said to myself, "Well, there's plenty of other 'bells & whistles' you can add to a classic RV, but I'll just have to pass on this one."

With a decent amount of time though, the installation could certainly be done without too much cussing.

An electric drill with mechanical jacks turned out to be a pretty good way to go.  I added leveling bubbles on the corners of the rig, and you might have to make a couple walk arounds to get it level... not as convenient as sitting in the cab and reading the automatic leveling system gauges, but hey... "You can't always get what you want, but if you try some time, you get what you need."

My rig is 24'.  I don't know the length of yours.  But notice that Vic's in a 21'.  That's a lot lighter than a 24'.  If you have a longer rig, you'll want a more powerful drill.  A cheap one will burn out quickly under the stress.

[tiinytina]

We bought scissor jacks at good ole Sands RV ($60 a pair). Think they are 3 ton each we have a 28' Tiffin that weighs in at almost 7 tons. Pat bolted them to the frame. We use an 18V cordless drill on them, and have some small pieces of 2x8's (10-12" long)we put under them. We keep a bubble level in the fridge... Propane/electric Fridges should be as level as possible...  Only issue we have had is one got bent somehow (probably hit something)... and I have to remember to grease the screws once a year. We can get her level in under 5 min.

Tina

[Clyde9]

I bought 4 scissor jacks at my local pricess auto store and I welded them to all 4 corners of the frame.

That's awesome Vic, I think I may do the same. I have a D22, around the size of your rig. 4 of those jacks can handle quite a bit of weight. Mine is 8400lbs empty. I have a feeling Mark's 24' rig may be around 10000lbs empty, and if he adds the hot tub under the bed, even more. 

Jack

[chieftain31]

My 87 has a partial leveling system...  One "leg" stopped functioning and was later removed however the others are still there.  One functions well and the other two are problematic.

I've done a lot of research and system I will be going with can be found here:
http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/scissor-jacks-stabilizing-system/6540

They make a motor that can be attached, or you can use a drill lower the jack (less expensive).  Either way, its not necessarily manual operation!  You will probably still need to get your rig close to level but this is an economical way to level/stabilize.

[tiinytina]

You might also be able to get them from ebay.... Pat cut the handle from one of the jack handles off at the first bend from the jack socket, then square ground it. We fit that into the 18V drill so we don't have to reach under all the way....  5 min to level.... and stable!

Tina