Hydraulic leveling jacks

[bobnmary]

I have a 75-85 sov, once owned by burton scott (airstream mechanic), hence the unofficial multi-year designation. anything that he wanted to add, he did, and one of the things he added was a big hydraulic pump on the tongue by the propane tanks that is connected to two cylinders, one on each side, just in front of the rear wheel. these cylinders are on a heavy frame, which is also connected to a steel slide and when you pump down the cylinders, the slide lowers to the ground, then raises that side of the trailer. valves control which side of the trailer you want to raise.

does anybody else have something like this? can you tell me what it is good for?(you can pick up the wheels but it is hard) should i keep it on or take it off? (it is very heavy, and i could stand to lose the weight)

please help

bob

[Darkspeed]

Photos please Bob!

[SteveH]

Originally Posted by bobnmary

I have a 75-85 sov, once owned by burton scott (airstream mechanic), hence the unofficial multi-year designation. anything that he wanted to add, he did, and one of the things he added was a big hydraulic pump on the tongue by the propane tanks that is connected to two cylinders, one on each side, just in front of the rear wheel. these cylinders are on a heavy frame, which is also connected to a steel slide and when you pump down the cylinders, the slide lowers to the ground, then raises that side of the trailer. valves control which side of the trailer you want to raise.

bob

I've never seen or heard of that before, but think it would be a cool option. I really dislike always having to drag out the various blocks to get the trailer level, side to side, and you must do that before unhitching. However, I don't know what the system weighs.

[slowmover]

Four hydraulic jacks (on each corner) were a Streamline option for some few years. The system automatically levelled the trailer.

Bair Hydraulic Trailer Leveling

Of course, Streamline had the kind of frame this was easily done.

.

[perryg114]

I have thought of getting a couple cheap 2 ton hydraulic jacks from Harbor Freight and using them to level the trailer by putting them between the axels where I usually put a floor jack when I am working on the brakes. The BAL jacks are not adequate for leveling the trailer more than a small amount. The hydraulic jacks will also take some load off the axels. Something automated would be even better but would most likely impact ground clearance.

Perry

[Darkspeed]

What I am using is two bulldog 45k side wind jacks. One welded to the frame behind each wheel well. They are driven by 24vdc motors. 17" travel. Will have photos soon

[bobnmary]

here are some pics. the system seems to work ok, although it is hard to pump if you have to pick the wheels on one side all the way off the ground. i want to rebuild the cylinders but i need some parts.

bob

[Darkspeed]

Originally Posted by bobnmary

here are some pics. the system seems to work ok, although it is hard to pump if you have to pick the wheels on one side all the way off the ground. i want to rebuild the cylinders but i need some parts.

bob

O'diggidy thats a manual spring return system.. I thought it would be electric/hydraulic..

[lewster]

Those are single acting jacks similar to what HWH uses in all of their hydraulic leveling systems. The extend solenoid opened when the pump is on to extend the jack, then will open again with the pump off and the jack is then retracted by the spring with the solenoid open. This way, you can always manually retract the jacks with no power (manually open the solenoid) in an emergency situation.

[KeithC]

I love the idea of an automatic hydraulic leveling system. I hate the idea of knowing that at some point it is going to malfunctioning and I would have to learn the system, jack up the whole trailer, and locate the non-working parts and replace.

[bobnmary]

oh yeah, they are single acting cylinders, with big return springs. you pump them down and the springs pull them up when you release the pressure. nobody seen this on any AS before? i admit it all looks very homemade.

[perryg114]

That looks pretty cool. Can you take a photo from underneath so we can see how those skids are attached and hinged?

Perry

[Darkspeed]

Is that an adjustable sway link between shock mounts or a position sensor for leveling?

If it is linked to a through frame sway bar that dude has skills.

[bobnmary]

well, i rebuilt the cylinders today (which were leaking badly) but i had to superglue some o-rings to fit and one of them broke. i need to find a local supply of 3/16ths by 15/16 ID o-rings, and i think i'm good, even though the cylinders are pretty rough. if that doesn't work, i think i can get some similar cylinders pretty cheap. about a 1 1/2 inch bore by 8 inches travel or so. might even be possible to rig it up to work with bottle jacks by removing the pump and plumbing in the fluid in that hole. as for more pics, i don't think it would help much. the shackle for the slide is on the front end of a piece of channel steel that is bolted to the frame where the axles are. the springs are also attached to that channel. the slide is steel, about 3/16ths or 1/2 inch (pretty hefty stuff) about 3-4 feet long.

i have decided to keep it, as long as it works, even though it's not appreciably easier to jack it with the pump than it is to pull up on some lumber. at least it makes it easier to change a flat.

bob

ps, those other gizmos seem to have been some kind of sway control device, and had wires leading to the tongue, but they weren't hooked to anything when i bought it, so i really have no idea what they did.

[slowmover]

ps, those other gizmos seem to have been some kind of sway control device, and had wires leading to the tongue, but they weren't hooked to anything when i bought it, so i really have no idea what they did.

Well-lit and comprehensive pics of same would be of interest around here. You've a unique trailer it sounds like.

[bobnmary]

i'm off to florida tomorrow for a week or so, i'll get back to you on this when i return. not taking the AS to florida. it is a one-of, as mentioned in the first post. for example, one story i got is that burton raised the whole trailer about 4-5 inches, and when they saw how much better it was, AS started making them that way. so mine has a lot of extra framing underneath to move the axles lower, and sits higher than all the other old AS's.

[airdan]

LCI Leveling System
A39 Airstream Motorhome

Jacks on my A39 motorhome will not retract. Tried new control panel, new solenoid and had two different mechanics work on the problem. One mechanic
called LCI factory tech for solutions to problem. Cannot figure out what the problem is. Short of making a trip to Indiana factory for repair, anyone experienced this or have suggestions for solutions?