wintex55

In my opinion, you need have no fear of the springs on HWH leveling jacks getting "weak!" I have four HWH jacks on my 1999 Allegro Bay, 1998 Chevy Chassis, and I've never had any problem with the springs "weakening." These springs are massive and are designed such that they are more than capable of handling the loads that motor homes place on them. Normally, springs will operate far longer than the products for which they are selected will last. Springs do not weaken unless they are affected by the environment or are over-extended beyond their design limits. There is no way that the springs on motor home leveling jacks can be over extended. I have had only one spring on my 13 year old motor home fail spontaneously. I was parked in South Texas for 4 months, drove to Houston, TX and was in my 3rd month being parked (a total of 7 months with my jacks extended) when I heard a "sproiiing" sound and the motor home shook. Upon investigating, I found that one of my right front jack springs had broken. When I examined the spring, I found that it had broken due to a very tiny "crack" about 1/16th inch in diameter on the edge of the 6th coil from the top. The only reason I know that this spring was cracked was because when I checked the surface area of the broken spot, the tiny area of the "crack" was rusted, There was no rust on the outside surface of the spring itself. So, I say, buy the HWH levelers. With the great service-after-the-sale, and the dependability of the jacks, you will not go wrong.

In reading all the comments about long term parking and whether the leveling jacks should be extended or retracted and the concern that leaving them extended might possibly damage the jacks due to the jacks supporting too much of the vehicle weight is of no importance at all. The jacks are designed such that they could support more than the weight of the coach as a built-in passive protection. It is not a good idea, when leveling the coach, to extend the jacks until a wheel, or two, is up off the ground which I have seen many times. The danger is not that the jack components may be damaged due to the weight of the coach, but that the jack extension is extended to the point that the shaft may be slightly bent due to "side pressure" if the coach itself should "shift" for any reason. If it looks like this may be the case, use short sections of 2 inch boards, in any combination as long as the entire footprint of all the tires are on the boards, to level the low side of the coach until the coach can be leveled with none of the tires off the ground. Boards can also be used under the jacks to reduce the extension of the jack shafts. Boards under the jacks does not affect supported weight...only extension. So, when leveling your coach, don't worry about how much "weight" the jacks may support, but whether the weight is evenly distributed between all the jacks and none of the jacks are airborne!

I had this same problem on my Allegro Bay. When the jacks were retracted, sometimes the alarm would not turn off. At first, I would use a 5' long 2x2 to pry up on the jack and the alarm would turn off. I isolated the problem to the left front jack. Sometimes I would be driving and the "Jacks Down" alarm would come on. Again, prying up on the left front jack, after pulling to the shoulder of the road, would cause the alarm to go off. After doing this a few times, I crawled under the MH and checked the left front jack and found that there was a "Limit Switch" that turned off the alarm when the jack reached the "Up" position. Further, there was an "adjustment" for the switch. I made an adjustment that activated the switch approximately 1/16th sooner and that solved the problem permanently. Apparently, the switch was set, at the factory, right on the edge of the proper operating position and sometimes the jack shaft would bottom out just before the switch was activated. My Allegro Bay is going on thirteen and I've not had any further problem with that jack.

I had a similar problem with a couple of jacks and found that a 4' to 6' 2x2 could be used to pry the jack up into position, with the jack system in "store" mode. When I had time, I went to a hardware store and bought two heavy duty springs about 12" long and used wire to install them in parallel with the original springs. I actually wired them to the "hooks" on the original springs. This actually solved my problem for a few years and when they, again, would not retract properly. I had the jacks replaced. I think my jack extensions were slightly bent when I was on a front-end-down slope with the jacks extended pretty far and, without thinking, I released the parking brake prior to storing the jacks and I felt the MH move forward a bit. The service rep at HWH agreed with me that when the parking brake was released, the front jacks "caught" the weight of the MH and because they were greatly extended, they were slightly bent due to the "side forces" on the jacks. The rear jacks were not affected due to the fact that they were not extended very far. The upshot is to NEVER RELEASE THE PARKING BRAKE UNTIL YOUR JACKS ARE STORED, especially if you are parked on a slope.

I am of the opinion that leveling jacks, at least those made by HWH, are very robust and not easily abused. Some of the comments I have read are concerned with the springs "weakening" due to being extended for long periods of time. It is the nature of leveling jacks to be extended for long periods of time and they are designed with this in mind. Generally, a spring will not weaken unless it is over-extended, repeatedly. The only time you should need wood under your jacks is when a wheel, or wheels, will be jacked up off the ground when leveling. I use my jacks whenever I am parked and I still have most of the original springs on my almost 13 year old Allegro Bay!

I just read all the tips and suggestions for keeping the holding tank odors out of the motor home. I have had my Allegro Bay for 12 years and very seldom have any problem with odors. The reason isthat early on, I discovered that complete and proper flushing will prevent most odor problems. At first, I listened to "old timers" tips and found that each "old timer" did something different. One of the worst tips I heard was to keep the grey water tank "closed" and the black water tank "open!" I soon found that using this method, the grey water smelled almost as bad as the black water. I adopted the theory to open the grey tank when parked and close the black tank. I also found that if you dump the black tank regularly, like every two weeks, no matter how full it is, that the odors will be greatly reduced. A lot of motor homers don't dump their black tank until the indicators read 2/3rds or Full. This lets the contents of the black tank to "stew" and give off more odorous gasses. I had a couple of friends who did this and when you walked into their motor home, there was smell in the air in spite of the chemicals they used. When I am parked, I dump every other week and when I am on the road, I dump every time I have an opportunity to do so. Sometimes my black tank indicator may read 1/3 full but I dump anyhow. This brings up another interesting item...the black tank volume indicator on most RV's that are 3 or 4 years old, or especially the olderRV's, never read empty...even when the tank is empty. This is due to build up inside the tank in the area of the sensors. Even though my Allegro is going on 13 years, when I dump, the black tank indicator reads empty. This is due to proper, and complete, flushing. I still have a couple of boxes of "deodorant chemicals" that I purchased the first year I bought the MH. The second year I had the MH, I designed and installed a "hands off" flush system, with a timer so I don't overfill the tanks, and I have not used chemicals since. The only time I get an odor inside is when I am scrubbing the toilet bowl drain, with a toilet brush, and hold the flush-valve open for a few minutes. With the toilet ventilator fan on, the odor never gets into the living area. So, my answer to black tank odors is: FLUSH, FLUSH and FLUSH again! wintex 55

I forgot to mention in my other reply that you should not let the water remain in your tank for extended periods. When I am ready to refill my water tank, I drain all the water out, run water into the tank for about two minutes, drain the water again and then I fill my tank with 100% "new" water. This prevents the water from becoming what I call "stale water." I have been a full-timer for almost 14 years and boondock a lot and have never had a problem, until the slimy filter problem I mentioned in my other reply. I drain and refill my tank at least once a month, or more often if it is convenient and the tank is nearly empty. Floyd Winfield wintex55@aol.com

I had this same problem but the only water that tasted bad was at the cold water tap of my kitchen sink. I had installed a filter on this water line only two months prior. I checked the filter and it had filtered out some kind of contanimant which began to grow in my filter unit. When I removed the filter insert it was slimy and grey colored and the inside of the filter unit was coated with a grey slime. After cleaning the unit with soap and hot water and flushing it with bleach and rinsing again, there was no more bad taste and I have had no problem since. Be sure and check your filter unit. You might want to clean it, flush it with bleach and install a new filter unit just in case. Floyd Winfield wintex55@aol.com