Leveling system

[jcarnes298]

We went to level our RV (chateau classC) with the built-in leveling system. It dropped 3 out of four feet, but the 4th foot came 1/2 way down when we received a low voltage signal in the control panel. Tried to raise the levelers, no go. Followed all the instructions to rise them manually also to no avail.
Finally ended up crawling under the RV, and draining the hydraulic fluid out of each foot, then using a crow bar and slowly jacked up each foot so we can get the unit to the shop. We were told to look for a 50 amp buss. If anyone knows where on a 31E chateau class C the buss is that works the leveling system I'd love to know, I sure couldn't find it. Has anyone else had problems with their leveling system?

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by jcarnes298

We went to level our RV (chateau classC) with the built-in leveling system. It dropped 3 out of four feet, but the 4th foot came 1/2 way down when we received a low voltage signal in the control panel. Tried to raise the levelers, no go. Followed all the instructions to rise them manually also to no avail.
Finally ended up crawling under the RV, and draining the hydraulic fluid out of each foot, then using a crow bar and slowly jacked up each foot so we can get the unit to the shop. We were told to look for a 50 amp buss. If anyone knows where on a 31E chateau class C the buss is that works the leveling system I'd love to know, I sure couldn't find it. Has anyone else had problems with their leveling system?

Not sure about your Chateau.

On my Challenger power to the jacks comes through a 100 Amp breaker which is to the left of the house batteries. In the attach photo the breaker is the middle red dot to the left of the batteries. The black lead coming up at an angle off the left side of the breaker runs about 3 feet and is attached to the leveling jacks motor/pump unit. My jack motor and pump are in the same compartment as the house batteries. The hydraulic jack reservoir is visible in the lower left corner of the photo.

[jcarnes298]

Thanks, I'll check again around our batteries. Didn't see anything resembling your system. Looking at your picture, your leveling system is all there. I wish I could say the same for ours. At least now we can get the rv to a shop for repairs. I do appreciate any information. Each trip will just get a little easier I hope. Thanks again.

[doubravsky]

On our 31W there is a 50 amp breaker under the chassis just north of the batteries.

[doubravsky]

We've had the low voltage error several times when trying to level on a non-level campsite, where it has to lift wheels off the ground. Gets mostly done, quits, gives the error message..

Its always been that breaker tripping for us... crawl under the rv just in front of the batteries, look up and pop the breaker. Then good to go....

[FW28z]

We have aftermarket levelers on our coach so it might operate a bit differently. Typically the batteries must be nearly full charge or the levelers won't work. The low voltage signal might be that for yours as well.

Unless the system is wired so that the control circuitry is different from the motor circuitry, popping a breaker should result in everything being dead. It is possible though that the control circuitry is on a different breaker - in that case, popping the battery breaker might still allow the system to be active, but the motor not working.

In many class C's, Thor puts a breaker just forward of the coach batteries, within the battery compartment. About the most stupid place to put a breaker.

[jcarnes298]

Great ideas. Will be under rv tomorrow.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by FW28z

Unless the system is wired so that the control circuitry is different from the motor circuitry, popping a breaker should result in everything being dead. It is possible though that the control circuitry is on a different breaker - in that case, popping the battery breaker might still allow the system to be active, but the motor not working.

In many class C's, Thor puts a breaker just forward of the coach batteries, within the battery compartment. About the most stupid place to put a breaker.

FW

On my coach I have a 50 Amp breaker that controls most of the coach circuitry and there is a cable that runs the length of the coach from the breaker back to the converter/charger. That breaker is to the right of the batteries in the picture I provided.

There is a 100 Amp breaker (Left side center red dot in the previously posted picture) which has 2 cables coming off the output side. One cable (black wire) runs directly to the leveling jack motor and the other cable (orange), I believe from looking at the way the harness runs, goes to the 12V input side of my Xantrex inverter (2 compartments to the rear). If I get time today I'll go out to the coach and trip the breaker to see what systems go down. If I am correct that brings up another issue in that the recommended breaker/fuse for the input side of the inverter is 250 Amp.

The 50 Amp breaker, I believe, handles all of the other coach functions.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by dstankov

There is a 100 Amp breaker (Left side center red dot in the previously posted picture) which has 2 cables coming off the output side. One cable (black wire) runs directly to the leveling jack motor and the other cable (orange), I believe from looking at the way the harness runs, goes to the 12V input side of my Xantrex inverter (2 compartments to the rear). If I get time today I'll go out to the coach and trip the breaker to see what systems go down. If I am correct that brings up another issue in that the recommended breaker/fuse for the input side of the inverter is 250 Amp.

I was wrong , the orange cable coming off the 100 Amp breaker provides the 12V input to the generator starting circuitry. So that breaker controls power to the leveling jacks and the generator. If I trip the breaker all other systems work.

[FW28z]

I am sure they are different wiring configurations, depending on the available room. You cannot access the breaker on my coach unless you remove the batteries. That is what I am referring to as being stupid.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by FW28z

I am sure they are different wiring configurations, depending on the available room. You cannot access the breaker on my coach unless you remove the batteries. That is what I am referring to as being stupid.

No argument on it being stupid to have to remove the batteries to access a breaker.

The point I was making is the factory installed leveling circuitry flows through a separate breaker as wired by Thor. The class Cs that have Thor installed leveling jacks may have a similar circuit and breaker and the solution may be in locating that breaker.

There are a couple of things I learned from this thread, which in my opinion makes it worthwhile in participating, which are:

1. I now know that when I pull into a campground, if my jacks do not work power up, step 1 is to try starting the generator. If the generator does not start reset the breaker. If it does there is another problem.
2. When tracking the second wire off the 100 amp breaker I learned that there should be a 250 amp breaker feeding the inverter. The question I need to answer is where is that breaker located.

[jcarnes298]

We found the breaker! Thanks for the help. It put me in the right place to finally see where they "hid" it. After this weekend I now know where everything is on this RV. Happy motoring everyone and thanks again.

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by jcarnes298

We found the breaker! Thanks for the help. It put me in the right place to finally see where they "hid" it. After this weekend I now know where everything is on this RV. Happy motoring everyone and thanks again.

Where was the breaker hidden? Might help folks in the future if you could explain or attach a pic of the breaker location.

[Mike77]

Everyone has the rotten vehicle (RV) days. We had ours yesterday and today. We were placed in an unlevel site and proceeded to use the Big Foot Leveling system.....3 legs went down; the 4 th quit. The slide went out with much screeching. So I asked to be moved to a level site and we slowly moved the coach with the now ( not working) slide to the new level site. When we finally centered ourselves on the level site, the leveling arm still didn't work, the slide was stuck out and wouldn't retract and worst of all the refrigerator stopped working. The slide, incidentally was rebuilt at Thor in Elkhart with 3 motors instead of 2. But it didn't help us. Anyone have the same situation happen to them.
We are new to RVing only been on the road for 5 weeks and have lights fall off the wall, rear shade fall off, the check engine light sign has been on since we bought it 5000 mile ago and four Ford tries hasn't helped. The antenna handle assembly has broken, and the three tvs we have don't function. The radio in the cab worked for two weeks and then stopped working.
We plan to have everything corrected and then put it on the market as soon as we're home. SUV and hotels from then on.

[Tytlfamily]

Originally Posted by Mike77

Everyone has the rotten vehicle (RV) days. We had ours yesterday and today. We were placed in an unlevel site and proceeded to use the Big Foot Leveling system.....3 legs went down; the 4 th quit. The slide went out with much screeching. So I asked to be moved to a level site and we slowly moved the coach with the now ( not working) slide to the new level site. When we finally centered ourselves on the level site, the leveling arm still didn't work, the slide was stuck out and wouldn't retract and worst of all the refrigerator stopped working. The slide, incidentally was rebuilt at Thor in Elkhart with 3 motors instead of 2. But it didn't help us. Anyone have the same situation happen to them.
We are new to RVing only been on the road for 5 weeks and have lights fall off the wall, rear shade fall off, the check engine light sign has been on since we bought it 5000 mile ago and four Ford tries hasn't helped. The antenna handle assembly has broken, and the three tvs we have don't function. The radio in the cab worked for two weeks and then stopped working.
We plan to have everything corrected and then put it on the market as soon as we're home. SUV and hotels from then on.

I have the same problem occasionally with my 2015 Hurricane. Auto level seems to complete most of the time, but gets the Low Voltage message. There is a large circuit breaker down in my battery compartment that trips. It is one of those jackknife styles breakers. The first time it happened, I was stuck in Waco Tx in the rain, at a RV park, jacks would not come up, slides would not come in. I called Thors hotline, we started realizing that anything battery related did not work. That;s when he told me to go and look for that breaker in the battery compartment. He said there were two of them. Sure enough, one was out. Flipped the yellow blade back in, and all was good!! He even emailed me the schematics of the battery system while we were talking in case I needed to get help if that breaker did not fix it.
When I took it back to CW recently, I told them about the problem....they recalibrate the zero level position, (Something you can do)....and I have not had the problem since.

[doubravsky]

That's the same problem I've had with my Four Winds! It's happened 4-5 times, but only happens in a state park- type out of level campsite, or on my driveway (so the jack has to work hard to get there... )

Both times I've taken it to the local dealer, they've been unable to replicate the problem (even though I tell them they have to get it out of level to make it happen).

I'm worried because my warranty is up this month. Can you tell me more about "recalibrating the zero level position"?

[Tytlfamily]

My owners manual is in the coach, up at the storage facility, but I recall seeing a page that talked about recalibration....essentially, you level the coach manually to your liking, and then there is a series of button pushes...like all four arrows at ounce, then enter...or something like that. It resets the level box (mine is down in a bay) to the new level position. And yes, mine would work fine on completely level surfaces also.

[Phil Saran]

tI have a new 2015 Thor Hurricane 34E and also had the circuit breaker pop on the levers in the down position last Friday when getting ready to leave our last campground to head home. Also got the low Thor and they told me where the breaker was, reset and the legs went back up. BUT there is a fluid leak at the pump and the container is only about 1/2 full now with oil on the floor of the battery area.


This was our first big outing with our new rig and went out for 30 days and covered about 2800 miles. Found a few other items that need attention. The second drawer for the silverware does not close all the way, the drivers sliding window rattles (like it is missing a strip of felt on the outside of the frame. And I also broke the bracket that holds the generator exhaust pipe in place at the body.


Time to make an appointment at a Thor dealer. I bought my MH out of state.

[Tytlfamily]

Hello Phil, well that does not seem like too much as far as problems go? I hope you are enjoying your Hurricane, we are really loving ours. Hey, I posted another topic a little while ago asking Hurricane owners what PSI you have in your tires?


Cheers, Tom

[Phil Saran]

The only real upgrade I have done so far was to have a 8" pillow top mattress made by southern California, it's better than my mattress at home. He also built a 9" pillow top mattress for my former travel trailer when we lived there, but sold the TT before moving here to Colorado. So we made a road trip out there last month.