Question New member looking to see if anyone has had a electric jack extend while driving.

[Curley]

Was wondering if anyone has had the electric jack extend itself while driving down the road. After driving from Athens AL and several stops for gas almost home in Kentucky the Jack extended and brought us to a grinding halt on a 2 lane road. The crank wouldn’t work so I had to remove in while cars made there way by in just 1 lane.

 

["EZ"]

Yikes!!! Never heard of that before.

Welcome from Georgia!

 

[RandDescape]

I have a 2019 Newmar Ventana and while driving from Indiana to Maryland at night while on the turnpike in PA w/ jersey barriers on each side I heard my Equalizer Jack pump start up and heard noises consistent with Jacks being deployed. I was able to hit the all retract button and the jack noises went away and all I could hear was the usual wind and the racing of my heart. Had to drive another 16 miles to a truck stop before I could pull off. Got out and went to look at each of the 4 jack feet to see how close they were to the ground - all 4 of them were up in the fully stowed position (good since I'd hit all-retract). But the passenger side rear foot was missing. The shaft was retracted, but the foot was gone. I then grabbed a flashlight and went to go see if the foot had lodged in any part of the engine or the grill of my toad, etc. No damage I could find indicating a large steel plate had bounced up and hit it. When I got home I pulled out the creeper and repeated the undercarriage inspection - no damage. Newmar replaced the foot under warranty - and I found 2 of my other feet were lose - it's now part of my regular yearly maintenance.

So my advice is to know all of the panels of your RV enough to hit the "cancel" or "power" button in the dark w/out taking your eyes off the road. I'll never know if my jacks really did deploy before I hit retract or not, but I want to be sure I'm able to press that retract button again if I ever hear the noise again while driving.

- Richard

 

[Neal]

I've had my Equalizer come on twice while driving, it is very scary. I reported it to Newmar, talked to Equalizer, of course deer in headlights. I don't know that they are going down, I think when it senses they have dropped out of stowed slightly they come on, that's my guess. When I haven't retracted them in a while I will press ALL RETRACT prior to leaving just to make sure they are all sucked up and haven't creeped down. Ever since I've been doing that I've never had an issue. I suspect colder weather is when it is more likely to happen.

Equalizer jacks are hydraulic lifted, HWH jacks are spring lifted.

 

[J&JD]

Sounds eerily similar to Girard awnings extending while driving!