Rear Stabilizer Jacks

Last night while in our Big Horn, we felt a thump, sounded like the RV fell. Went outside and both rear stabilizer jacks had buckled... They are still holding up but both are bent. We will be heading to Elkhart for some warranty work at a dealer up there. Is this something they will take care of or do we need to go to Lippert?

I think the stock factory jacks are rated at 5000lbs a pair. You may want to go more heavy duty with a #7500 to #8000 rating. Can't beat this guys price.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Two-..._Camper_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c527f7117

Curious. How did you load them? According to your profile, your BH3670 is a 2010, so I'd be looking for some warranty relief if they failed due to a defect.

Those rear jacks are not made to lift or level the vehicle. They are not strong enough, you should only bring them down until snug. The manual warns that they have no lifting or leveling power.

lhetsler said:

Those rear jacks are not made to lift or level the vehicle. They are not strong enough, you should only bring them down until snug. The manual warns that they have no lifting or leveling power.

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Exactly. I've used a technique someone else on this forum suggested. Level the rig using the front jacks, then drop the nose no more than 3/4" past that. Then drop the rear legs and set snug. Then raise the front back to level. Makes everything nice and tight and does not overload the rear stabilizers. And mine sits like that for the summer, with the Ultra-Fab stabilizers added.
I don't see a need to increase the strength over the 5000 lbs. of the OEM's. If there's that much weight that far back in the rig, you've got some serious load distribution refiguring to do. Or join Jenny Craig.

JohnDar said:

Exactly. I've used a technique someone else on this forum suggested. Level the rig using the front jacks, then drop the nose no more than 3/4" past that. Then drop the rear legs and set snug. Then raise the front back to level. Makes everything nice and tight and does not overload the rear stabilizers. And mine sits like that for the summer, with the Ultra-Fab stabilizers added.
I don't see a need to increase the strength over the 5000 lbs. of the OEM's. If there's that much weight that far back in the rig, you've got some serious load distribution refiguring to do. Or join Jenny Craig.

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Just because they have a 5000 lbs rating per pair dosn't mean they will hold half that weight. The same reasoning is causing the BH's leaf springs to break so often.

Perhaps, but my springs are still looking good and my rear stabilizers have not bent. Sitting at the computer desk/entertainment center of my BH3670, the rear stabilizers are still aft of me. So if there is more weight on them than even the 2500 lbs. (half the rating), something's wrong.

JohnDar said:

Perhaps, but my springs are still looking good and my rear stabilizers have not bent. Sitting at the computer desk/entertainment center of my BH3670, the rear stabilizers are still aft of me. So if there is more weight on them than even the 2500 lbs. (half the rating), something's wrong.

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Yesterday morning, on leaving a campground in central coast Oregon, I found the rear electric jacks dead. There was a grinding sound which diminished quickly over a couple seconds until dead. I lubed the spiral shafts well and then manually retracted the stabilizes and extended them several times - reset all the fuses and breakers I could find, to no avail. I called Lippert this morning and they were very helpful, telling me they would pay whatever RV repair place I could find. They gave me a case number for them to call. A local RV repair is heading the one mile over to check them out and will order and replace them. He said I will probably have to pay a $50 fee for on-site repair, but they are going to check with Lippert regarding that.

Whatever, it sounds like my 2011 BH 3610RE will be repaired without much fuss. BTW, the jacks are very easy to retract and extend manually and actually do so twice as fast.

Steve

I experienced the same problem as you but I waited until I returned home before I initiated any repair/replacement.

What this means in your situation, i.e. now that you have requested that the local repairman come out to your site, is that you are going to have to stay in your present location for whatever period of time it takes for the repair person to request and receive a replacement motor as I doubt, and don't think that Lippert should be required, to pay two repair shops to look at your motor in the event that you must move on.

As you said, it is easy to manually raise and lower the jacks. In fact, after removing the motor which is easy to do, I used my battery powered drill which, I must say, did the job much more quickly that the electric motor.