I met two couples that had just purchased their rigs. One a month ago and one a couple of months ago. They were in the same area of AZ as myself and they had no popping at all. Ther rigs were pretty much empty as they were snow birds and not full timers as ourselves. Our rig is loaded with all our living items. It made me wonder about the weight on the jacks. Could more weight cause them to pop more and less weight pops less? I know thwy should not pop at all but ours are very bad every morning and night. They are on concrete blocks so the pistons are at a short stroke. I am going to put some wood between the foot pads and the concrete blocks and see what happens.
Didn't see this thread until now and had to think back on when I've heard the most and least popping.
When we had it loaded on gravel with a tripod, wood blocks under the front legs and tires on 2x8 wood pads we had the least amount of popping with a wide gap in temperature from day to night.
If we have it unloaded (for the most part) at the house on a packed surface (not concrete) without the wood blocks under the pistons, it pops more with the slides out and less with them in. When DH got sick I slept out there and noticed it didn't make a sound with the slides in...the bedroom was about 6" out. I got curious and opened up the slides and sure enough, it pops in the evening when it cools down and morning when it warms up.
My theory is weight distribution combined with temperature: if all the slides are in the weight is evenly distributed, when out its unevenly distributed. This would put more stress on the legs and cause them to 'move' more with temperature fluctuations and cause popping sounds. The sound can be amplified by the surface its on: concrete doesn't have any 'give', gravel does so I'm thinking it would make more noise on a hard surface vs a soft one.
I also notice more popping with the tripod than without it though it almost eliminates side to side movement when moving about inside. Again, the front isn't as heavy as the back where the larger slides are and more weight is uneven across a wider span.
Then I got to thinking about other full timers who had decks and stairs built off the entry door and larger slide even though they weren't there year round - they didn't have popping sound issues even on concrete pads and one with a too short pad that used concrete pier pads under the back stabilizers (angled). Looking under their units two things are noticeable: where the deck and stairs are they put additional wood on concrete pillars under the unit and they also had partial skirting around the side and back which acted like a shield on the tires and stabilizers. I'm assuming that would reduce the popping sound since they added more support mid to tail of the unit and reduced the temperature hits from partial skirting. They told me they always keep the tires covered even if its for a short stay and only notice occasional popping with higher to lower temperatures in a day.
Since we are moving our unit to the same park they are at I'm thinking of getting slide supports for the living/dining (entry side) slide out and the larger entertainment unit directly across from it...seems like it would reduce any slide creeping/tilting plus reduce side to side movement when moving around inside and the popping as well. We'll be on packed gravel so I'll use my wood blocks as I did before and we are looking into a hydraulic pin stand as opposed to the tripod we have now. This should help with weight distribution and hopefully temperature changes too, it will be about a month before we know so I may check back to see if that eliminates the popping.
One thing I learned long ago is if you are stationary for longer than 2 weeks, put wood under the tires if you are on concrete. The rubber will leech into the concrete (take a look at your carport or pad where you park anything for a long time - you can see exactly where the tires were resting) but they won't leech with wood under them and give you a bit more tire life.
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