4 Common Atwood Camper Jacks Problems (Troubleshooting)

atwood camper jacks troubleshooting
atwood camper jacks troubleshooting

Around 11 million households own a recreational vehicle in the US, according to Whiskey Industry Statistics. This will continue to increase as more Americans choose a healthier and more adventurous lifestyle. Even those who only travel a few times each year find a sense of fulfilment in owning an RV.

An RV makes camping easier and more enjoyable. It may also double as a house extension. After all, this vehicle has all the amenities of a traditional house—bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, etc. Park it next to your home when you’re not traveling, and, voila, you have an extra 250 to 320 square feet of floor space.

One of the most significant features of an RV is the leveling system. As the name suggests, it levels the floor and body of the RV on a rough or uneven surface. RVs usually park on undeveloped land in the wilderness, so they need ground support.

Function and types of leveling jacks

function and types of leveling jacks

A leveling system typically consists of hydraulic jacks. Older RV models use manual jacks, which are inefficient and incompatible with larger RVs.

The design and structure of a leveling system vary from brand to brand. For example, some leveling systems only have two jacks near the front wheels, while others have four (two on each end).

Besides ensuring the RV is horizontal, leveling systems also serve as stabilizers. They prevent the wheels from sinking into soft ground by providing additional support. In addition, their flat bases offer more vertical resistance.

When choosing an RV, consider which leveling system will work best for your camping needs.

For instance, if you are the daredevil type who prefers boondocking on unchartered territories to camping on designated campsites, you will need jacks on all corners of your RV.

Remember that these jacks don’t usually go too high or low but just enough to raise the vehicle 2 to 3 degrees. With multiple jacks, though, you can raise your RV a little higher, and you can do it on either end.

Atwood Camper Jacks

atwood camper jacks

Atwood is a company recently purchased by Dometic. Before the merge, Atwood was already an established car and RV fixtures, amenities, and accessories manufacturer. It is famous for the “universal rubber door bumper”, which forever fixed car rattles.

Atwood RV products include heaters, vents, furniture, and leveling jacks.

RVs with Atwood camper jacks can be raised on four sides—front left, front right, rear left, and rear right. This allows you to take on rougher terrains and slopes.

However, it would be best to always park on the ground no more than three degrees slanted to avoid needing additional stabilizers, typical improvised assemblies.

Atwood Camper Jacks Troubleshooting

While having leveling jacks on all sides of your RV gives you more stability and leveling, it also increases the chances of malfunctions. Unlike other leveling systems with only two leveling jacks that can break down, the Atwood camper jacks have four.

It also comes with more complex electronics and controls, which contribute to the leveling jacks’ vulnerability. Nevertheless, given its effectiveness and quality, it’s still the best leveling system.

It’s important to note that Dometic is well-known for its superior products, so you can expect your Atwood camper jacks to perform well and last long.

However, with proper usage and maintenance, it will take years before you experience minor blips that can easily be fixed. Most fixes for age-related issues are DYI-able. Only the complex ones require professional attention.

Of course, as an RV owner, you must know how to handle these malfunctions yourself, as they may occur when no professional help is available. Moving around on a slanted floor will be difficult and sometimes dangerous for you and your family.

Furniture might fall, and appliances that must be horizontal during operation (particularly those that produce fire) might break down. There are three common issues you might encounter with your Atwood camper jacks:

  1. One or more leveling jacks may fail to extend or retract.
  2. One or more leveling jacks may extend or retract slower than usual.
  3. None of the leveling jacks is extending or retracting.

No specific or exclusive troubleshooting methods are available for any of these issues. Anything can lead to them, from a faulty activation switch to a dead battery.

Therefore, you must try different approaches to get to the bottom of any snag you encounter. This is why it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the components of an Atwood camper jack system.

  • Leveling jacks – We all know what these are—the foot that extends and retracts to adjust the slope of your RV. Just a reminder: you have four of these around your RV, and they work separately. This means they can also break down individually depending on what they hit on the ground as they extend. So before lowering them, do a quick inspection of the land where you parked.
  • Activation switch – The leveling jacks won’t work unless activated through this switch. It serves as a safety feature, preventing you from accidentally pressing the remote and ruining the current configuration of the leveling jacks. In short, your remote control won’t work on the jacks unless this switch is on.
  • Polarity controller – This is the power board for the leveling jacks. It’s where all the jacks and the activation switch are wired into. The antenna for the remote is also found on this controller.
  • Remote control – The jacks can only be controlled via this remote control, unlike other leveling systems with a control board installed on the wall inside the RV. It has five buttons, four for controlling the four jacks individually and one for controlling them simultaneously.

Knowing these components allows you to accurately diagnose the issues you encounter with your Atwood camper jacks. Here are some examples of the things you should check when your jacks are operating partially or not at all:

1. Faulty activation switch

faulty activation switch

The first step in operating the leveling jacks is to activate them through the activation switch. If you press the remote and don’t get any response, you likely forgot to press the activation switch.

If you did press the activation switch, but the leveling jacks still won’t extend, you should check its polarity on the polarity controller board and its internal connection. You can do this using a multimeter. If the polarity is okay, you can assume the remote control is faulty.

2. Low battery

low battery

Now that you’re checking the remote control note that it has a 9-volt battery. There are three things you should check. One, check if the battery still has power using the exact multimeter you used to check the activation switch’s polarity.

Two, if the battery seems fine, you should check the remote control itself. There’s a chance it’s not getting power from the battery. Lastly, check the state of the antenna on the polarity controller. Maybe it’s loosely connected or broken.

3. Polarity issues

polarity issues

Now, this is the tricky part. Knowing that all the camper jacks are wired into the polarity controller, it’s safe to assume that most malfunctions originate from this board. If one of the jacks isn’t working correctly while the rest are, check their corresponding wires on the polarity controller.

The polarity must have switched out and is now reversed. All you need to do is switch the hot and neutral cables. It’s also possible that the wires have loosened up after months or years of resisting vibrations.

4. Antenna problems

antenna problems

Your remote’s antenna is similarly wired to the polarity controller. It’s the two small wires sticking out on the lower left corner of the board. If you’ve examined everything, including the remote control, and found no irregularities, these wires are probably the culprit.

Maybe one of them snapped or curled up tightly that the remote control is having trouble getting a signal. The polarity controller has its electronics embedded within the panel, so they are well-protected.

On the other hand, the activation switch’s electronics, particularly the older model, are exposed to contamination on the backside of the wall where its wire runs through. Chances are the activation switch is heavily worn out. Replacing it with a more recent device may fix the malfunction.

Conclusion

Leveling jacks are essential to your overall experience using your RV. If they keep breaking down, no matter what solutions you try, you’ll get frustrated and ruin your trip. And it’s not just something you can put up with.

A slanted RV is not comfortable to stay in. There’s also the lingering worry that some furniture might fall and break. That being said, issues like these are inevitable as your RV ages and as you venture to more places.

That’s why you need to be careful when using your Atwood camper jacks and learn basic troubleshooting. If you encounter issues you can’t fix, you must know the closest workshop from where you are. Also, it pays to be ready during an emergency.

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