Checking/Adding fluid the Leveling Reservoir???

[Skipper]

Can the slide be moved out enough without the jacks down to check/add hydraulic fluid to the leveling reservoir? Manual says no pressure on the system; also says jacks down before moving the slide. What's best?

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Not immediately apparent where your reservoir is but you want to verify levels when everything is retracted. Mine's only accessible from underneath but there's enough clearance around the tank to unscrew the cap with the dipstick. Discovered there's a gap between the slide and leveler with a compartment door open, so to fill I run a 3' or so piece of tubing through the gap and into the reservoir, and fill with a funnel on the tube.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Any hydraulic system needs to be in its "retracted" position when verifying fluid levels.

But to answer the narrower question of can you deploy slides without the jacks down, the answer is yes unless the terrain is really uneven, so that the slide is greatly tilted up or down.

 

[Skipper]

Clarification. Reservoir is behind left front tire. My side works on electric motors only with worm screws. The jacks are hydraulic.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

This business about jacks down first & then slides out gets vastly more attention online than it deserves. Best practice for the use of slides is to have a nicely level and highly stable platform before operating them, but it's hardly a critical factor. The RV builder doesn't know what sort of terrain you may camp on or what you consider only a little tilt, so he says "level first" to be on the safe side. All well & good as far as the slides go, but that doesn't take into consideration any other possible needs that might have an equal or greater priority. So it's ok if you cheat a little on one "best practice" if you need to achieve some other goal. The slide isn't gonna break off and fall to the ground.

 

[Skipper]

Didn’t think so. Just curious what others do. Wasn’t planning to move slide all the way out. Just far enough to perform maintenance.

 

[Ray-IN]

Clarification. Reservoir is behind left front tire. My side works on electric motors only with worm screws. The jacks are hydraulic.

No problem with your method. Reservoir should be within 1" of top to be full-with jack retracted, use HWH oil or Dextron III ATF. Electric slide is not an issue.