The Big Tow Truck

The Big Tow Truck

An ongoing issue with our experience so far has been this electric jack stabilization system in our Vilia. It is designed to facilitate the process of arriving at camp, unhitching the 5^th wheel from our bull on four wheels, (the heavy duty ford diesel pickup that pulls this rig), and setting up camp...and it goes like this… position the RV in our site , raise Vilia to where I can unhitch and pull the Ford away, then go through the process of getting the rig level. Level is key to camping comfort and proper function of the RV refrigerator…  then get the slide out compartments extended.  Connect fresh water and electric.  Then some of the housekeeping set up items, Toss out the few area rugs, change the kitchen from travel mode to living mode, etc. And we’re good. Then make it as easy to fold up, reconnect and head on out at the end of the visit. It did work that way for a bit. Then a variety of problems began to go wrong with the one button auto level feature of the jacks. I was able to use the manual mode and use a bubble level. I could work the jacks individually to get the bubble centered, close enough. But the one button auto level would not function. The problem was a consistent error code would come up for the left front jack, disabling the auto mode.  The maker, lippertcomponents.com, is typical of the RV industry and has terrible customer service. Their attitude is, customer does not understand how to properly operate the system it is unlikely there is an equipment problem.  Then, on our arrival to the KOA at Vernal, Utah, we had a complete mechanical failure as this left front jack collapsed in front of me, clunking to its base as I was raising it, about 3,000 pounds dropping 3 inches as I stood next to it. Left front is where the control panel is located. Not happy, I enjoyed a very different conversation with Lippert. The,( their faulty!), jack was putting strain on the electric motor that drives it. That caused the jack to ask for more power from the two 12 volt batteries our Vilia has and the imbalance of draw messed up the electronic brain that controls the system. Then the inherent problem with that bad jack came to finality, it collapsed.  The Big Tow Truck came thanks to AAA and winched us up so I could shim up the bad jack to get ourselves approximate to level. I have encountered a local RV guy, young man, who has a passion about the industry and has devoted his young life to really doing it right. We seem to be in very good hands. The manufacturer agreed to replace the part free, even though we are well out of warranty. I had to argue that I initiated calls about the error message when we were within warranty. So, long story short, eh? We expect to be back on the road by Thursday, June 2. Meanwhile, we get to live and be a tourist to some of the surprises we have found out about Vernal, Utah outside the fact that it is Dinosaur Central! More on that coming.