Jack Stroke (Travel)
The jack stroke is the distance between the fully retracted and fully extended positions of the jack. The usable stroke is what remains after the ground clearance under the chassis, and it sets the upper limit of the tilt that can be corrected. Insufficient stroke is the most common mechanical reason for the system not being able to complete levelling.
Part of the stroke is already used up before the jack touches the ground. What remains is the real reserve available for angle correction. The extension needed is approximately equal to the radian value of the angle to be corrected multiplied by the distance between the jacks.
- If the distance between the jacks is 2.5 m, 1° of side tilt requires about 44 mm of height difference.
- If the distance between the jacks is 5 m, the difference needed for the same 1° is about 87 mm.
- That is why the stroke requirement on the longitudinal axis (where the distance between the jacks is large) is higher than on the transverse axis.
Do the calculation before installation: multiply the worst tilt you expect on the ground where you will park by the distance between the jacks to find the required height difference, then add the allowance that will be spent reaching ground contact. If the result does not fit the stroke of the jack, the coarse correction has to be done with levelling ramps and the fine adjustment left to the system. No maximum correctable tilt value is stated for the KTS200; the limit depends on the ground, the jack placement and the vehicle height.
The context in which this term is used: How to choose levelling jack capacity