Auto Leveling Jacks

[G&Jcamping]

Thanks Janice, I was a bit unclear if I should have rolled up on a block in this case. We are loading the unit for its maiden trip in the moutians near Julian Ca. I will send a review of our new Solitude next week. PS--my wife loves the pantry more than anything else!!!!

Gary

[laffman]

Something interesting I found out this weekend. My unit stays on a seasonal site and never moves. I wanted to put boards under the tires so they weren't sitting on the ground. I lifted the whole unit off the ground with the leveling system. The dealer's tech told me this was OK because the system is designed to lift something like 30K pounds, but not to leave it this way for any extended period of time. So I put my boards under the tires and went to auto level again, thinking the system would drop the unit to the ground and start the auto level sequence. Nope, it auto leveled with the tires off the ground. It even lifted the unit further off the ground. When the auto level was complete, the tires were about 4" above the boards. Of course I dropped it back down and auto leveled again.

[imjustdave]

The dealer's tech told me this was OK because the system is designed to lift something like 30K pounds, but not to leave it this way for any extended period of time. .

So on one sentence its ok but then it isn't? Hate to say I call BS on that. I guess the seals on the valves might have a workout sitting there... but the front will always be down. I can't think of a reason why a piston would care being up or down. I would advice cycling the ram every year or so to keep the seals lubricated but mechanically it can hold the 5th wheel or it can't. I know if I buy a 5th wheel with this option "still deciding" I know it will sit in my yard level on the jacks, I would almost argue that it would be better for the tires.

[Rizzles]

We had bit of a workout last night with our auto leveling system and learned a few things. The site we are on is not level and has a gradual front to back slope combined with a high drivers side (DS). I thought we would give the auto level a chance to work its magic so we simply chalked, unhooked and hit auto level on the panel. The front end dropped all the way down and after a few more attempts we received a time out failure on the panel. So I went into manual mode, leveled front to back and then attempted to manually adjust left to right. Well, the DS tires came off the ground and the rear most DS jack reached its full out position and to my surprise was off the ground! So, we placed blocks under the DS tires, retracted the rear jacks, added blocks for the rear jack to rest on and hit auto level. The system ran through its process and the trailer ended up level with the tires (and jack) resting firmly on the blocks.
Lessons learned:
1) Do not solely rely on the leveling system when parked on uneven terrain.
2) The use of blocks under low side tires is a must.
3) The use of blocks under jacks that have a long way to travel is a must.

Good luck!

[GDRV Service]

We had bit of a workout last night with our auto leveling system and learned a few things. The site we are on is not level and has a gradual front to back slope combined with a high drivers side (DS). I thought we would give the auto level a chance to work its magic so we simply chalked, unhooked and hit auto level on the panel. The front end dropped all the way down and after a few more attempts we received a time out failure on the panel. So I went into manual mode, leveled front to back and then attempted to manually adjust left to right. Well, the DS tires came off the ground and the rear most DS jack reached its full out position and to my surprise was off the ground! So, we placed blocks under the DS tires, retracted the rear jacks, added blocks for the rear jack to rest on and hit auto level. The system ran through its process and the trailer ended up level with the tires (and jack) resting firmly on the blocks.
Lessons learned:
1) Do not solely rely on the leveling system when parked on uneven terrain.
2) The use of blocks under low side tires is a must.
3) The use of blocks under jacks that have a long way to travel is a must.

Good luck!

Hi Jay and Bobbie (@Rizzles),

When unhooking your unit, always be sure the nose is level or above level. The Level-Up establishes a "zero-point" each time. To do so the nose has to be level or higher, or else the front jack will drop all the way down to the lowest point as it starts to search to establish the "zero point."

Best regards,
~ Janice