Blocks for RV

[alias100]

We use 2 of the Anderson Camper Levelers with a LevelMate Pro for our 22RBE. Makes leveling the trailer painless. Made four wooden blocks with 3/4" marine plywood and pressure treated 4x4 and 4x2 so they are 6 1/2" tall for the 4 stabilizers. Seems to make the trailer more stable than the Camco blocks we were using.

[Tony_in_AZ]

We had a few plastic blocks crack after months of use. Now we use pressure treated 2x6 wood. Cut to 13 inch length. Screwed together as double stack and triple stack. They are about a 14 months old. Still in good shape.

I carry the blocks in the bed of my F350 as the Solitude follows us.

[docque]

The discussion of auto-leveling sounds like fifth wheel to me. Our Reflection travel trailer doesn't have that. Right now I carry a dozen two foot lengths of 2 x 8 treated lumber. One of these days I'm going to cut six of those boards into thirds, so I can have a taller stack under the front and rear stabilizers. For leveling, I put one board under each tire on the low side. If I need two boards I add one between the two for the tires so there isn't such a big drop. Since our trailer weights almost 12,000 pounds I'm not sure those plastic things will stand up very long.

I have been digging into this discussion a little bit. For now I will stick with lumber until I can find better, lighter solutions. For the scissor jacks, the little square Campco ones are not wide enough they sell some that are wide enough but would have to stack so many it would not make sense.

[Downsizingmakescents]

There is really nothing better for flexibility and strength of wood blocks.
We use ten 12 x 12 x 2 cut from a 10 foot long 12 x 2 board

Of course they are only 1.5 inches thick.

Then we have twenty 6 x 12 x 2 boards cut from two 10 foot long 6 x 2 boards

We also have one 6 foot section of a 12 x 2 that we drive onto when trying to lift both wheels on one side.

Sometimes we will drive on the the 6 foot board then put a 12. X12 in then roll onto that giving us 3 full inches on that side.

Mostly we just use the boards to shorten the jack length, improve stability and give a better ground footprint on soft terrain.

Is it just me or to jack pads just not make any sense?

If we use two 12 x 12 on top of each other we always switch the grain of wood back and forth so the pressure wont split the 12 x 12 in half.

If our bevel is off by 3 on the level, then we will add a stack of three boards on the low side.

If its 2 then we use two boards.

We are still perfecting our method over 3 years but wood is the best.

We always do our best to level the wheels as good as possible before using auto level on our 310gk.

you cant expect the auto level jacks and suspension to overcome a huge left right deficit, other wise you end up with a wheel off the ground which we never allow.

Sometimes people will comment on how long we will work on getting the perfect level for every site, but I think it is worth the extra stability and less wear and tear on the jacks and suspension.

Fifth wheels are easy to level front to back but takes some technique to get a good level left/right without straining jacks and suspension.

We have bubble levels on front back and left right and we always use our level mate pro to tweak it.

We clean our Jack shafts with silicone spray and a rag, every time we hitch up. It’s important to clean all water and dirt that rain and wind may have gotten on the jacks when exposed for days.

Another lengthy comment while infusing, Sorry, Larry

[Pap and Mimi]

2 bags of the Camco blocks and a pair of Camco curved wedges (like the Anderson, just cheaper) have covered our needs the last 4 years of camping. I need one of those buckets to replace the 6x6 block I use for the tongue jack.

[Hoopy Frood]

There is really nothing better for flexibility and strength of wood blocks.
We use ten 12 x 12 x 2 cut from a 10 foot long 12 x 2 board

Of course they are only 1.5 inches thick.

Then we have twenty 6 x 12 x 2 boards cut from two 10 foot long 6 x 2 boards

We also have one 6 foot section of a 12 x 2 that we drive onto when trying to lift both wheels on one side.

Sometimes we will drive on the the 6 foot board then put a 12. X12 in then roll onto that giving us 3 full inches on that side.

Mostly we just use the boards to shorten the jack length, improve stability and give a better ground footprint on soft terrain.

Is it just me or to jack pads just not make any sense?

If we use two 12 x 12 on top of each other we always switch the grain of wood back and forth so the pressure wont split the 12 x 12 in half.

If our bevel is off by 3 on the level, then we will add a stack of three boards on the low side.

If its 2 then we use two boards.

We are still perfecting our method over 3 years but wood is the best.

We always do our best to level the wheels as good as possible before using auto level on our 310gk.

you cant expect the auto level jacks and suspension to overcome a huge left right deficit, other wise you end up with a wheel off the ground which we never allow.

Sometimes people will comment on how long we will work on getting the perfect level for every site, but I think it is worth the extra stability and less wear and tear on the jacks and suspension.

Fifth wheels are easy to level front to back but takes some technique to get a good level left/right without straining jacks and suspension.

We have bubble levels on front back and left right and we always use our level mate pro to tweak it.

We clean our Jack shafts with silicone spray and a rag, every time we hitch up. It’s important to clean all water and dirt that rain and wind may have gotten on the jacks when exposed for days.

Another lengthy comment while infusing, Sorry, Larry

Honestly, If each jack is rated to lift nearly the whole weight of the trailer, hydraulic jacks that is, then I doubt very much that using your Autolevel to do its job is going to strain it. It's what they're designed to do, and a wheel off the ground once in a while does no harm whatsoever. Heck I lift all of them at once when I do wheel/brake/suspension maintenance. No biggie.

To me, the jack pads make a lot more sense than hauling a ton of lumber. All our pads fit easily in the front storage area beside the generator. The lock together and are lightweight, and won't rot or splinter. What's not to like?

[COGrandDes]

There is really nothing better for flexibility and strength of wood blocks.
We use ten 12 x 12 x 2 cut from a 10 foot long 12 x 2 board

Of course they are only 1.5 inches thick.

Then we have twenty 6 x 12 x 2 boards cut from two 10 foot long 6 x 2 boards

We also have one 6 foot section of a 12 x 2 that we drive onto when trying to lift both wheels on one side.

Sometimes we will drive on the the 6 foot board then put a 12. X12 in then roll onto that giving us 3 full inches on that side.

Mostly we just use the boards to shorten the jack length, improve stability and give a better ground footprint on soft terrain.

Is it just me or to jack pads just not make any sense?

If we use two 12 x 12 on top of each other we always switch the grain of wood back and forth so the pressure wont split the 12 x 12 in half.

If our bevel is off by 3 on the level, then we will add a stack of three boards on the low side.

If its 2 then we use two boards.

We are still perfecting our method over 3 years but wood is the best.

We always do our best to level the wheels as good as possible before using auto level on our 310gk.

you cant expect the auto level jacks and suspension to overcome a huge left right deficit, other wise you end up with a wheel off the ground which we never allow.

Sometimes people will comment on how long we will work on getting the perfect level for every site, but I think it is worth the extra stability and less wear and tear on the jacks and suspension.

Fifth wheels are easy to level front to back but takes some technique to get a good level left/right without straining jacks and suspension.

We have bubble levels on front back and left right and we always use our level mate pro to tweak it.

We clean our Jack shafts with silicone spray and a rag, every time we hitch up. It’s important to clean all water and dirt that rain and wind may have gotten on the jacks when exposed for days.

Another lengthy comment while infusing, Sorry, Larry

If one had a TT that just had stabilizer jacks on it...I could see taking wood to help level out the camper and then stabilize. If your unit has the hydraulic or electric leveling system, I'm confused why a person would carry hundreds of pounds of wood and other materials to level the camper before the auto-level feature is used. The whole purpose of the auto-level is to compensate for uneven ground on all four sides. That's the beauty of it. I can pull into a site---level or very unlevel and be unhooked, level, slides out, have my grill and outdoor kitchen unpacked and setup, and then be relaxing in my recliner in under 15 mins. Pack-up and pull out is like 10 mins. There is no straining on the suspension or the jacks. To each his own I guess. That sounds like way too much work---I like relaxing and simple which is why I have insisted on getting a camper equipped with the auto-level feature nowadays. For me it's one of my "must-haves" when researching a new RV.

[Downsizingmakescents]

You are correct, few people take the pains to do what we do but after more than 150 hookup and 150 unhitching we feel comfortable doing what we do, it’s a lot of work. Have you every looked under the rv after the jacks crank up one side to accommodate a heavy lateral slope, the springs are compressed to the max on one side and completely uncompressed on the opposite side, that’s not good for the suspension or frame. We take good care of our rig, hopefully it takes good care of us, it’s the only home we have. When we get lazy, bad things happen.
Thanks for your reply.
Larry

[Bruce M]

Being this our shakedown trip in our new 5th wheel, take my experience for what you paid for it.
I am very glad I took the time to cut up some 2x12’s into 1’ blocks and also cut two planks 5’ long to ride the tandems up on.
I do have the plastic blocks and store the camper on them at home on level ground but today we’re in a state park in pa and I needed every single block I had to get it even remotely level before hitting the auto level.
I tried without the 5’ planks under the tandems on one side and that was no beuno, wheels off the ground on one side.
Side to side differences in this campsite is 9” and I have about that in wood blocks on one side so my leg extension aren’t at their limits.
I can’t imagine balancing my camper on the plastic 8” blocks up that tall on this very uneven ground. I will continue with packing my wood blocks and planks into the bed of my truck all strapped down for road travel, I purchased a truck with enough payload to do whatever it is my heart desires.

[Hoopy Frood]

Being this our shakedown trip in our new 5th wheel, take my experience for what you paid for it.
I am very glad I took the time to cut up some 2x12’s into 1’ blocks and also cut two planks 5’ long to ride the tandems up on.
I do have the plastic blocks and store the camper on them at home on level ground but today we’re in a state park in pa and I needed every single block I had to get it even remotely level before hitting the auto level.
I tried without the 5’ planks under the tandems on one side and that was no beuno, wheels off the ground on one side.
Side to side differences in this campsite is 9” and I have about that in wood blocks on one side so my leg extension aren’t at their limits.
I can’t imagine balancing my camper on the plastic 8” blocks up that tall on this very uneven ground. I will continue with packing my wood blocks and planks into the bed of my truck all strapped down for road travel, I purchased a truck with enough payload to do whatever it is my heart desires.

As far as "balancing my camper on the plastic 8” blocks", those blocks are interlacing, unlike those stacks of wood.