Yet another leveling topic...

robthreedee · Sep 12, 2011

My wife noticed that the rig "shakes" more now at our new destination then where we were parked before... and she's right.

The old location was quite level and very solid ground....the new location is pretty solid ground but on more of an incline from left to right...I'd guess about 10 degrees.

I figured that the reason the rig is "shakier" is that the jacks on the right leveled the rig leaving the jacks on the left supporting no weight at all leaving the wheels and suspension to hold the weight.

I have already used wooden planks under the wheels to get the rig as level as possible BEFORE using the jacks.

I'm surmising that, in addition to leveling the rig on it's wheels, I need to compensate about the same under the jacks. In other words, if I am using a 2x10 board on the right side wheels to get the rig more level..I need to place the same 2x10 under all the jacks so that all four jacks are used to level and hold the rig steady. I'd be tricking the jacks into believing the entire rig is reasonably level to begin with.

Am I correct or have I over thought this?

Thanks...

Molaker · Sep 13, 2011

I suppose you have an automatic system??? With my manual system I engage the jacks on the low side first and bring the coach up to level then engage the jacks on the high side until they just begin to move the coach. Usually then, I have to touch the low side again to tune it up. This puts weight on all 4 jacks and seems to take most of the instability out regardless of how unlevel the site might be - within reason.

Bob Buchanan · Sep 13, 2011

Molaker said:
With my manual system I engage the jacks on the low side first and bring the coach up to level then engage the jacks on the high side until they just begin to move the coach. Usually then, I have to touch the low side again to tune it up.

Tom, I do the same thing -- only I start with the high side. The idea being the same in that I want the high side jacks to be fully extended with all 4 solidly extended vs. one or two jacks only slightly touching the ground.

Robert, would recommend you start all over, and try the same approach. Though I would put the wood under the lower side jacks vs. the tires. The higher a jack has to extend the less stable it becomes especially if it is raising a wheel off the ground or taking most all the weight off of that tire.

robthreedee · Sep 13, 2011

Bob Buchanan said:
Tom, I do the same thing -- only I start with the high side. The idea being the same in that I want the high side jacks to be fully extended with all 4 solidly extended vs. on jack on slightly touching the ground.

Robert, would recommend you start all over, and try the same approach. Though I would put the wood under the lower side jacks vs. the tires. A slope of 10 degrees would have one wheel about a foot higher than the other so it's probably less than that -- but the higher a jack has to extend the less stable it becomes.

yeah..that's what i was thinking also. after I let the air out and the rig drops, there's no room for the high side (up slope) jacks to do thier job.... ahhh 10 degrees may have been an over estimate....but the principle is the same... Looks like i'm in the right ball park with my assesment... wouldn't be as big a deal if we were camping, but we're fulltimers so it's nice to get things as right as possible..

Bob Buchanan · Sep 13, 2011

robthreedee said:
ahhh 10 degrees may have been an over estimate....but the principle is the same...

Yes, I agree -- if you are a full timer, best get it right. For a 10 degree angle, I multiplied the distance between the wheels (not the ground distance), or jacks, or whatever, by 0.176 to get the drop height.

Yet another leveling topic...

robthreedee

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Molaker

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Bob Buchanan

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robthreedee

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Bob Buchanan

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