Leveling, Slides, and Airbags

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Mike in Texas

Mike in Texas

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2006
Posts
56
Location
New Braunfels, TX
I am a fairly new owner of a new Monaco Diplomat 40PDQ and as such still have a lot to learn. When getting situated in a new RV site, what is the proper sequence in which to perform extension of the slide-outs, initiating the automatic leveling process, and dumping the air to deflate the air suspension? Seems to me that it would be (1) dump the air, (2) extend the slide-outs, and then (3) level. Your thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Not all motor homes use the same sequence.  The best reference is your owner's manual.
 
Hi Mike,

As Ned said, your owner's manual would be the best source. But Monaco has been known to provide apparently conflicting instructions.

Here's a prior discussion we had here on the same subject.
 
i have just signed on to the forum today. I'm from the UK & have been travelling in a 2006 Monaco Diplomat, which i bought 14 months ago.

I was told by the dealer that I should 1. drop the air.....2. extend the slides..... 3. level. Since then i have heard different stories.
There are no instructions in the Monaco instruction book.
However, whilst at the Monaco Service Centre in Elkhart i took a tour of the Roadmaster factory. They said: DON'T drop the air...just level & then extend slides. I have also looked at the Power Gear website & they confirm this.

In fact when you level the coach it automatically lets out some air as part of the levellling process.
 
As Ned and Tom stated each manufacturer has their own procedures. My National Tradewinds calls for dumping air, leveling extending slides, If I do not dump the air before leveling the effectivity of the jacks is diminished because the coach is further off the ground.
 
Jeff,  That's the same sequence that Tiffin (Allegro) suggests.  We have the HWH automatic leveling system and when you hit level, it drops the air before the jacks.  After we are level, we then put out the slide. 

I my little pea brain it seems that, logically, it would not be good for the slides if the motor home was not level.  Perhaps the slide could get bound up because things are not square.  Maybe I'm doing too much analyzing.  And maybe it's not that much of an issue.  But I'm doing it per the manufacturer's suggestion.  Since that's my "pink" job as Betty puts it, I always do it the same way.

Now since we are on the subject, we have noticed that when we sit for more than a week or so, our motorhome "jiggles" a bit.  Not a lot, but just enought we notice.  We have been in a ton of rain here in Edmonton, and maybe the ground is soft under the jacks and we are not as stable as before.

Marsha~
 
Part of the confusion may stem from differences in the leveling systems. If the coach uses the air bags to do some or all of the leveling, you typically would not dump air first. But if the leveling is done exclusively with jacks, then usually it says to dump air first.  But some rigs don't have air suspensions and some that do still do not have a dump switch at the driver seat, so those will say nothing about dumping air.

My particular rig (no air suspension) says to set the brakes, level with jacks and then deploy slides.

I think in most cases, where the site is not radically off-level, it probably makes little difference.
 
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