Bounder: Auto Leveling Safety

[wepinegar]

We've been motorhoming for 2.5 years and just upgraded to our Bounder 35H from a Class C. We manually leveled very well. I love automatic leveling, but on our first trip we didn't choose our spot real well because it was late and we were only stopping for the night. We set the brake and leveled successfully. When I went outside I found that the front wheels were 5" or so off the ground. So now my question. If the brake is set and the front wheels are off the ground I feel reasonably safe, but if the back were off the ground, I don't think I would have felt so safe - what's the story?

[CLIFFTALL]

Welcome to the Bounder Family. Hope you love yours as we love ours. You have different jacks than I do. My jacks could not lift my coach that much. However , if it could , I wouldn't. You're correct in that the back wheels are a no no. Some think its ok for the front. I don't. I carry a supply of 2"x 10" lumber and have used some on a few occasions when I needed a " lift."

You may want to check your system to see if it is at " zero level " . That in itself may be part of the problem.

Good luck

Cliff

[Alan_Hepburn]

You're better off with all tires in contact with the ground, but you absolutely do NOT want the back tires off the ground. Your parking brake, and the Park position of the transmission lock the drive shaft, which connects to the rear wheels. Lift the wheels off the ground and you've got NO brake applied. You can move around enough in the rig to get it rolling, and with no brake it will roll right off the front jacks.

If I find that my front wheels come up off the ground I drive up onto some leveling blocks so that once stabilized I've still got all tires in contact with something solid.

[rdkng88]

I want all my tires on the ground but never the back wheels always want contact. I would not want to extend the jacks that far either it weakens the springs and will mess up the seals. I always carried blocking for my jacks to keep from extending so far.

[SarahW]

If you have Powergear levelers, check the manual. Ours says, "NEVER LIFT THE WHEELS OFF THE GROUND TO LEVEL THE COACH. DOING SO MAY CREATE AN UNSTABLE CONDITION" in big red letters.

[Oscar Mike]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have a few questions:

What is meant by "Zero Level"?

What type of blocking is best wood, or plastic?

What depth of blocking is practical, 3"-6"?

[CLIFFTALL]

Originally Posted by johnmbeard

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I have a few questions:

What is meant by "Zero Level"?

What type of blocking is best wood, or plastic?

What depth of blocking is practical, 3"-6"?

Actually , I would say it is topical.

Zero level is where your coach should be after the auto leveling process. If not calibrated properly , your coach will level to the improper level , which could be significant. It's mechanical and will go where it's programmed to go. That's my amateur take on it.

I would say wood or plastic is fine b

The practical depth of the " blocking " is the amount needed to level.

Hope this helps you and the op.

Cliff

[wepinegar]

thanks for the replies - you all confirmed what I believed to be the case! Curious that the system would allow it to go off the ground - when you use auto-level, unless you have someone outside watching, you don't know it is off the ground till you get out. You'd think if it is unsafe, there would be a way of automatically preventing it. FYI- when I got back from this trip, I did have the dealer check the calibration on auto-level since I had read some discussion here about the systems sometimes needing calibrated.

I have to admit, I am impressed with the rapid responses here - thanks all of you!

[Oscar Mike]

I appreciate this thread, in that my coach did/does not level out completely, so while my Motor Home is in the shop, again, I have asked to have this properly calibrated (under warranty). And, it looks like I need to go and pick up some 2x material and plywood to make up a few landing pads.

[SarahW]

We use manual leveling almost exclusively. Our auto level does not work to suit us, and it's easy to manually level. I always stand outside the coach to monitor the levelers as they touch down, to make sure there is no problem.

With blocking materials (we have both 2x12 boards and the plastic type), be sure that the entire "footprint" of the tire is ON the surface. Any tread area hanging off the landing pad can cause damage to your tires.

Landing pads are very helpful if you are camping in sandy or muddy areas where you don't want your jacks to sink.

[Gary RVRoamer]

If your jacks are sturdy enough, having the rear wheels off the ground should be no problem. The coach can't roll with 4 jacks solidly planted, but it could put substantial sideways pressure on the jack itself. Power Gear (the brand you probably have) apparently is not willing to chance it. Equalizer, on the other hand, says no problem - there rams in their jacks are plenty strong.

That said, I always try to avoid having any wheel off the ground and carry 2x10x 18" wood blocks to use if necessary. They form a floor in one of my bays, so don't take much space.

[CLIFFTALL]

I don't let anyone stand close by when I level, especially on gravel. I have seen rock chips and gravel fly off in all directions when compressed by the jacks.

Cliff

[ga traveler]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

If your jacks are sturdy enough, having the rear wheels off the ground should be no problem. The coach can't roll with 4 jacks solidly planted, but it could put substantial sideways pressure on the jack itself. Power Gear (the brand you probably have) apparently is not willing to chance it. Equalizer, on the other hand, says no problem - there rams in their jacks are plenty strong.

That said, I always try to avoid having any wheel off the ground and carry 2x10x 18" wood blocks to use if necessary. They form a floor in one of my bays, so don't take much space.

If you have HWH kick down jacks, This is not true. If you raise the back jacks high enough for the wheels to clear the ground. The brakes will not hold and the coach WILL fall.

[Walter5555]

Let start from the begining, first of all the jacks are for you to level your Fridg. you don't need to level for any other reasion.
For first time owners, put a small level (a round buble one is best) put it inside of your Fridg up in the freezer area on a flat surface, then use your level systen to level it and check the buble off and on untill it is level then when it's level in the Fridg. move the level to a place in your galley where it will be level.
Remember where you put it to show the Rig is level.
That way each time you want to level it you put the buble in the same area and let the driver work the jacks for you to read the buble.
The only reasion for leveling the Rig is for the Fridg.
There is no reasion to raise the Rig up off the ground.
Just a thought.