Punched out a few leveling blocks

[FIRE UP]

Well Gang,
I'm kind of a stickler for leveling. If a site is fairly un-level, I break out the lumber and drive up on it. It's easy for me. I'm in no hurry. But, my lumber that I had was used before I got it and, I found out the other day, that it had/has "TERMITES" in some of it. Yeow, that's not good to be carrying a family of termites around with you. So, I decided to can all that old lumber and, step up to the plate and make some nicer ones.

I was going to purchase a sheet of 3/4" exterior plywood from Home Depot and, sandwich some 2" pine that I already had/have, in between the 3/4" plywood. Well, as I was cruising around in H/D, I stumbled on some 1 1/8" tongue and groove, decking plywood. While it's a bit more expensive than the 3/4" I was going to use, it's well worth it because of the thicker, stronger and straighter sheet that it is.

So, I purchased two sheets (at a whopping $54.00 each, some "Tite-bond" wood glue and, some Torx drive, #9 x 2" construction screws. Those sheets are NOT LIGHT!! The DW and I struggled a bit to get them to the table saw. But, once I got to ripping them, they became lighter and lighter.

Now, the dimensions I came up with are for my application, for my coach and tire size. Many would not build these this large but, I want flexibility. These blocks are 9 1/4" wide and, 32" long. They are layered with four layers so, that makes them about 4 1/4" high, at one end. They are 2 1/8" high on the other end. I cut all the pieces and, beveled them prior to gluing and screwing them together.

Once they were all glued and screwed together, I used the belt sander to face all the sides. Then, a few minutes with a 5" random orbital sander with some 80 grit on each one, just enough to round off all the corners and edges. The good part of this type of design is, they counter-stack. That is, they sit upside down on each other to conserve space.

Once they were all sanded and blown off with air, I broke out the varnish. The good part about living here in Lake Havasu City AZ at this time of year, varnish dries IN NO TIME!!! Normally, I'd wait about 3 days in a cooler environment for a second coat but, in this climate, I re-coated in less than 24 hours. What do you expect for living in an OVEN Anyway, I knocked out about 7 of the ones that are dual level and, I goofed around with my sandwiched ones too. Take a look. I'm so used to working with metal in other projects, It's kind of fun goofing around with wood.
Scott

[stink]

Looks better than some store bought furniture and you get to drive your mh on them!

[normandlegra]

But why do you drive on them instead of having wood blocks that you occasionnaly put under your hydraulic jacks to level your coach ?
To drive on blocks is the old fashion way for some that did not have hydraulic jacks installed on their 1950's Winnebagos !

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by stink

Looks better than some store bought furniture and you get to drive your mh on them!

Stink,
I surely thank you for those nice comments. I figure that, if I'm going to go through the work and hassle of building these, then why not protect them to make them last. Paint sucks, there's no protection in that and, so does things like Thompsons Water Seal and all the other thin junk stuff for this type of application. A few bucks in the protection will go a long way in how long I get to keep these.

Originally Posted by normandlegra

But why do you drive on them instead of having wood blocks that you occasionnaly put under your hydraulic jacks to level your coach ?
To drive on blocks is the old fashion way for some that did not have hydraulic jacks installed on their 1950's Winnebagos !

Normandlegra,
While it may be the "Old fashioned way", the method driving on lumber is still used by thousands of RVers all over the U.S. I've been using that method for well over 30 years and it's worked outstandingly well for me. There are way to many places, campsites, RV parking spots, remote camping areas, drive ways, and many, many more places that just having and using supplied levelers or "jacks" is simply not enough.

And, two dimensional leveling, that is, leveling a low side and, a low end, with the jacks alone puts serious crimping on frame-to-body components such as windshields, body mounting and more. I have always explained that, if you (me) level primarily with the tires and wheels, then use the jacks to "fine tune" the final leveling to almost or, perfect leveling, then there's that much less stress on the frame and all the rest of the components.

This is something I've done for a long time and, I've had other coaches with Jacks. Some rely on the jacks alone and, that of course, is up to them, based on all conditions that are encountered at each time.

It's simply a matter of preference. I have been in many, many camp sites that full extension of the jacks, would come no where near leveling us. Many people would answer that by stating, "Well then, just move to another spot or, make the camp ground/RV park managers give you another, more level spot. Yeah sure that's going to happen at prime travel/camping season.

Sorry for the long answer. I just thought I'd explain why I do what I do.
Scott

[D Lindy]

You MUST have leveling blocks in the case that your site is LOW in the back. It's not recommended, and foolhardy to say the least, to lift the rear wheels off the ground, or even take the weight of them to level a MH. Once the weight is off the rear wheels you have no brakes holding the unit from moving, and with an unlevel site, that's a receipt for disaster!!!

[rgvtexan]

Scott Very nice, kind of a shame to have to put them in the dirt!

[normandlegra]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

Stink,
...
While it may be the "Old fashioned way", the method driving on lumber is still used by thousands of RVers all over the U.S. I've been using that method for well over 30 years and it's worked outstandingly well for me.
It's simply a matter of preference. I have been in many, many camp sites that full extension of the jacks, would come no where near leveling us...
I just thought I'd explain why I do what I do.
Scott

I've never said that I don't use wooden blocks, I use them quite often, but under my hydraulic jacks; depending of the slope of the terrrain, I might use 2-3 blocks under the front or back or on one side of the coach, while the other jacks won't get any due to the slope; I then lower my hydraulic jacks the manual way, (I hate the automatic leveling feature) to get leveled, without full extending my jacks like you've mentioned.
It's just my way of using today's technology, not one from 30 years ago when the hydraulic jacks did'nt even exist.
p.s. some of my friends use your method to level their trailer ou 5th wheel using blocks under their wheels trying to level the trailer left and right, the reason is that they don't have hydraulic jacks; to level their trailer front to back, they use their manual or electric jacks.

[wa8yxm]

Originally Posted by normandlegra

But why do you drive on them instead of having wood blocks that you occasionnaly put under your hydraulic jacks to level your coach ?
To drive on blocks is the old fashion way for some that did not have hydraulic jacks installed on their 1950's Winnebagos !

I can not speak for the original poster but in my case.. Dang hydrauics do not work

I did much the same using 2x6 I think.. One suggestion is to paint them.. Paint or stain.. I do that to seal the wood against moisture... Tends to keep the termites away as well.

Of course where I am now I have an even better way to level the RV.. Yup, the site is level.. Very level.. THough I need to do some work later to stablize a bit more that will involve raising it a bit and some jack stands... Nice HEAVY ones.

[Dutch Star Don]

"normandlegra".....Using tire ramps while using blocks under the jacks is not old fashion, but the correct way to do it. You should never leave a wheel dangling in the air, especially on gassers. This stretches and dangles the suspension, which is not good for it.


If I use ramps, I max them out at 3.5" high and then I block the jacks the same height. If I can spin a tire, I'll lower that side.

[vsheetz]

Nice project. Puts my hunks of scrap 2x12's to shame. Ah, another project for the list.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by vsheetz

Nice project. Puts my hunks of scrap 2x12's to shame. Ah, another project for the list.

vsheets,
Thanks for the nice comment. I've had old boards, scrap lumber and more that I've carried over the years too. It worked. I have fun on projects like this. Although, doing it outside, in about 106 degrees cuts down on the "fun" part some. The good part about using this 1 1/8th inch floor decking plywood is, it's a tiny bit flexible while still being able to hold good strength while I'm putting over 16,000 lbs. on two, or four of them, depending on the requirements for leveling at the time.

I've used the sandwiched method before and, still have some of those, primarily for under the jacks. So, I think I'm good for the lumber department now.
Scott

[DragRacer68]

FYI you can buy LVL beams in different widths and lengths that are 1-3/4" thick at the lumber yard. Would've been a lot easier to start with. Already has a waxy exterior coating on it too.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by DragRacer68

FYI you can buy LVL beams in different widths and lengths that are 1-3/4" thick at the lumber yard. Would've been a lot easier to start with. Already has a waxy exterior coating on it too.

Hey Dragracer68,
Thanks for the tip on those beams. I've used a few different types of beams, cut in to small sections before. The last ones I used, (and still have them in the garage) were "Particle board" beams. I forgot the actual name of them but, they're seriously dense and, they can handle anything you want to throw on them. The one main problem is, they're just too darn heavy. If I recall, they're about 10-12 lbs. each.

So, I resorted to building in the fashion you see in the pics.
Scott