What Is Level?

[AFChap]

found that what's "level" in the front and mid coach area is not level in the bedroom/bathroom at the rear. Makes sense since the rig is nearly 42 feet long

!!!! ...sure doesn't make sense to me unless you expect the frame/chassis to be twisting when the "levelers" are used ...great way to loose a windshield or crack a wall or two ...

[powerboatr]

Originally Posted by mudpuppy

I use the bath room and bed room doors. It drives me crazy when they open or close by them selves. They are at right angles to each other so I get front to back and left to right indicators. I also tend to run the drivers side down slightly to make the water run away from the wall seals of the slides. And a little low in the back to make the AC condensation run away from the front door area. As to the fridge with this method I am probably within a few degrees of perfectly level and have never had a problem.

your not alone
if my bathroom door opens itself then we tweak the setup, in the summer i lean us to the driver side a smidgen for a/c run off, not enough you can feel it but its there

and funny thing is if it stays put then the convection oven cooks great cakes

[tedward1555]

Originally Posted by AFChap

!!!! ...sure doesn't make sense to me unless you expect the frame/chassis to be twisting when the "levelers" are used ...great way to loose a windshield or crack a wall or two ...

I would be willing to bet that everyone's frame/chassis twists a little when the levelers are used. And in my case I am confident it's not enough of a shift to damage the coach or windshield

[azloafer]

Originally Posted by DiplomatDave

What surface in your motor home do you consider the reference plane for leveling purposes?

The floor? A refrigerator shelf?

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Our manual says to use the very bottom inside the frig. So to make it easier to level we first leveled according to the frig and then tested other places (with a small bubble level) near the leveling control. We found a flat spot near the Kwikee leveling control that also showed level. So, now we can just level using the spot near the control and this makes it very easy. Hope this helps, Joe

[ShapeShifter]

Originally Posted by mudpuppy

I use the bath room and bed room doors.

That's the gold standard that my DW uses. If the bathroom door stays in place, she's happy. If she's happy, I'm happy. And if I'm happy with the level of the rig, the fridge is more than happy (it isn't nearly as sensitive to being level as I am!)

[PlayItForwrd]

Something I've done to every motorhome I've owned (most of them requiring driving on ramps to level out) is to drive it to a K-mart parking lot with the wife, a carpenter's level, and 2 stick-on-the-wall levels. I find a spot in the parking lot where both the wife and the big level says everything's level. Then I sit down, put one stick-on on the left wall next to my drivers seat, and the other one on the dashboard in front of me, making sure they're both set with the bubble dead-center.

The stick-on's have never let me down after that...

[Bill Adams]

As Forrest Gump might say: Level is as level does. I know that doesn't mean a dang thing, but the gist of the statement is that if you are comfortable and the doors and drawers don't go banging open or closed, then you are level "to your satisfaction" and that's enough.

[skigramp]

we are with AFChap ... shower door and throne room door ...

I hate doors that swing on their own ...

[CoCoDave]

Thanks for all the tips and anecdotes. Here too it's DW who has the last word as to when it's level enough... and warm enough, cool enough, light enough, etc. enough.

I was thinking more about the effects of level/not level on the chassis more than anything else. I've adopted a no-jacks-extended policy unless the air is completely bled down and the coach is mostly level on its wheels. If the site is not level then I'll block up the low spots to get close first.

Currently am using a torpedo level on a curbside counter top to test for level but I'm going to follow the suggestion of using the freezer bottom to do a reference level then find or make a corresponding level place in the cabin.

Thanks again,

[Papa_Jim]

I think as far as the chassis is concerned, level doesn't really matter too much as long as it's not twisted. I mean front axle one level side to side, back axle a totally different level side to side. As long as generally the coach is level enough to satisfy the requirements of the fridge and the occupants, life should be good.

My coach has always had a little air leakage. You can sit and watch the gauges, and they'll never move. But walk away from it and come back tomorrow, and the pressure will be down a few pounds. The first things affected are my airbags, and sometimes one airbag more than others which means the coach will have settled down a little more on one corner.

So, I've developed a habit when parking overnight, even if I'm not leveling the coach. I press the air release button long enough to lower air pressure a little bit. That lowers the air ride an inch or so. Then I extend my jacks until they are just touching the ground.

In the morning, I start the engine, build air pressure, retract jacks. While that's happening, I do a walk around the outside, check tires, get back in, and away we go.

Jim Sanderson
Canada, eh?

[Wayne M]

Dave,
Additionally, my concerns are like yours. What affect will not being level have.

Refrigerator, 3 degrees side to side, 6 degrees front to back as looking at the refrigerator

Washing machine. Darn thing will vibrate like a vibrator if it is not level.
Same for Dryer

Slides - I have one slide that is 19 feet long. Extending or retracting that slide when out of level by a lot, definitely affects how it tracks in or out.

Of course, when I take "the boys" to the swimming hole, I really don't want them to get wet.

I have not found a similar level spot in any location within the coach after I level it in any one place. It really is how the "old craftsmen" squared things when they were building it. Before you select any one permanent spot for leveling, try different areas and see how the rest of the areas react. You will find one spot that seems to satisfy all the areas, even if they are slightly off. I keep threatening myself to crawl under and affix a temporary level to a flat spot on the frame, level the coach, then come in and find a spot that matches the frame level. I have not done that yet because, as everyone else has pointed out, DW says, "It's okay now!"

[ChiefJohn]

Originally Posted by RV Roamer [Gary]

Both Dometic and Norcold specify level as 3 degrees side-to-side and 6 degrees front-to-back for all their models made in the last 10-15 years (older models are more sensitive). That is refrigerator side and front, which is almost always the opposite of trailer side and front. It is probably wise to stick to half or less of the maximum allowable angle.

A 3 degree angle is about 0.6 in/foot, so a 30 foot long RV could be up to 18" high or low at either end. You would be really uncomfortable if you tried to walk around at that angle!

I'll have to go with Gary's take on what is "level" according to Dometic and Norcold. I've always been told, that as long as the RV is comfortable to walk in and is within a few degrees of level either way the refrigerator will be okay. Not that any of us would go to an 18" off-level extreme, but I swear my wife can tell if the coach is off by a 1/2". We've had more cussing, fussing, and discussing about being level than any other issue in 16 years of RV'ing.

[Lorna]

We level off the top of our range. But we installed it (and all the countertops) in an RV that was already leveled ( 4 ft level on the floor). So we know what we started out with. But we also do not have an RV refrigerator. We use a 120VAC household type unit... that was installed in a level compartment.

[Monster99]

In my Old TT we checked the fridge and then found that the counter by the sink was also level so we used that with a torpedo level. I am still waiting for the paperwork for the new camper so I will see with that one.