Leveling situation ??

[buck454]

Specs: Standard Power Gear hydraulics, front pair go down together with single button, right and left rear can be lowered separately. Procedure recommended by dealer was to dump air then set front jacks first, and then rear. Now for advice to leveling situation per my thread……

I pull into site, dump air, but before I set front jacks I notice by small level that I usually lay on floor beside driver’s seat that coach is leaning on driver’s side (left) about bubble.

Option 1……put a 2x board out in front, or behind, of front and rear driver side wheels then pull up on boards, bubble is close to level so I let down front jacks then rear jacks, tweak rears jacks if need.

Option 2 (?)… rather than drive onto boards could I simply lay out two 2x blocks so that left front and left rear jack will hit blocks before right side jacks make contact with surface and accomplish same result in leveling as option one?

Option 3…simply try to level with rear back left jack. Correct me if I am wrong but if I set front jacks and try to level entire left side with rear left jack then do I not possibly put stress in places not needed and probably still not raise entire left side? This might be fine if only rear was low on left, but if the entire side is low would you not need the use of blocks either at wheels or under left side jacks to avoid stress?

I have always used the 2x boards for fix (usually under wheels), but someone mentioned in another thread that this is more of the trailer method and an option for MH that jacks should handle (or at least that person's jack system could handle). If motor home is such as mine and only rear jacks work separately, then seems to me leveling is not entirely automatic…..or I am not getting benefit from my jacks as I should.

bill

[Clark Savage Jr]

IMHO you are overthinking this. Lower the front jacks until the front end lifts a few inches. Then drop the rear jacks together until the coach is level front and rear.

Last, tip the coach right or left until it is level in that axis. Mix martini. You are done.

[Oldlaurs]

Put the front jacks down first after dumping the air and raise the front about 2 inches. Now put the rear jacks down and level from side to side. The front jacks are on a single hydraulic oil supply, one valve. Thus when you level from side to side with the rear jacks the oil moves from one front jack to the other.
No need to 2X4's if you are not more than a few inches out of level.

Been doing it for 13 years
Larry

[Ramblin]

Usually the front two have a crossover connection that allows them to adjust to unlevel ground, and also to keep the coaches frame from flexing when leveling left to right with the individual rear jack controls.

[buck454]

Thanks to all who posted so far.....as usual, I learn from iRV2. Really good to know about the adjustment ability/crossover of front jacks. b

[Koop]

Originally Posted by Ramblin

Usually the front two have a crossover connection that allows them to adjust to unlevel ground, and also to keep the coaches frame from flexing when leveling left to right with the individual rear jack controls.

Do I understand you right? The side to side leveling is done with the rear jacks and the fronts merely seek level? I'm not sure I understand this, but it may explain some of the leveling issues I've had.

[Ramblin]

Originally Posted by Koop

Do I understand you right? The side to side leveling is done with the rear jacks and the fronts merely seek level? I'm not sure I understand this, but it may explain some of the leveling issues I've had.

This is my understanding, yes. There are many different types of jack systems though, and my experience is limited to my own. So others should do the research into how their particular system works.

[ahicks]

Oh boy. It needs to be understood early in in this conversation there's MANY different systems and no standard way of plumbing them!

Re: the front jacks having a common valve/ability to feed oil from one side to the other? Our HWH sytem jacks go down together, and if one touches the ground first, it will stop and the other will continue. This is not on a single valve though? It IS done with a single pump, and with both front valves open, it will act like it's self leveling using a common feed.

However, when the front valves close, the individual height of the 2 jacks is maintained. They will not change depending on what is done with the rear. The system has 4 valves, one for each corner. Once down, they will not 'self level'.

FWIW, many directions tell you to lower the front first out of concern for the windshield, keeping it intact? Using leveling jacks improperly probably one of the easier ways you can pop it.

[buck454]

Originally Posted by ahicks

Oh boy. It needs to be understood early in in this conversation there's MANY different systems and no standard way of plumbing them!

Re: the front jacks having a common valve/ability to feed oil from one side to the other? Our HWH sytem jacks go down together, and if one touches the ground first, it will stop and the other will continue. This is not on a single valve though? It IS done with a single pump, and with both front valves open, it will act like it's self leveling using a common feed.

However, when the front valves close, the individual height of the 2 jacks is maintained. They will not change depending on what is done with the rear. The system has 4 valves, one for each corner. Once down, they will not 'self level'.

FWIW, many directions tell you to lower the front first out of concern for the windshield, keeping it intact? Using leveling jacks improperly probably one of the easier ways you can pop it.

A,
I believe I understand what you are saying and it certainly makes sense. Maybe I gave to limited information in OP, but about all I have to give. With that, what do you consider my best option, just to make final level with rear jacks? bill

[ahicks]

I don't know what your controls are like? Once down, mine allow me to lift the front, the rear, or either side, but not an individual corner.

So when I pull in, I lower the fronts first, but only until the front end JUST starts to lift. Same in rear. THEN I level the coach. At that point, I can raise the front, one side, or the rear, to level as required, without concern that I'll be twisting the body of the coach - which is how you create an issue with your windshield.

My goal through all this is not to just level the coach, but to do that and keep the entry step as low as possible, for ease of entering/exiting the coach?

If I have no access to a level site, I generally favor the one that has the back or driver's side of the coach low. That way I can raise the back or drivers side as required, and have the entry step as low as possible. -Al

[ShapeShifter]

Originally Posted by buck454

I pull into site, dump air, but before I set front jacks I notice by small level that I usually lay on floor beside driver’s seat that coach is leaning on driver’s side (left) about bubble.

Option 1……put a 2x board out in front, or behind, of front and rear driver side wheels then pull up on boards, bubble is close to level so I let down front jacks then rear jacks, tweak rears jacks if need.

This is basically what I will do. If it's off by more than a bubble in any direction, I put boards under the low wheel(s) to bring it within a bubble. Then I level (often putting extra boards under the lowest corners to minimize jack travel.)

If it's way out of level, and I try to do the leveling with just the jacks, I find it can lift a wheel clear off of the ground. I beleive this is a bad thing to do for various reasons (there is currently another thread going on that goes into this in depth.)

So in summary: relatively close - just use the jacks. Very unlevel - add boards under the wheels.

[buck454]

Ahicks and ShapeShifter,
I think we have same solution to OP situation. Dump air which will also help get step low, then lower front jacks (mine is with one control button--F). Now for rear jacks, I have a single control (R) button, but I find it never takes down both jacks at a very close to even pace, and always a guess as to which jack, right or left, is ahead of other. So I just choose RR or LR and take one down until I feel it hit then the other and tweak as needed. If off by bubble or so when air is dumped then I may drive low side onto boards. If more than one 2x is needed then I might help appropriate jack with a board also.

As per another thread, soft ground is a different situation.
bill

[ShapeShifter]

Originally Posted by buck454

So I just choose RR or LR and take one down until I feel it hit then the other and tweak as needed.

I use basically the same procedure. When I get to the quoted point in the process, I will choose the jack on the low side. Run it until the rig is level, then run the opposite side until it touches and takes a little weight.

I used to do it the other way, running the low side first, but have since decided that it causes the overall rig to be higher that way. When you do the high side first, that jack acts as a pivot, and you have to raise the low side until it's even with the high jack. But if you do the low side first, many times it pivots around the center line of the coach, which has the effect of moving the high side jack lower and closer to the ground. The net result is that the high side jack doesn't have to move as far and the whole coach sits a few inches lower (making it more stable and easier to get up the steps.)

It's an simple observation, and make sense once I thought about it, but it wasn't immediately obvious to me. Hopefully the observation will help someone out.

Summary: I dump air then extend front to raise it a few inches, then extend low side rear until almost level, then high side rear until almost level, then front until almost level. Finally, I fine adjust all three until perfect. Or I just hit the "Auto" button, but I find that it results in the coach being higher than necessary unless the right is pretty much level to begin with.

[buck454]

Originally Posted by ShapeShifter

I use basically the same procedure. When I get to the quoted point in the process, I will choose the jack on the low side. Run it until the rig is level, then run the opposite side until it touches and takes a little weight.

I used to do it the other way, running the low side first, but have since decided that it causes the overall rig to be higher that way. When you do the high side first, that jack acts as a pivot, and you have to raise the low side until it's even with the high jack. But if you do the low side first, many times it pivots around the center line of the coach, which has the effect of moving the high side jack lower and closer to the ground. The net result is that the high side jack doesn't have to move as far and the whole coach sits a few inches lower (making it more stable and easier to get up the steps.)

It's an simple observation, and make sense once I thought about it, but it wasn't immediately obvious to me. Hopefully the observation will help someone out.

Summary: I dump air then extend front to raise it a few inches, then extend low side rear until almost level, then high side rear until almost level, then front until almost level. Finally, I fine adjust all three until perfect. Or I just hit the "Auto" button, but I find that it results in the coach being higher than necessary unless the right is pretty much level to begin with.

Unfortunately, the Power Gear model in my 2006 does not have auto level button. If MH is not very still of movement I have to get out to see if front jacks are about to touch surface and if using R button for rear, which jack will touch first.. I may be wrong in my leveling, but I do not lift very much, just enough to stabilize and level. It really frustrates me when I to all this and realize I forgot to dump air.
bill