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Old 10-16-2019, 12:20 PM   #61
chuckster57
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NotyetMHCowner View Post
The Ground Control Auto Level system requires that the nose is higher than level before it starts, otherwise it will cause an error.
I don’t know about GC on a bumper pull, but on a fifth wheel it only has to be nose high for “auto hitch recognition” to work. I have watched auto level complete without any errors with the nose down.
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Old 10-16-2019, 01:55 PM   #62
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I stand corrected. I forgot that nose high was only for hitch recognition. I don't think I have ever started auto level with nose down because of having an Andersen hitch and it requires to raise it up to get off of the ball.

The only thing that I could have done this past weekend is to drive the rear tires of the truck up onto some boards to raise it before dropping the front jacks. Otherwise it was inevitable that the front jacks were going to run out of stroke
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Old 10-16-2019, 06:34 PM   #63
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NotyetMHCowner View Post
I stand corrected. I forgot that nose high was only for hitch recognition. I don't think I have ever started auto level with nose down because of having an Andersen hitch and it requires to raise it up to get off of the ball.

The only thing that I could have done this past weekend is to drive the rear tires of the truck up onto some boards to raise it before dropping the front jacks. Otherwise it was inevitable that the front jacks were going to run out of stroke
Put a couple blocks under the front jacks.
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Old 10-17-2019, 04:33 AM   #64
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I did put a couple of blocks under the front jacks. When I first pulled into the first site, I dropped the jacks manually to within about an inch from the ground. Tried to auto level and got the "out of stroke" error. I hooked the truck back up and then dropped the manual part of the jacks all the way to the ground (with a 12"x12" 2by12" under them) then auto level again. It still gave the "out of stroke" error but was almost level so we lived with it. The campsite was running down hill from back to front so the rig had to raise really high to get level. The only way I could have gotten more blocks under the front jacks was to raise the rear of the truck higher before un-hitching. The front jacks just dont have enough extension for some campsites. There was no way to move the rig to a different part of the site to help it.
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Old 10-20-2020, 09:38 AM   #65
Dave fromRockcliffeTheSea
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Originally Posted by Stircrazy View Post
ya I have found it doesn't matter much, 99% of camp sites are fairly level at the start, I have been in a couple where the one side of the trailer tires are off the ground after the level. I think what they mean is that if you are to far out and you don't put extra blockage under the jacks that are going to extend you can get a out of range stroke err, then it is a pain to clear it, leveling the tires wont help with this situation it is the jacks that you have to be able to add blocks under so you doing get a over stroke conditions. you get this a couple times and you will learn when you have to do it.

Steve
The manual says that the jacks are not meant to be used to lift the tires off the ground but the auto levelling feature contiiuously lifts one side off the ground???
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Old 10-20-2020, 09:53 AM   #66
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Hi Dave,
I didn't read my manual, lol, but I do use it to lift tires off ground to service breaks and bearings. I auto level it first then raise front and back as evenly as possible until achieving right height. Of course I do this on level ground.
If you're concerned about tires coming off ground, manually level the trailer first with blocks or wood or planks. Place blocks under all 4 rams then hit auto level. I think that might do the trick for you.
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Old 10-20-2020, 05:26 PM   #67
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Originally Posted by Dave fromRockcliffeTheSea View Post
The manual says that the jacks are not meant to be used to lift the tires off the ground but the auto levelling feature contiiuously lifts one side off the ground???
which manual the ones from cougar or lippart. I have one that says its not suposed to and another tell you how to lift the wheels off the ground for service.... go figure. they are rated to lifty the whole 5th wheel and a lot more and ots more even support on the frame that the wheels are, so I dont see an issue.

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Old 10-20-2020, 06:34 PM   #68
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I find that if im on a 2 deg lean or more the tires will come off the ground on the low side so i use boards under those tires. I've also had the tires off the ground for 2 weeks because of just bening plain lazy and not wanting to reconfigure. When i did have the tires off the ground the rv felt just as planted as when they are on the ground. Didnt seem to matter either way.
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Old 10-20-2020, 07:51 PM   #69
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Try this, it worked on mine!
Once unhooked from the truck, truck out of way, lower the front 3-4" before using auto level. By doing this you'll lose the rehitch memory but it should level a bit lower than previously keeping the wheels on the ground, at this time use your bubble level inside to fine tune to your satisfaction using the manual mode then recalibrate the system. Once unhooked from the truck if you hit auto level the front would drop but leveled from the unhooked higher position, this method the front still dropped but leveled much lower. I also put 2-3 of the Lynx Levelers under each everywhere we parked to keep the jacks as short as possible to feel more stable.
Hope this makes sense?
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Old 11-14-2020, 04:10 PM   #70
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The issue I have run into several times with my bumper tow and auto level is parking in a site that slopes from front to back. It seems
to me that the front jacks are unable to lift when they are already close to the ground and I get an out of stroke error when the front jacks have only moved a couple of inches. Has anyone else ran into this situation? And what did you do to overcome the problem?
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Old 11-14-2020, 04:16 PM   #71
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I always put blocks under the low side jacks. Since I've started doing this, no more 'out of stroke' errors.
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Old 11-25-2020, 05:33 AM   #72
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Leveling newbie here too

Jack, I quoted you because you have been doing this a while. We are new to auto leveling. Where we park our camper, the front end is more up hill than the back. We had to raise the front end high to get it off the gooseneck. We then lowered the front end all the way down to get it somewhat level and hit the auto leveler. It would do nothing...would not engage at all. We played around with each of the 6 point levels and eventually got the auto leveler to work (we have no idea what combination we did to get it to work). Do you have any idea why it wouldn't level initially? It seemed to be the result of the front end being literally all the way down before we pressed the auto level.

Thanks in advance!

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Okay...the whole point of having the AUTO-LEVEL system is to eliminate having to tow your trailer up onto blocks or leveling wedges/widgets. Those of you that say you have to be level side to side BEFORE employing the ground control are, IMHO, mistaken

This is what we do:

1. Park the camper where we want it to be - you know - awning will clear the trees, power cord and hoses will reach, etc.

2. Open the control panel door and observe which of the red/orange lights are blinking - this will give you and idea of what is low.

3. Eyeball the distance from the jack pads to the ground and decide how many, if any, plastic leveler pads to place under each leg.

4. Raise the nose of the trailer and unhook truck.

5. Push the AUTO-LEVEL button. Provided the nose was higher than level when you unhooked (as it should be so that the auto re-connect feature will work) the ground control will then lower the nose of the trailer. While it is doing that, the DW and I go to the rear jacks so that, when they start to deploy, we can make sure the pads are centered under the jacks.

6. Go back and monitor the control panel screen - when it says success, lock the little door -done.

It's what works for us. We leave the 1/2 cord of 2x10s at home
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Old 11-25-2020, 05:39 AM   #73
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You have to start nose high for the auto level to work. If you lowered it below level the process wouldn't work. When you unhook and the nose is high just hit the auto level at that point. The first move will lower the nose way down and it will level from there.
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Old 11-25-2020, 05:55 AM   #74
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Thanks! One other question...in order to get the nose down enough to level, we actually had to remove some of the blocks that we put under it initially to get it off the ball. This involved another complicated (trial and error) process of putting weight on the back 4 jacks to get weight off the front to remove the blocks. Now, I have no idea how to get the blocks back under the front to get it raised enough to get it back on the gooseneck. I'm sure this is simple and we'll figure it out when we try, but I'm terrified of making the wrong choice and doing some kind of crazy damage. Our old 26 foot bumper pull with scissor jacks has nothing on this! Haha. Thansk again Jim!

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You have to start nose high for the auto level to work. If you lowered it below level the process wouldn't work. When you unhook and the nose is high just hit the auto level at that point. The first move will lower the nose way down and it will level from there.
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Old 11-25-2020, 05:57 AM   #75
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X2. As Jim explained it must be nose high to begin the autolevel process. This is also the position the system will remember and return to when you initiate the action to reconnect. On my Andersen hitch it is almost always nose high when I disconnect, returning to the perfect location to reconnect.
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Old 11-25-2020, 07:15 AM   #76
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...Where we park our camper, the front end is more up hill than the back. We had to raise the front end high to get it off the gooseneck. We then lowered the front end all the way down to get it somewhat level and hit the auto leveler....
I assume this is your home parking spot. How much of a slope are you parked on? It sounds a little precarious, even dangerous, if you aren't able to level after disconnecting from your truck. I hope you are locking/blocking the wheels well to keep it from rolling downhill.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jimborokz View Post
You have to start nose high for the auto level to work. If you lowered it below level the process wouldn't work. When you unhook and the nose is high just hit the auto level at that point. The first move will lower the nose way down and it will level from there.
X3 - this is correct. Disconnect from truck then Auto Level. The system will take if from there. If the trailer can't level then your parking spot is too steep. Your jacks are out of stroke before you achieve level. You could:

  1. manually level the trailer as best you can and manually reset to reconnect the truck later. You might just need to accept that you won't be completely level in your home parking spot
  2. place adequately sized blocks under the rear and mid jacks to allow the auto level to complete. You might find your steps a little higher off of the ground
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Old 11-25-2020, 07:26 AM   #77
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Last week my auto level decided it wouldn't work... Fooled with it for a minute and raised the nose up about two inches above level.. Hit auto level and away we go...

First time that has happened to me, but then I've never gotten the re-hitch function to work either..
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Old 11-25-2020, 08:05 AM   #78
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Last week my auto level decided it wouldn't work... Fooled with it for a minute and raised the nose up about two inches above level.. Hit auto level and away we go...

First time that has happened to me, but then I've never gotten the re-hitch function to work either..
After unhooking from the truck if you ever use the system in manual mode it will have lost the re-hitch memory.
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Old 11-25-2020, 08:14 AM   #79
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After unhooking from the truck if you ever use the system in manual mode it will have lost the re-hitch memory.
I won't say never, but generally speaking I use manual to raise the trailer to un-hitch then pull out from under it and hit Auto Level... When I go to re-hitch I always try the Return To Hitch Height ... I've never gotten it to work.. Gives me a error

I then resort to manual to raise the rear jacks and lower the front to hitch height..

Not a big deal... it never worked on the other trailer either although the Ground Control 3 did have Auto Retract Rear... The hydraulic system doesn't have that feature.. I have to hold the button
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Old 11-25-2020, 04:46 PM   #80
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I won't say never, but generally speaking I use manual to raise the trailer to un-hitch then pull out from under it and hit Auto Level... When I go to re-hitch I always try the Return To Hitch Height ... I've never gotten it to work.. Gives me a error

I then resort to manual to raise the rear jacks and lower the front to hitch height..

Not a big deal... it never worked on the other trailer either although the Ground Control 3 did have Auto Retract Rear... The hydraulic system doesn't have that feature.. I have to hold the button
I'm pretty sure the step you are missing is that you want to do the entire process in Auto. Don't start be lowering the front jacks by scrolling to manual mode. Lower them immediately after switching the system on while it is in Auto. Then once you are unhitched you can use the Auto button to level and the re-hitch function should work when you go to hitch back up.
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