Auto Level And Hook Back To Truck Question

[Nankipoo]

We only made of couple trips with the 5'er before the leveling system controller had to be changed out by the dealer we bought it from. I hope I can explain this right. When we hit auto level after unhooking, the front usually goes down and then it will put the back jacks down and level until complete. This part is working fine. When it comes time to hook back to truck, the old system did it with no problem. You hit left and right at the same time and it goes back to where you unhooked it. I could have swore it picked the back jacks up before it raised the front to where it it was unhooked. When I do that on this panel, it raises the front first. I've let it go for a bit before aborting it. It seems to me it's putting to much stress on the rear jacks. Will it eventually raise the rear jacks and complete the mission or is something wrong and it's not functioning in the right order. Going to hook back up again tomorrow and was just looking for some advice before I did. Below is a pic of my system.

[dutchmensport]

I think you are doing it right. When you hit auto level, the front will adjust front to rear to as level as it can get. Then the rear jacks go down and then the 4 of them will start tweeking a little here and a little there.

On mine, I have 6. Once the 4 corners level, the two middle ones go down. Again they will all 6 tweek a little here and a little there until it completes and beeps it's done.

When getting ready to hitch up, I hit the on button and then hit the left and right at the same time and wait. When doing this 4 rear jacks will start retracting until they are all completely up. Then the front landing jacks will return to the original position, wherever you hit the auto-level.

Now. If you hit the auto level and it levels, hit the power button and turn it off, or wait for it to time out and shut itself off.

When you get ready to hitch again, hit the power button and then the left-right at the same time. If you do anything between the end of the auto level and the beginning of retracting the rear jacks, the system can loose it's original position when you first hit auto level. If you fumble around with it and turn it on and off and then back on and off and on again, it will not remember the original start position.

[Javi]

I gave up on the return to hitch height the second time I tried to use it. That was 7 years and two trailers ago.

I will say that the Ground Control 3 of my last trailer was a good bit more user-friendly than the hydraulic version I have now.
I like the hydraulic jacks and leveling but the controls have a limited functionality compared to the GC3.

[Carl n Susan]

Originally Posted by Nankipoo

I could have swore it picked the back jacks up before it raised the front to where it it was unhooked. When I do that on this panel, it raises the front first. I've let it go for a bit before aborting it. It seems to me it's putting to much stress on the rear jacks.

No the that is the way the hydraulic system has always worked. Remember this is an equal pressure system. As the front jacks go up and increase the pressure on the rear jacks, the system reduces the rear jack pressure to compensate.

Will it eventually raise the rear jacks and complete the mission or is something wrong and it's not functioning in the right order. Going to hook back up again tomorrow and was just looking for some advice before I did. Below is a pic of my system.

After doing the left/right thing (which merely raises the pin to the unhook level) and then hooking up, you want to "Auto retract" (up arrow 2 times and Enter). This will raise all the jacks to the stored position.

Everything is working as designed. Don't be afraid of it, the system has a ton of fail-safes built in.

[Nankipoo]

Originally Posted by Carl n Susan

No the that is the way the hydraulic system has always worked. Remember this is an equal pressure system. As the front jacks go up and increase the pressure on the rear jacks, the system reduces the rear jack pressure to compensate.


After doing the left/right thing (which merely raises the pin to the unhook level) and then hooking up, you want to "Auto retract" (up arrow 2 times and Enter). This will raise all the jacks to the stored position.

Everything is working as designed. Don't be afraid of it, the system has a ton of fail-safes built in.

I don't think mines hydraulic. Can't find a reservoir no where at least.

[Nankipoo]

The last time I let it go for a little bit, it raised the tires off the ground with the back jacks still down.

[Canonman]

Instructions on our 3.0 are a little different.
To Unhook: 1, press scrolling up arrow until "drop front jacks". Press enter. This step grounds the front landing gear and when done it will beep. Now is when I unhook the coupler. 2, press the front button and both landing gear will extend. Continue manually extending the landing gear until you are clear of the coupler. Now I drive the truck away. Finally, I press the Auto Level button.
To reconnect, I do exactly as the OP describes. I press the left and right arrows at the same time. The rear jacks are retracted first, then the landing gear is extended back to the height they were when I hit the Auto Level button.
IMHO not having the rear jacks retracted prior to extending the landing gear would cause some real problems.

[bobbecky]

Originally Posted by Nankipoo

I don't think mines hydraulic. Can't find a reservoir no where at least.

Your 2013 Laredo appears to be all electric, slides and landing gear.

[LHaven]

The OP doesn't post the age of his rig. Is it possible when he had his "leveling system changed out by the dealer" he got a newer version with different instructions?

I never heard of using left and right together -- on my system, you play with the arrows over the Enter button until something like "return to hitch" appears in the window, then push enter. It's always resulted in a flawless return for me (and I have a ProPride, where it really makes a difference!)

Or maybe this is just a difference between the controller models on 5ers vs. TTs.

[bobbecky]

It is a 2013 Laredo. Pretty sure he would have said what leveling system he has if there is one.

[Nankipoo]

It's a Lipert control. Not sure what leveling system is on this 2013.

[notanlines]

Ours has always returned (only closely) to the level when pushing left/right simultaneously, but the rear stays put. Hydraulic all around.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by Nankipoo

It's a Lipert control. Not sure what leveling system is on this 2013.

Just look at the landing gear. Electric will have an inner leg you can extend, hydraulic doesn’t but it does have large round feet.

[Nankipoo]

Scrolled through the options on the panel. No option for returning to truck. I hit left and right same thing, the fronts started going up. Aborted and scrolled to find retract rear. Did that then manually raised the front. Guess something in the system is out of whack for returning to truck.

[Canonman]

Originally Posted by Nankipoo

Scrolled through the options on the panel. No option for returning to truck. I hit left and right same thing, the fronts started going up. Aborted and scrolled to find retract rear. Did that then manually raised the front. Guess something in the system is out of whack for returning to truck.

I'd suggest, if not already tried, rehoming the 3.0. Then change the unhook process to first lower the landing gear and let them "ground". Then raise the front to the disconnect height. Then use the Auto Level function. Once level, use the two outside arrows as described and see if the rear jacks retract first.

[Javi]

Well, after all this discussion about the return to hitch height I thought I'd give it another try.

Went to hookup and head home about lunch time and gave it a shot to no joy.

Front jacks raised about 4 inches, but the back 4 jacks stayed put and so the trailer was still level side to side, which is terribly inconvenient for hooking up because the hitch and truck are roughly 4" lower on the passenger side. So now e even though the pin box is at the right height I can't hookup without raising the rear jacks and letting the trailer match the truck.

This is why I stopped using the return to level function in the first place.. it's just simpler to raise the rear jacks and then raise the front jacks to match the hitch height manually.

[Nankipoo]

Originally Posted by Javi

Well, after all this discussion about the return to hitch height I thought I'd give it another try.

Went to hookup and head home about lunch time and gave it a shot to no joy.

Front jacks raised about 4 inches, but the back 4 jacks stayed put and so the trailer was still level side to side, which is terribly inconvenient for hooking up because the hitch and truck are roughly 4" lower on the passenger side. So now e even though the pin box is at the right height I can't hookup without raising the rear jacks and letting the trailer match the truck.

This is why I stopped using the return to level function in the first place.. it's just simpler to raise the rear jacks and then raise the front jacks to match the hitch height manually.

That's what I'm going to do. The auto return was cool but this is just as simple.

[sourdough]

Used the return to hitch height one time...didn't like it. Never have again; retract back, raise front...perfect every time.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Strange. Return-to-height function works great for me. Rear jacks retract then landing gear adjusts.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by CedarCreekWoody

Strange. Return-to-height function works great for me. Rear jacks retract then landing gear adjusts.

Mine worked 50% of time til as Javi mentioned if the site is unlevel for the truck with the rv level you'll still have to do it manually. I used the return feature for awhile but found it just as fast & easy to do manually. Also if you have tweak the rv a bit for the DW you will have lost the return memory.