New to 6-Point Levelers - Tire off ground

[watkins]

HI All,

Little background first. For about 10 years had a bumper tow toyhauler, no leveling system.. for past 12 years had a Class A with 4 point auto levelers. Just bought a Fuzion 373 5th wheel with 6-point levers....


Took our new Fuzion 373 out this past weekend. Was on a very unlevel spot. Put a bunch of lego blocks under each leveling pad.. leveled the RV but with one side totally off the ground. So I reverted to my old tricks... put the unit back on the ground.. pulled forward.. built a ramp/platform out of the blocks.. backed up on it and leveled it again. Worked great. No tires off the ground.

Question is... was this necessary? Would it be fine with the one side off the ground? I was thinking would be much more convenient to buy some of those leveling buckets and save the hassle of building my ramps... but then again its a throwback to the days when I had no levelers at all.

Thoughts? Also noticed that when kids were moving around in far rear of the trailer it moved quite a bit around. Thinking maybe some x-chocks would fix this.

[dutchmensport]

If you have hydraulic jacks, you can lift the entire trailer by the jacks and it won't hurt anything. If you have the electric jacks, you are lucky the jacks actually lifted the camper. Those electric jacks are not made to "lift" the camper. They level, but bring a wheel off the ground (depending on the weight of the camper) is not a good thing to do with the electric version.

My Montana High Country has the 6 point Lippert 6 point leveling system (electric). I learned right away not to attempt to lift the camper. I always level the trailer first with boards (or a ramp) under the tires (like when I had manual Bal stabilizers) and I've never had an issue with the electric jacks.

For what it's worth, if the jacks have to extend too far, they will stroke out (electric anyway), and then everything has to be reset. It's an awkward process I've never perfected, even after 5 years. So the best solution is to level with something under the tires, build up something under the jacks, and then let the jacks fine-tune the level. You'll never have issues doing it that way.

Yes ... I carry a LOT of lumber with me. I aways have because we just never know what kind of campsite we will end up on.





Previous travel trailer:



Previous travel trailer:



My current collection for the fifth wheel, after I repainted them all one color.



All my "lumber" came out of an old barn that was over 100 years old. The wood was so petrified I had to use a chain saw to cut the 6x6 and the 4x4 and 4x6 and the 2x8 and 2x12 into length. I've been using the same wood blocks and boards for about 25 years now. I just keep throwing new paint on them ever 4 or 5 years.

I do carry a 6 foot and a 7 foot 2x12 treated plank all the time too in the bed of the pick up truck.

Lumber is my friend. I know it's heavy, but it's solid, my trailer does not shake, and the jacks don't stroke out. For me, it works.

[watkins]

Mine are 6 point hydraulic jacks

[dutchmensport]

Originally Posted by watkins

Mine are 6 point hydraulic jacks

You can lift the camper, no problems. But for better stability, you still want to level as much as you can before doing that. The jacks will only extend so far. Depending on the slope you are on.

Here's an extreme situation (not our camper) from a couple years ago in North Carolina. If you (or me) were on this site, the jacks would never come close to leveling without the help of blocks. (It's an extreme situation, for sure.)

[chuckster57]

If you have the electric jacks, you are lucky the jacks actually lifted the camper. Those electric jacks are not made to "lift" the camper. They level, but bring a wheel off the ground (depending on the weight of the camper) is not a good thing to do with the electric version.

I have used the electric system on several occasions to do axle services. They will lift up to 15,500 pounds.

https://store.lci1.com/ground-control-30-grnd-ctrl-3

[bobbecky]

For the Lippert 6 point hydraulic Levelup system, the front landing jacks are rated 14,000 lbs each, and the four leveling jacks are rated 8,000 lbs each, so with all the jacks supporting the trailer, you have 60,000 labs lifting capacity.
https://store.lci1.com/hydraulic-lev...s-black-236560
https://store.lci1.com/hydraulic-jac...000-lbs-433458

[Matty Rich]

I have a Fuzion with hydraulic jacks and have no issues with have the tires off the ground.
Definitely don’t do extreme angles but 1 or 2 degrees is okay from what I’ve noticed.

I recently installed some SumoSprings on my trailer and I’m very impressed. Not only does the trailer tow better. But when stationary and level it’s much more stable when you walk around the unit.

https://a.co/d/iOWuVSh

[pbcamper]

I own a 37’ Sprinter with electric jacks…. Many times I end up with the tires off the ground, no issues. Just need to learn that they have a stroke limit as all jacks do. I just use a few plastic blocks to make sure it can lift it enough… just a little experimenting.

As for resetting them, again very easy, lots of you tubes on this.
I store the camper with all the the tire’s off the ground using the electric jacks… super easy and they have no trouble lifting the 11k trailer.

Don’t over think it.

[Camping family]

Originally Posted by dutchmensport

You can lift the camper, no problems. But for better stability, you still want to level as much as you can before doing that. The jacks will only extend so far. Depending on the slope you are on.

Here's an extreme situation (not our camper) from a couple years ago in North Carolina. If you (or me) were on this site, the jacks would never come close to leveling without the help of blocks. (It's an extreme situation, for sure.)

I would like to know how he got the front up that high

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by Camping family

I would like to know how he got the front up that high

Easy....

Just use the tongue jack to raise the front as high as it will go, then put blocks under the front stabilizers. Retract the tongue jack, put blocks under it, it will now raise higher because it's resting on the blocks. When as high as it will go, put more blocks under the front stabilizers, retract the tongue jack, put more blocks under the tongue jack and repeat the process until the trailer front is as high as you want.

The limiting factor is the number of blocks you have and the amount of battery power you have for the tongue jack. Otherwise, the front will raise until the back bumper rests on the ground, which puts a "quick stop to more front elevation".....

[larryflew]

39 foot with add on 6 point electric Lippert. No problem with double axle 16K. Much slower than our hydraulic Alpine but no other problems.