Level on sloped campsites. How? Unique to 5er's

Fifth Wheel is 41 feet long. Even gentle sloped campsites will make ground clearance considerably different between the front of the camper and the back. Question for 5er owners? How do you level (front to back) your 5er when the front is sloped excessively low (excessively low for your 5er... as a shorter 5er might not have this issues on the same site.

Definition: Campsite is sloped downhill, meaning the tail end of the camper is uphill, the front end of the camper is downhill. I have no problems when it's reversed.

Problem: When the campsite is sloped too much, the front landing gear will not extend far enough to bring the camper level front to back.

Problem: The front landing gear is close to the ground, and there is only so much lumber that can fit under the feet, but even fully extended, the front is still low.

The longer the trailer, the more pronounced this becomes.

We are currently camped at a state park in Indiana and for the 3rd time in the last year we've run into this situation. In about a month I'll be parked for a week on such a site as this again, so trying to get this figured out now.

Of course, the easy solution is just to leave the camper parked front downward and forget it. But I don't like that option.

I've rattled my brain for almost a year now, trying to come up with a solution. Once unhitched from the truck, you are pretty much at the mercy of the length of your landing gear jacks.

I have thought about ramps for the rear tires to back onto, this would initially raise the entire front of the 5er, but unhitching and hitching may be a real problem. Plus a 1 ton dualy with 3000 pounds of trailer over the rear axles, well, I don't think too many car ramps would support that type of weight.

I thought, maybe back the truck onto a stack of lumber under all 4 tires (well, 6 tires in my case), but that would require bringing along a LOT of lumber to raise the truck even 3 or 4 inches higher off the ground.

Then I thought of how I did this with our travel trailer and thought maybe one of those king pin tripods would work, and in theory, they would, if they could fully support 3000 pounds.

With our travel trailer when the front was sloped downhill, I'd raise the trailer as high as I could go with the tongue jack. Then I'd lower the front stablizer jacks all the way down and let the trailer rest on the jacks. Then raise the tongue jack and put put additional lumber under the tongue jack, then lower the tongue jack again on the higher stack of lumber. Now the stablizer jacks are completely off the ground, so they will also need lumber under them to stablize too. But the entire camper is now level front to back. To hitch, this process is reversed.

With a 5er, the tripod could support the king pin, then the front landing gear jacks could be retracted and more lumber put under the feet. Then the landing gear could be extended again and bring the 5er level. To hitch, the process would be reversed.

The only problem is finding a king pin tripod that is stout enough to support approximately 3000 pounds.

So, the question is, how do you do it when the front landing gear simply doesn't extend long enough?

FYI, here's a couple photos of where we are currently camped. The front is still slightly downhill, but the front landing gear is extended as far as it will go, and ... my 6 point leveling system is currently in an error because they are hyper extended right now.

How do you do it? Or do you just leave the camper nose down and unlevel?

FYI, the motor home behind us is parked on a similar slope. He looks to be about 35 feet long, and the front tires are off the ground. His front hydraulic jacks are extended too.

Edd505
Explorer
Aug 29, 2019
Bipeflier wrote:
Are you starting with the jacks fully retracted and drop the inner legs to the ground? If you do that you should be able to raise the front of the camper at least 2 feet. If you don't drop the inner legs you will never have enough stroke.

That was my thought, why not drop the inter leg? I have the Ground Control 3 auto level so there is no inter leg. I just est how low the front will be and add a stack of legos to make up the distance. I use them under all the legs all the time as the shorter the leg the less wobble.
Bipeflier
Explorer
Aug 19, 2019
Are you starting with the jacks fully retracted and drop the inner legs to the ground? If you do that you should be able to raise the front of the camper at least 2 feet. If you don't drop the inner legs you will never have enough stroke.
JRscooby
Explorer II
Aug 19, 2019
DutchmenSport wrote:
Couple things:

JRscooby: the foot print of the jacks are 12 inches x 12.xx inches and stack inside each other if the center lift is removed.e broken down though.

Unless you have something I have not seen, each stand has a foot print that is only the edge of the ends of the legs, not the whole square foot.

The only draw back I see, as mentioned above, is the possibility the feet would sink, especially if on dirt. I'll be experimenting at home, but am now considering a square plate, maybe 13 or 14 inches square to fit under them so the feet won't sink in soft ground. (still working on this one).

Sinking in dirt? May not get jacks off ground. And over the years we have had stands with light weight on them sink in asphalt. Don't trust anything but concrete without a base.

Lantley: About the difference is extension length on those legs.

A question based only on my ignorance; Are the jacks hydraulic rams? And if so, is there a chance that with back of trailer high the oil tank will not feed all the oil to pump? Or, with the rear jacks on the ground, the front does not have the capacity to lift the whole trailer?

IMHO, the best thing to do if parking on a steep slope is a tough rubber belt (hd rubber mud flap cut in half work for you)as wide as the tires, and bolted to a chock. With weight of tire on flap, will not move.
laknox
Nomad
Aug 19, 2019
After reading the entire thread, IMO, Dutch's got an issue with his leveling system. After all, it =is= an LCI product, so that surprises whom? I'd certainly look at getting the error checked and figure out why the system won't give the full extension. That 26" was =without= the extensions so add another 20" or better, and you'd have close to 4' of total extension, if necessary. Sumpin's wrong...

Lyle
Lantley
Nomad
Aug 19, 2019
Dutchmen I think we think a lot on a lot of things. I also carry a jug of DEF.
I almost started to carry my jack stands in the fiver at all times as well.
One of my leveling jacks failed which forced me to go out and buy 12 ton jacks to make the repair. (This is how I knew you could use a set in your situation).
Fortunately the jack failed in my driveway vs. on the road.
I reluctantly store my jack stands at home in the shed vs. in the 5'er...LOL
But for better or worse I have a whole lot of just in case stuff loaded in my fiver
Me_Again
Explorer III
Aug 19, 2019
DutchmenSport wrote:
Couple things:

the other for carrying an extra jug of DEF and hoses for my air compressor. I removed the jug of DEF and the jack stands fit nicely, with adequate room to still wedge the jug of DEF in there also.

That deserves a separate thread on tow vehicles! DEF has a shelf life and should not be store in a warm location. I just pull into a WM when I get to 1/2 tank and a 2.5 Peak Blue DEF puts it back at full.
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Aug 19, 2019
Couple things:

JRscooby: the foot print of the jacks are 12 inches x 12.xx inches and stack inside each other if the center lift is removed. I have a couple plastic steamer trunks I keep in the bed of the pick-up, one for sewer hoses and connections and such, the other for carrying an extra jug of DEF and hoses for my air compressor. I removed the jug of DEF and the jack stands fit nicely, with adequate room to still wedge the jug of DEF in there also.

About weight, the center lift is removable. The base by itself is not any heavier than that jug of DEF I manhandle. The center lifts are probably a good 10 pounds all by themselves. So, if moving them around, each piece by itself is not that bad. I'm glad they can be broken down though.

The only draw back I see, as mentioned above, is the possibility the feet would sink, especially if on dirt. I'll be experimenting at home, but am now considering a square plate, maybe 13 or 14 inches square to fit under them so the feet won't sink in soft ground. (still working on this one).

Lantley: About the difference is extension length on those legs. I don't know why. After I unhitched, I hit the Auto Level and everything started working as expected. The front jacks started raising and everything appeared to be OK. When the Lippert system signaled, "grounding rear jacks" it started lowering the back ones and quickly went into an error, indicating the front was low. No matter how I tried, I couldn't get the front jacks to raise higher, no matter what, I kept getting the same error. So, figured I'd reached my total length, which was only 13 inches. So, maybe the auto level system cut something out. When we left the campground, all the jacks retracted OK, and the error went away.

At home, I did not hit the auto level. I went straight to raising the front landing gear as high as it would go. After I was done playing with everything, I manually adjusted the front landing gear to approximate level, and then hit the auto level, and it leveled out and anchored down just fine, all 6 jacks.

My dealership repair shop guy did tell me the trailer had to level close for left-to-right. It looks like, it has to be somewhat close to level front-to-back (or within 13 inches) for the auto level to work correct. That's the best I can figure.

However, with the new jack stands, I can now get the front up high enough (if and when this situation occurs again). I've just go to figure out how to prepare for this if the trailer is ever parked on grass on a slope. The way we travel, we just never know where we'll end up. After all, it's better to be prepared and never need it, than not prepared and need it and can't get to it.

Thanks again. I'm still very much appreciative for this idea. I was dumbfounded and never in a zillion years would I have thought of using stationary jacks.
Lantley
Nomad
Aug 19, 2019
Good Job Dutchmen. Those jack are a little heavier than I prefer but what I really like about them is they are very stable.
The jacks support the 5'er with ease allowing you to feel confident nothing is going to teeter and fall.
Looks like the 12 ton jack stand will resolve your issue,especially if you have a good storage spot for the jacks.
I'm a little confused as to why the jacks now extend 26" vs.13.5" at the CG?
That extra 13" is significant and may have resolved your problem at the CG.
Were the rear jacks deployed at the time? If the rear jack were extended, they may have kept the front jacks from extending any further? The 5'er front and rear jacks may have been fighting each other, especially if rear jacks were grounded just a thought?
Anyway those 12 tons jacks should work problem solved!
JRscooby
Explorer II
Aug 19, 2019
Do they take up too much room? We have a few (bought used) that don't have a pin thru the extentsion, so it will slide right out. This will let the bases nest. In use, it might be possable to extend it past what is safe, but we are smart enough not to do that. Our bigest issue in the years we have had them, is pick them up by the top, clang.
Compare the base of jack to base of stand. And by the shape, if it sinks, the force will be to spread the feet. A hardwood, or maybe better plywood base would be best. Heavy gauge steel would work as well, (on my tool truck, to jack up loaded trucks, I carried sections of truck frame) and thinner might fit where wood wouldn't fit. But even a then piece would help. Cake pan?
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Aug 19, 2019
Followup:

I followed Lantley's (post above) and purchased the jacks from Harbor Freight. I read the reviews on-line and the only thing negative about them was the weight and the price. After seeing them in the store, I had no problem with either weight or price. I purchased them... $99.99 with tax, $106.??

The first thing I did once home was to determine just exactly how much of an angle can my 5er take. So on flat ground, I manually raised the jacks until the completely stopped. Actually, they raised about 26 inches. I don't know why I couldn't get them to extend farther at the campground.

So now I know the limitations of the front landing gear. I even used black marker on the legs to indicate where level was in my drive way and marked the max extension. I'll probably go back and try to mark every 2 inches of extension, so I won't hyper extend again.

With that, (for practice purposes), I lowered the front again and this time rested the frame on the jacks. Doing this, it allows a lot more space or ground clearance from the ground to the bottom of the jack foot, allowing for quite a stack of lumber now, or the ability to extend the inserts several more inches.

On an incline, this will take care of my problem. Also, I have a nice cozy place to haul the new jack stands. They are now part of my permanent arsonal.

Once again, thanks everyone for your input. Everything is much appreciated. In about 3 weeks we'll be on a very unlevel site (front to back), so that will probably be the first real test of this endeavor.