Lippert auto leveling question
Continuing on with my “I just too delivery of my first 5th wheel” line of annoying questions, here’s another. My new rig came with the lippert auto leveling system, but we didn’t demo it during my...
Forum Discussion
bobbyg123,
I was in your shoes exactly a year ago. After a life time of travel trailer, we purchased our first 5er, and it's a whopper at 41 feet. And... after one year now, I still struggle with the Lippert self-leveling system. Mine is the 6 point, not hydraulic.
First, YouTube.com is your friend. Do a YouTube search for "Lippert Leveling System" and you'll get lots of hits. Start watching these videos. Some will help you a lot, others will drive you nuts because you want them to just get to the point and quit talking their pet dog or their grand kids.
Lippert also puts out some really good YouTube videos on the leveling system. Start with them.
But I think the answer you are looking for goes like this.
Truck and camper are parked an in position to unhitch and level.
1. Chock trailer wheels
2. Unplug umbilical cord and break-away cable.
3. Lower tail gait.
4. (I put wooden blocks under each jack so they don't have to extend so far)
5. MANUALLY lower the front jacks, which will begin to raise the front of the camper. When the weight of the camper is off the 5er hitch in the bed of the truck, then stop raising it. This may take some practice to learn to eyeball when the trailer is high enough to uncouple OK, and when it's actually lifting the truck, or still resting too heavy on the hitch.
6. After the front of the trailer is adjusted just right, pull the 5er hitch and release the jaws.
7. Pull the truck out of the way, clearing the 5er completely.
8. On the Lippert control panel, simply hit Auto-Level and let the trailer do the rest.
To hitch, you do just the opposite. The Lippert system will remember the height position where you hit "auto level". Push the left and right arrows at the same time. Rear jacks will raise up out of the way, and the front jacks will position itself to the same height as when you unhitched (provided your front jacks did not sink in the ground, if on dirt or grass).
Now, pull the jaws open on your hitch, lower the tail gate, and back under this king pin until you couple up. Lock your hitch, connect your breakway cable.
Now, MANUALLY raise the jacks back UP, (Retract-then the up arrow) which is lowering the 5er and resting the king pin full weight on the hitch.
This is the basic way to do it. It's easy once you've been through it a time or two. The real problem is when you unhitch and you are not on level ground and one of your jacks throws an error code OR you are not fairly level when you hit the auto level button. Then the true insanity of Lippert shines forth. Figuring out how to clear those error codes is another chapter, all by itself.
FYI, we purchased our 5er in September, last year, and after a year, I still feel very, very "green". After being around nothing but travel trailers 63 years of my life, the 64th year, and only 1 year of 5er experience is ... well ... challenging for an old dog.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
I was in your shoes exactly a year ago. After a life time of travel trailer, we purchased our first 5er, and it's a whopper at 41 feet. And... after one year now, I still struggle with the Lippert self-leveling system. Mine is the 6 point, not hydraulic.
First, YouTube.com is your friend. Do a YouTube search for "Lippert Leveling System" and you'll get lots of hits. Start watching these videos. Some will help you a lot, others will drive you nuts because you want them to just get to the point and quit talking their pet dog or their grand kids.
Lippert also puts out some really good YouTube videos on the leveling system. Start with them.
But I think the answer you are looking for goes like this.
Truck and camper are parked an in position to unhitch and level.
1. Chock trailer wheels
2. Unplug umbilical cord and break-away cable.
3. Lower tail gait.
4. (I put wooden blocks under each jack so they don't have to extend so far)
5. MANUALLY lower the front jacks, which will begin to raise the front of the camper. When the weight of the camper is off the 5er hitch in the bed of the truck, then stop raising it. This may take some practice to learn to eyeball when the trailer is high enough to uncouple OK, and when it's actually lifting the truck, or still resting too heavy on the hitch.
6. After the front of the trailer is adjusted just right, pull the 5er hitch and release the jaws.
7. Pull the truck out of the way, clearing the 5er completely.
8. On the Lippert control panel, simply hit Auto-Level and let the trailer do the rest.
To hitch, you do just the opposite. The Lippert system will remember the height position where you hit "auto level". Push the left and right arrows at the same time. Rear jacks will raise up out of the way, and the front jacks will position itself to the same height as when you unhitched (provided your front jacks did not sink in the ground, if on dirt or grass).
Now, pull the jaws open on your hitch, lower the tail gate, and back under this king pin until you couple up. Lock your hitch, connect your breakway cable.
Now, MANUALLY raise the jacks back UP, (Retract-then the up arrow) which is lowering the 5er and resting the king pin full weight on the hitch.
This is the basic way to do it. It's easy once you've been through it a time or two. The real problem is when you unhitch and you are not on level ground and one of your jacks throws an error code OR you are not fairly level when you hit the auto level button. Then the true insanity of Lippert shines forth. Figuring out how to clear those error codes is another chapter, all by itself.
FYI, we purchased our 5er in September, last year, and after a year, I still feel very, very "green". After being around nothing but travel trailers 63 years of my life, the 64th year, and only 1 year of 5er experience is ... well ... challenging for an old dog.
Good luck. Hope this helps.
