Lippert auto leveling question

bobbyg123 wrote:
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 PDI. It seems really easy to use, but I’m not sure what to expect the first time. I was told to completely unhitch (chock the tires, set the landing gear, unwire and pull the truck away) before leveling. What I’m not visualizing is how the system levels the camper without bending the landing gear. Does it completely lift the rig off the ground?

Good grief, after 10+ years of travel trailering, i didn’t think that I’d have so many silly questions. I’m a greenhorn again. :)

First off, shame on your dealer for not running you through a full hitch, unhitch, level, re-hitch cycle!

Since I boondock more often than not, I pull my truck away (after chocking and dropping the front legs) enough to clear the nose of my FW, but leave the trailer plugged in to the in-bed plug. That way, I'm not using the house batteries as much. I'll often leave the truck running, too, while it levels. My system does have a "rehitch" setting, but I've not found it to be terribly accurate, so I just eyeball it when backing back in, after raising the rear jacks first, of course.

One thing that I noticed this last time we camped in the forest, was that my jacks =did= sink a bit after a couple days, with a bit of rain, even though all my jacks were on 12" wood pieces. Last night we were there, I did notice a bit more wiggling and jiggling (of the TRAILER!) but didn't think anything about it. Next time, I'll plan on re-leveling after 48 hours.

Another thing, my rig came with JT Strongarms from the factory, so once I'm level, I'll raise the front just a touch, tighten the JTs, then re-level so there's pressure on them. It =does= make a difference.

Don't freak out if you get one side off the ground. The jacks are very strong and are more than capable. As many others have said, you'll likely want some blocks under the jacks, especially the rear. Increased footprint is always good, but the rear jacks can run out of stroke, so you need the blocks to give them more runout. The one real complaint I have is that my system always seems to want to level UP, so it will unweight the higher side, as well. I'd love to be able to have a command to "drop X inches all 4 corners".

Lyle