Air-bag Leveling

Well, my 40ft Country Coach can level with air bags only. But like coaches with jacks, there are situations where I can't get level. Yes, I know you can use blocks with jacks but that would probably involve the wheels leaving the ground to get level. I would rather keep all tires on the ground. I pull into a campsite and hit the auto level button and let the computer take care of the leveling

Air bag leveling is typically on the higher end coaches I believe. I have air bags that deflate and inflate with the jacks, but I can't use the bags for the purpose of leveling at a campsite. They simply deflate prior to leveling so the jacks have enough stroke to level. They inflate just prior to the jacks retracting when I leave.

All air suspension coach's can air down to let the coach kneel to it's lowest position. I actually just do that sometimes if we are nearly level as we prefer the coach to sit lower. Both air & hydraulic leveling would be best but we have hydraulic only.

I used to have hyd levelers that only sat on top of the axles for leveling/on a 2001 Beaver Contessa. But due to leaking hyd jacks I had HWH Corp remove the jacks,cap off the hyd lines. Then they custom manufactured an air system and installed all new air lines to the airbags and a new console and compressor to level the coach with just air. Push a button for travel mode, get to a campsite and set air brake, push level button and allow coach to release air and level the coach.

A big rig with both uses the air to level and the jacks to stabilize. Jacks only would need pads 3' square to keep from sinking into the ground or putting ruts in asphalt as they are that heavy.

I have air only and 95 percent of the time it will be able to level. It would be nice to have jacks to stabilize when parked for longer periods as I can feel some movement. If the site is level airing down takes most of the movement out.

We have both air and hydraulic leveling on our American Coach. There are situations where the jacks will lift the wheels off of the ground. Most of those times I can use the air leveling to get the coach level and keep the wheels down.
I almost always air level when we are stopping for just one night while traveling.
Despite wild misinformation, you do not level with the air bags and use the jacks to stabilize. You cannot use both at the same time.

I would say it is a great feature on good campsites that are fairly level already. There is a variance, and I don't know the percent of how much the ground can change from tire to tire. But if the site is good, air bag levelers are awesome. Otherwise you may have to back up on some wood if the site is bad.

Thanks for the responses, even if some are somewhat conflicting information :)

I think I can conclude that most "typical" DP's can kneel down by deflating the air bags, but not actually level with them. Personally, I think it would be nice to be able to discretely level (no jacks down) when stopped for a few hours on a street or parking lot, even if you cannot achieve perfect level.

I am also not a fan of lifting wheels when leveling with jacks, especially the rear (parking brakes anyone?). I have seen some desert camping where they have used blocks to do extreme leveling and end up with front wheels WAY off the ground. It is scary to look at.

A custom control system, as IJ2634 describes is tempting. But I think you need to be aware of how you are loading some parts by unloading others. It would be easy to tweek the frame.

We have air only in our old klunker.
Never had a problem leveling yet if it were that bad and could not level I would ask for a different site or move on.

I noticed the other day on mine that if you park way out of level, when you push Auto Level it came back and said something about being beyond the extreme. In other words "not a chance, so not going to try!" hahaha,

It had never said that before so I imagine if I wanted to level anyway I would have to get blocks and go to manual.