campground leveling

Hi Phil,

I turn the RV around and put the nose in the low spot.

pnichols wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
No, I've never needed to do both rear duals on passenger's and driver's side.

Don ... then how do you raise the whole back end when it's low? It's of course a tremendous tire overload to support only one tire of a dual set on a motorhome when leveling.

I bought a Husky digital level at Lowes for a particular project. When I tried it inside the Class C, I was surprised at how much perceived tilt it takes before the fridge's specs for level operation are exceeded. Now I don't worry nearly as much about being perfectly level. Now the fridge works for me instead of the other way around. :)

If I'm faced with having to raise 3 corners, I usually opt to lower one corner (if not in a place where some campground owner/host will get grumpy). Small shovel, small hole, problem solved.

Don and jillhop,

From an unstable rock viewpoint: Note what I said above ... that's not my rig in the photo - just my kind of home made stairstep leveling blocks. I'd use short pieces of 2X6 boards in place of the rock! When you don't need any more lift than 4 1/2 inches, no prop is needed underneath the front edge of the stairstep block.

Also, you could easily build your stairstep blocks with 8 inch long step landings instead of only 6 inch long step landings if you're worried about not enough tire area being supported on each step level.

pianotuna wrote:
No, I've never needed to do both rear duals on passenger's and driver's side.

Don ... then how do you raise the whole back end when it's low? It's of course a tremendous tire overload to support only one tire of a dual set on a motorhome when leveling.

Hi Phil,

No, I've never needed to do both rear duals on passenger's and driver's side.

pnichols--how long would you leave your rig parked as it is in your picture? I always try to get my tires up on something flat, so the tire is completely supported on it's ground surface. I was afraid that it could damage the tire by having it "hanging off the edge" as shown above. Maybe I shouldn't worry about that? Would make life easier, and lighter to carry wood to help with leveling.

Don,

I don't understand how five Anderson's could be used in a two step leveling, except by only driving one direction to do the deed.

I do drive only one starting direction to maneuver onto the leveler(s) - it depends upon whether I start with the leveler(s) in the front of the tire(s) or behind the tire(s). I use levelers starting onto either side of the tires, depending upon various factors.

In my example earlier, I move ONLY PARTIALLY OFF the Andersons before I put the last Andersons in place so I get less lift from the last Anderson as I pull onto it .... but get more lift on the original Andersons as I pull onto the last Anderson. This makes the last Anderson providing less lift because I'm not on it as much as the first Andersons I placeed in their positions. It sounds complicated to describe - but it isn't, really. It's probably easier to do with the stair-step blocks I made (see photo below) than it would be with the curvy Andersons.

On the other hand if one swapped the nose for the tail, on a class C, only four would be needed.

I do that sometimes.

Personally I've never use leveling under more than three wheels, and never more than 4.5 inches.

Don't you have duals? If so .... don't you need four levelers under four rear tires sometimes?

I also carry short 2X6 pieces along to sometimes prop under the high end of a leveler before I drive onto it - that way I can get about 6 inches of lift. However, I try not to do this with rocks (our traveling companions did this - but that stair step block in the photo is exactly like the five I built and use - note the handle on the side of the stair-step block):

Hi Phil,

I don't understand how five Anderson's could be used in a two step leveling, except by only driving one direction to do the deed.

But I see you are right, five could be needed on a class C with dual rear tires.

On the other hand if one swapped the nose for the tail, on a class C, only four would be needed.

Personally I've never use leveling under more than three wheels, and never more than 4.5 inches.

They also make a "jack" that can do up to 8 inches. Perhaps I'll get two 4 inch levelers, and two 8 inch units.

I'm looking forward to getting my ARP fridge protection in place so that leveling will not be so critical.

DaHose wrote:
I bought a horse stall mat and cut it up into pieces. Stack to get the height needed.

Works awesome.

Jose

X2

Don,

Hmmmm ... trick question?

Suppose:

The whole back end was low and the whole RV was also on a slight side-slope tilted downward to the left (driver's side). I run into these kind of situations off-pavement all the time.

1) I'd START onto three of the levelers at the same time (forward or backing onto the levelers) - one each under both driver's side rear dually tires and one under the driver's side front tire. I'd drive partially onto these three levelers until the side-to-side level on my dash showed the downward tilt to the left almost, but not quite, eliminated.

2) THEN - while holding my foot strongly on the brake - I'd put the tranny into park and set the parking brake on.

3) AFTER THAT I'd get out and put two more levelers under each passenger's side rear dually tire.

4) THEN I'd get back into the driver's seat, put my left foot heavily onto the brake while releasing the parking brake, shifting the tranny back into forward or reverse (to drive more onto the levelers), and hitting the gas with my right foot - while slowly releasing my left foot's pressure on the brake - so as to drive slowly onto all five levelers while watching the side-to-side level on the dash and the forward-to-back level on the driver's side door.

5) When both levels on the dash/door showed pretty close to level, I'd call it good, put my left foot heavily on the brake, put the tranny in park, and put the parking brake on.

At that point I'd have used all five levelers to be: Higher onto the driver's side front/rear levelers than the two passenger side levelers in the rear on the dually set, and be higher on all four rear dually tire levelers than the two front tires would be (... the passenger side front tire being on the ground and the driver's side front tire being up on it's leveler).

Whewwww .... leveling lesson done. :S

It's not as complicated as it sounds and after a few years of practice anyone can do it. That's what I call a "worst-case three-point leveling situation". It takes five leveling blocks to do it - assuming you block each rear tire in the two dually sets - as should be done.

I do the above using five home-made stair step leveling blocks made from screwed together 2X6's so that rocky ground will never break them. These stair step blocks can also be used for hole-filling and as a jack base support if one should ever get stuck when off the pavement.