What do you use as a stop here marker?

I've used several methods over the past 15 years to get the proper location of 5th wheel, class c & now class a motorhomes. The people here give some good advice on different ways to accomplish this.

What I don't understand is why not utilize your hydraulic jacks to level the MH once you get it where you want it? Jack pads or 2X8's cut to the correct size would protect your driveway.

Thanks!

Our thanks to everyone for all the advice. Our community association required that if you park a RV on the side of the house it cannot stick out beyond the front of the house. We are lucky that our driveway is on the left side of the home so we can pull in and have the door facing the house. We extended the driveway so we could pull in far enough and the watershed fall is 1 inch front to back tires and 2.5 inches side to side. Unfortunately this makes the left rear ramp 3.5 inches, and to be exact if the right front is on a 0.5 inch board, what works perfectly is a 3.75 inch ramp. Including a 3 inch high stop at the end of that ramp, if we left it permanently in place we would have to drive over a 6.75 inch bump to get the left front onto its ramp.

We definitely do not like the two step process, drive to a fixed point, get out and position the ramps, and then drive up onto the ramps! But, it does work for us and we are perfectly level once we pull in.

On my slab, I like the motor home in a certain spot that gives me just enough room to use a ladder front and rear and equal distant from my wall and house on the sides. Once the coach was exactly where I wanted it, I painted a 2" wide red line about 12" long at the edge/center of every tire. I also painted a short 6" red line that lines up with the joint between my two bay doors under the driver's window. As I back in, I line up the tires and then stop when I look down from the driver's window and see the 6" line is lined up with the joint between the doors. I marked all my tires because I use mud flaps on the ground to protect the tires. Often they'll move when I take the motor home out or clean the slab and I can quickly put them back where they are suppose to be.

It will take a little bit to set this up, but once done, you never have to do it again. You say you have to place ramps. By painting the lines on the ground, you'll also know where the ramps need to be placed each time. Add a second 6" strip that tells you to stop for the ramp placement and then keep backing until you hit the first 6" stripe.

Sandy and Shirley,

I have three places that my coach goes and if it is out of place more than a few inches, that is a real inconvenience. So, I use bricks and driveway deliniators (a stick with a reflector on it).
To get the marks and have them be removable, bury a brick so it can be mowed over and drive the deliniator in at one corner of the brick when you need it. The rest of the time, it lives in the garage.
Rear for backing is easy. Just put it some where near the back so you don't quite hit it to be on mark. For front-to-back stations, use two bricks and markers, we water people call it a range. Set it up so that from the POV of the driver, when the markers are in line, you are on your mark.

According to the rain that runs off the coach, I have been placing it within a few inches for too many years.

Matt

Because I would have to drive over the 3.75 inch board with the 3 inch stop at the end of it to get to the actual boards for the front tires.

This topic is now a mute point! It has been "suggested" that we go on Amazon and buy another solar light in a potted plant for another $95. "We can just use artificial flowers so no one has to walk around the motor home to water the flowers!"

Why not make the boards you drive up on wide enough so once placed you can drive up on them at any time without having to place them?

We use something like this:

http://www.garageaccessoriesrus.com/parkingmat.html

The first smaller bump lets you know you're within a foot of the proper position. The second larger bump will stop the tire.

With an almost 3' drop off, I would use some of the suggestions above, and attach a solid, at least 5-6" high solid wheel stop across that end. Something to positively stop the MH. Mistakes do happen, and this would be an expensive mistake, to drop the back end off a 30" cliff!

Thank you for all of your replies so far, but as the old cliche says: A picture is worth a thousand words!

We temporarily have two trashcans with a wooden stick as our marker. The angle of the picture does not show it, but from the drivers angle when the stick is exactly at the corner of the mirror, STOP, and put the leveling board in place. The guys who put in the blacktop said that you should always park on boards so that the tires do not slowly sink into the blacktop over the years.

We need 1/2 inch under the RF, 1.5 under the RR, 3 under the LF, and 3.75 under the LR to be perfectly level. I “recently decided” NOT to use the light in the flower pot (left edge of picture) in place of the trashcans.

We constructed our ramps so that you first drive up on 1 2 x 10 then come to a comfortable stop, then you drive two of the tires onto their second 2 x 10 and the driver’s rear has a built in stop that keeps you in place.


The point is that we are perfectly level once we are on the custom ramps.

Plan A is to use some of that driveway sealer to make a small circle where the “new stick” should be placed. The circle will be a few inches larger than the base of the stick so I can see it as I drive up to be sure the reference stick is in the right place.

For pulling into a place, I've hung something on a string, so that when the front end hits it, or the windshield, it is time to stop. My son in law adopted it for fitting his truck into a garage only 3 inches longer than the truck.

Your idea is the same "stop here" principle. You simply have to devise something useful to which your wife has not so much attachment. Get your own potted plant.