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pasusan's avatar
pasusan
Explorer
Oct 29, 2017

Need ideas for levelling

We go to visit my MIL at least twice a year and we need a better way to park at her house. We've been parking in her yard, but always have to worry about rain and if we'll get stuck and/or make a mess of it.

Her driveway is pretty steep and we want to park our Roadtrek class B on it and have it level enough to sleep in and run the fridge. I used my phone to find the angle of the van as it was sitting on the driveway in the spot we want to park - 7 degrees. So - using that angle plus the wheelbase of 135 inches and the other angle of 90 degrees I used the angle-side-angle calculator to come up with how much the front of the van has to be raised.

16 and 1/2 inches!

Any ideas on how to safely do this?
  • I looked at some photos of a Roadtrek class B on Google search. That's a tough one you're asking here.

    We once had a situation where we were going to park our tandem axle travel trailer on a site that was very uneven side-to-side. It was about a 12 inch slope (really). I was fortunate to check the spot out way ahead of time, as this was a state park and we were camped there, and this spot in question was reserved about a month out.

    The only option I came up with was "lumber"... lots of lumber.

    At the site (It wasn't occupied when I did this), I measured the slope of the spot and took all those figures home with me. Then proceeded to procure lumber. I started with an 8 foot 12 inch wide 1 inch thick board (from an old barn, and those were the true measurements), and beveled the end. I took another one and cut it a few inches shorter, and beveled the end. I continued doing this until I built it high enough the trailer would be level side-to-side.

    Stacking the lumber means ensuring back end of the stack remained straight, while the front end formed a ramp. My biggest concern with the board on top of the previous one would slip out while backing the trailer on the ramp. Or, if I did make it all the way to the top, the back wheel of the trailer would over-shoot and fall off the ramp about 12 inches dangling in air!

    I ended up drilling holes through the boards one level at a time and used dow rods to pin them together so the boards would not slip when the tire started roling up on them.

    Yes, this was a lot of preliminary work I did, getting the lumber, designing the ramp with solid wood that came out of an an old barn, aged and seasoned over 100 years and hard as a rock. Triming, cusssing, and leaving my DNA (blood and skin) all over that lumber, I finally succeeded.

    Transporting the lumber was not problem since I had an 8 foot bed pick up truck towing a travel trailer.

    The great thing was, even though it took a lot of preliminary work and building, the effort was an absolute success. Trailer rolled right up the ramp (scared the bee-hee-bee-jee-bees right out of me), but it did work, and my wife had a good set of lungs when she yelled "STOP!" to keep me from rolling off the end.

    We were at that spot for almost 2 week, so all the effort was well worth it. (This was a State Park in Western Central Indiana).

    I say all this, for a final thought. Building such a ramp as this is probably about your only option. Take the time to do it, practice with it at your home driving up on it, and then take the entire stack of wood to your MIL and leave it there.

    FYI, I still have all that lumber, but have never needed to use that much on one side of the camper again. I usually carry the 4 - 6 foot length boards with me when camping at a new campsite (just in case), and ended up using them on many, many occasions since they were originally designed. I keep them in my garage, and when getting ready to travel, make sure I have enough to raise the camper at least 6 inches. I also have a variety of smaller one (2 foot lengths) that fit under each tire separately, or if parked on a slope where I need front-to-back level and need to raise the tires to make this happen (35 feet long, doesn't take much of slope to bottom out the front or back of the camper you know).

    My suggestion ... build a sturdy ramp and bring it with you.
  • I often see a Roadtrek parked in a driveway in my neighborhood. It is backed in, then front pulled up on auto ramps, like you would use to change the oil.

    Jerry
  • Mortimer Brewster wrote:
    It seems to me that it would be much easier to protect the grass than try to build (and store) ramps/blocks to level your Roadtrek. I would look into something like this Grid System that would allow you to drive on the grass without destroying it.

    I think this may be the best option. It's a one time installation and, it can be removed when it is no longer needed. You just drive onto the yard and you're done. No blocks, ramps, etc to move around or store.
  • It seems to me that it would be much easier to protect the grass than try to build (and store) ramps/blocks to level your Roadtrek. I would look into something like this Grid System that would allow you to drive on the grass without destroying it.
  • Dont forget that you have two sets of wheels to work with. You can help some by letting most of the air out of the uphill set of tires. you should gain 3 or 4 inches that way, and much more if you take the wheels off. It would be a pain to have to do it, but if you dont plan on moving for several days, its workable.
    obviously that would be with the uphill tires being the front, otherwise ,,,,,,, WHEEEEEEE down the driveway.
  • Assuming you back the Roadtrek on to the driveway I'd be inclined to build a custom set of ramps which the front tires of the vehicle could be driven up on to until the vehicle is level front-to-back. Alternately, you might also consider building ramp for each front tire using plastic leveling blocks such as Lynx Levelers. Even though the Roadtrek does have a parking brake, if you're concerned about the chance of the vehicle shifting forward you might consider parking the vehicle's rear tires on a set of custom wheel pads, just as I do with my own travel trailer, using the weight of the trailer itself to absolutely prevent any chance it could ever inadvertently shift forward.



    With the front wheels elevated so much I imagine you'd also need a custom step to place in front of whatever entry you use to get in & out of the camper portion of the vehicle.

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