Leveling- Slide In or Out?

Sorry --- forgot the most confusing part of our process. That is, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN IT IS (really) LEVEL??? On our trailer, there is not a single surface that is level or square with the world. Our gold standard for level is the shower door which, when half open, is amid-ship.

After going thru the above-mentioned quarters = wood shims process, and after letting the slide out, we both ceremoniously open the shower door half way and let it go. If the door stays still, the blasted thing is level. If the door swings on it's own one way or the other, then out comes the hydraulic jack for fine-tuning in place..........unless I can convince her it is close enough.

PS. My quarters-to-tire shims chart is conspicuously mounted on the door of the trailer storage locker, and with the wheel shim thickness displayed to 3 decimal places. In reality, if I'm within 1/8" it is close enough. Engineers are taught early on that lots of decimal places creates the illusion of accuracy.

Measure it with a micrometer - mark it with a piece of chalk - and cut it off with an axe.

When we first bought our trailer, we quickly learned that leveling first, then letting the stabilizers down, then the slide out, is guaranteed to leave the trailer leaning towards the slide side.

After some trial and error, some measurements, and some easy geometry, I came up with a way to get ahead of this. We actually level our trailer tilted to the opposite side of the slide. Then let the stabilizers down, then move the slide out and she settles to level.

I have a 4 foot level that I place across a specified portion of the v-tongue of the trailer. This level has a bolt with washers that is placed on the tongue surface opposite the slide to set the initial (and carefully calculated) tilt. I then use quarters to shim either side of this crooked level until it is "level".

From the geometry of the tongue and the wheel width, I have a table that calculates how much shim we need to put under the wheels based on the number of quarters it takes to reach modified "level". I carry 2 different thicknesses of plywood plus the normal 1" plastic blocks for extreme situations.

The key to this was the realization that the x-shaped electric stabilizers on front and back of the trailer actually pivot in the middle. If you level it to true level before you let the slide out, the only way it will stay that way is if you have jacks on all 4 corners.

I'm a mechanical engineer, I'm retired, and I'm OCD. This works for us, and I enjoyed figuring it out. Be gentle.

goducks10 wrote:
If your TT is un-level after you put the slide out then just compensate for it when leveling. Put an extra block under the slide side. We have had to do that with our previous TT. It had the large slide on one side and no slide on the other. We always added an extra 1/2" or so to the slide side.

Now that's the way I would do it. ;)

I pull in, level coach, shut down and get the power hooked up. Go in and turn the air on. Then I put slides out and relevel.

I prefer to get level 1st.

If your TT is un-level after you put the slide out then just compensate for it when leveling. Put an extra block under the slide side. We have had to do that with our previous TT. It had the large slide on one side and no slide on the other. We always added an extra 1/2" or so to the slide side.

We don't have much choice. The Slide is over one of the stabilizers so I would have to lie down on the ground to get to it; so I keep the slide in until level. I have found that the rig doesn't move much when the slide comes out anyway.

We pull in, level the TT, put the slide out. The slide is never level, and "level" depends on where you measure.

The frame, floor, table, sink etc. all have different degrees of level. I usually check the floor, the rest what it is.

We actually put the slide out near the end of our setup process. Easier to chock and lift the tires, and run the utilities. I will however, consider the slide when leveling side to side. Many times I can't get it exactly level and I will put the slop so my left (slide side) is a bit higher, rather than lower than the other side.

Not good to be moving your trailer..bumping up and over uneven ground and up onto leveling blocks with the slide already out. Too much torquing on the mechanism.

Level first, jacks down, slide out, and then you can slightly re-adjust the jacks.