Auto-Leveling Question

On our 2016 Oakmont 390MBL we have the auto-leveling feature. When we were at the dealership and doing our "Camper 101" class with the technician, he mentioned that the auto-level feature had something that we have yet to engage. I wonder if anyone else has?

The auto-leveler is supposed to be able to remember and then return to the height of the unhook. In other words, after you put down the landing gear, and hit auto-level, when you are ready to leave again, there is some way to get the unit to return to the unhook height which will make re-hooking easier. Right now we are just going into manual mode and getting it to where it needs to be. That works fine, but I wonder if I'm missing something? I've read over the section of the manual on this, but it hasn't really changed anything. Maybe I misunderstood the technician.

Anyway, just tossing that out there to see if anyone knows any tips or tricks. My wife and I have never had a 5th wheel before, so the whole kingpin deal is still new to us. We've been out twice and in the next two weeks and will go twice more (yes, every weekend for four weeks, it's been AWESOME! Ha!) and each time we get better and better. We can't wait until this pesky thing called work is in the rearview mirror!

And then there's backing. Man, don't get me started. I was a backing champ with our other trailer. I'm experiencing a learning curve on that too. "Tiny" is just so much longer than I'm used to. That and the pivot point has messed me up a little. It's better, not great. Practice, practice.

OK, thanks in advance for any observations.

Sam (& Tafi)

When you are rest to hitch up just turn on the Level Up and press the 'left' and 'right' button together at the same time.
It should then go to your unhitch point.
There are a couple of "unless" things involved.
It will go to your unhitch point unless you have made adjustments manually after you have leveled or your unhitch point was lower than your level point.

Peace
Dave

Thanks Dave. Quick follow-up...Can you do the left-right button combo with all 6 leveling jacks down? Do all the jacks adjust to the height?

My question or concern is that if you have to micro adjust an inch or two after this- and you go to manual mode- won't the other jacks being down interfere with the ability to adjust the front jacks?

Am I making sense?

PS- What part of WI? I'm a natural born Cheese head forced into the Flatland. Sad day when I took my IL driver's license and had to give up my WI one.

Thanks for the reply.

Sam

From the manual.........

RECONNECTING THE UNIT TO A TOW VEHICLE
1. Be sure main power switch “ON.”
2. LCD display will indicate “READY: JACKS DOWN.”
3. Push “LEFT” and “RIGHT” buttons at the same time.
4. Unit will raise up to the point where the AUTO LEVEL was started, (normal starting point from
where it was disconnected from the tow vehicle.
5. Connect tow vehicle and make sure 5th wheel and pin are connected and locked.
6. Push “UP” arrow until” AUTO RETRACT” appears in LCD screen.
7. Push “ENTER.” System will immediately retract all jacks.

i did that and all of the sudden the two front stabs when almost all the way up, had to manually stop it to prevent the trailer from grounding! so no, I have also yet to use the unhooked memory!

Pirana said:

i did that and all of the sudden the two front stabs when almost all the way up, had to manually stop it to prevent the trailer from grounding! so no, I have also yet to use the unhooked memory!

Click to expand...

Your 6pt system probably needs to be reset so it works correct. Read your manual how to do that.

I use mine all the time and never had any problems. I unhook, set it to level and when ready do the hookup as I said in the above post.

I don't like using the return to unhitch height feature. When I unhook, I raise my hitch manually extending the front feet until the hitch pressure is off top of hitch plate and slight gap. When I want to hook back up, I put the bottom of the pin plate just below the top of hitch so I am sure to get a good connected latched hitch and not get a high hitch with the jaws not fully around the king pin.

It is just much easier to do it manually. Once I get hitched up, I do use the Auto-retract feature to bring all the legs up.

Sam,you can push any buttons to make minor adjustments.
If you raise the front of your coach the rear levelers will self correct.

Peace
Dave

My auto return to TV hitch height did not work for a long time. Then one day the system was freaking out, so I unplugged all of the connections and reconnected them again, then manually leveled the coach and did the (power off 10 up & 10 down) to re-calibrate the system. Ever sense I did that it has been working perfectly. I really like this feature.....


FYI: The system is designed so you can manually raise and lower the front jack with all 6 jacks down.
I have herd of some people that were under the assumption that you needed to manually pickup the rear jacks before you hooked up. That is not the case.

If you hit Auto Retract without the TV under the coach, It will retract all 6 jacks and "ground" the front of the coach. Although it looks bad it really doesn't do any harm to the rig unless you have a gen exhaust pipe sticking down lower then the jack pads. Once you do it once you'll learn not to do it again. but don't freakout

pday1213 said:

I don't like using the return to unhitch height feature. When I unhook, I raise my hitch manually extending the front feet until the hitch pressure is off top of hitch plate and slight gap. When I want to hook back up, I put the bottom of the pin plate just below the top of hitch so I am sure to get a good connected latched hitch and not get a high hitch with the jaws not fully around the king pin.

It is just much easier to do it manually. Once I get hitched up, I do use the Auto-retract feature to bring all the legs up.

Click to expand...

I kinda do the same thing, But once I get the little gap I lower it back down to just contact the hitch again. Then when it's time to re-hitch, (power still off) I hit the right & left buttons and it returns to the perfect height every time. Once you start using it you wont go back.

Don't use the feature. Height is not that far off when hitching up and use my remote while sitting in the truck for adjusting to desired height.

Lou_and_Bette said:

Don't use the feature. Height is not that far off when hitching up and use my remote while sitting in the truck for adjusting to desired height.

Click to expand...

Well If we had the remote we wouldn't need to use it either, but I think I still would. The remote unit is high on my list of additions. Hopefully I'll have it sooner then later.

How do you add the remote to the existing system without the remote?

I would like to know also. Remote would be nice.

BigJim45 said:

I would like to know also. Remote would be nice.

Click to expand...

Easy.

1. Get your checkbook out
2. Make sure your pen has enough ink to write a large number.

Thanks Dan.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk

I always use the return to hitch/unhitch height option. Works great, although I do have to use the remote from the truck when hitching and unhitching in order to clear the Blue Ox Bedsaver I have installed on my Hensley TS3 hitch.

I don't use auto level, but did at first. Found out that I can raise, unhitch, lower till level and level the sides much faster manually. Same with hitching back up. Used the remote to hitch up until I put in a front bed tool box. I use a peace of yellow tape on the lid of the tool box to center on the king pin. Get out and check the height, adjust and then hitch it. Then preform a pull test.

Gary521 said:

How do you add the remote to the existing system without the remote?

Click to expand...

Lippert sells the head unit and remote for about $500
Or you can check your head unit ID it has the little antenna sticking out you just need the remote.


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Thank you for giving a link to that u-tube video. We had been trying for two days to get the middle and rear jacks to go down at all.