6 Point Leveling System

Dave

Traveling Two
The leveling system manual says not to lift the camper to the point where the tires are off the ground. I've read in another forum that Lippert told a Big Horn owner that it is OK to have the leveling system lift one side off the ground, what is the real answer? We full time in our 2014 Big Horn staying at campgrounds for several weeks at a time therefore I would like to know if any serious damage would occur by having the tires off the ground for extended periods.
 

ChangingPlaces

Well-known member
We have had 6 point leveling for two years now. What we do if the wheels do come off the ground, is put wood underneath the feet and then let the rig down slightly, so the weight is on that side. Then adjust the other side to make level. This has worked well for us with no problems. Hope this helps.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
I can't speak for Lippert, but I don't think that damage is why they do not recommend lifting off the ground.
As with everything, there is a risk of injury.
A couple of my experiences are that my rig sat all winter with the tires off the ground, I installed my disk brakes using the Level Up to keep the rig off the ground and I have done spring replacements with the Level Up.
While doing service work I use jack stands for safety.
So to answer your question, in my opinion, I don't see any problem lifting off the ground.

Peace
Dave
 

bdb2047

Well-known member
When I am parked at home at least 3 wheels are off ground. In talking to Lippert tech the issue for them is if someone works under trailer with only jacks lifting trailer.
 

dave10a

Well-known member
It is more of safety issue. Hydrolic cylinders are designed to operate at full extended and retracted stops. If that were not the case road equipment, landing gear or any other hydrolic application would be a problem. It is a shame that when instructions are written, the author do not include the reason why they provided the warnings. Life would be much simpler if they did.
 

DocFather

Well-known member
Great posts and quite helpful to me. I guess I have been wasting my time to put 2 x 10's under the tires on the side that ended up suspended after a preliminary level. Then I had to move and ride up on the boards. Thanks for making sense of this.
 

pegmikef

Well-known member
My wheels are off the ground on one side when I am at an unlevel site. What is the point of a leveling system if you can't get level because the wheels come off the ground. Granted it is usually less the an inch, but they are still off the ground.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
As for me I will continue to use boards as it makes me nervous if the wheels are off the ground. To me, more contact=more stability.
 

donr827

Well-known member
When we were at the Tampa RV show about three years ago the Double Tree display had one of their trailers up in the air on the six point system and the wheels off to show the stability of the system. No jack stands were used.Don
 

porthole

Retired
It is easier to say "don't do it" then to list a bunch of caveats.

If "off the ground" concerns you when auto leveling, level manually, just lifting enough to get level.

I wish it was easy to reprogram the LevelUp to have the initial jacks grounding on the door side.
Left side grounding first exaggerates the amount of leveling needed.
 
Hi I am new here. I love the set up you have there. In your previous post when you say, put the wood underneath the "feet" do you mean the tires? :)
 

Dave

Traveling Two
My wheels have been off the ground for over a month now. It absolutely stable and fine.

Howdy SeattleLion, my concern with the wheels off the ground for an extended period would be to the camper frame and any frame bending issues. Maybe I'm over thinking any possible damage to the camper thing!!? Before I retired I spent 2 years working in the Bremerton/Silverdale area, love it over there. Were going to winter over in Gig Harbor in 2015. Take care!
 

SeattleLion

Well-known member
Howdy SeattleLion, my concern with the wheels off the ground for an extended period would be to the camper frame and any frame bending issues. Maybe I'm over thinking any possible damage to the camper thing!!? Before I retired I spent 2 years working in the Bremerton/Silverdale area, love it over there. Were going to winter over in Gig Harbor in 2015. Take care!

i checked with Heartland. The jacks support the frame so there isn't a risk of bending. My BH has a 12" frame.
 

Harry1

Active Member
I also had the same question about the 6 pt level up and when going through the auto level depending on the level of the site we were sitting on, at times one or two of the tires on the same side might be slightly off the ground. (you could rotate by hand). I called Lippert and the tech told me the tires need to be on the ground. The 4 rear jacks are no different than crank up stabilizers and tires should not be lifted off the ground by the level up system. He told me to reconnect and drive up on boards or pads on the side that the tires are off the ground to avoid this. I told him I was only going to be at the site a couple of days and he still advised to drive up on boards or pads. Wish we could get a consistent answer to this question...Maybe a Lippert Rep could answer this at a Rally and someone could post the response? Nice system but do you still need to drive up on wood/plastic? Kinda defeats the purpose.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
I'm cannot comment on what Lippert told you, but refer to what I said in post #3 of this thread.
Your right about defeating the purpose of the system if you have to drive up on boards.


Peace
Dave
 

DocFather

Well-known member
I also had the same question about the 6 pt level up and when going through the auto level depending on the level of the site we were sitting on, at times one or two of the tires on the same side might be slightly off the ground. (you could rotate by hand). I called Lippert and the tech told me the tires need to be on the ground. The 4 rear jacks are no different than crank up stabilizers and tires should not be lifted off the ground by the level up system. He told me to reconnect and drive up on boards or pads on the side that the tires are off the ground to avoid this. I told him I was only going to be at the site a couple of days and he still advised to drive up on boards or pads. Wish we could get a consistent answer to this question...Maybe a Lippert Rep could answer this at a Rally and someone could post the response? Nice system but do you still need to drive up on wood/plastic? Kinda defeats the purpose.

Harry, I was told exactly the same from Lippert last July, including the reminder that it would void the warranty on the Level-Up System. All of the posts here are great. I end up, painfully, using the manual mode and boards which is not that big of a deal.
 

porthole

Retired
I also had the same question about the 6 pt level up and when going through the auto level depending on the level of the site we were sitting on, at times one or two of the tires on the same side might be slightly off the ground. (you could rotate by hand). I called Lippert and the tech told me the tires need to be on the ground. The 4 rear jacks are no different than crank up stabilizers and tires should not be lifted off the ground by the level up system. He told me to reconnect and drive up on boards or pads on the side that the tires are off the ground to avoid this. I told him I was only going to be at the site a couple of days and he still advised to drive up on boards or pads. Wish we could get a consistent answer to this question...Maybe a Lippert Rep could answer this at a Rally and someone could post the response? Nice system but do you still need to drive up on wood/plastic? Kinda defeats the purpose.

What that lippert rep told you is absolutely wrong - unless lippert has re-designed the system contrary to what the original product was - and I doubt that.

Take it for what it is worth, many of us that have had the LevelUp for a few years spent a lot of time with the engineer and designer of the system, as well as the first people who were certified to install it.

For the most part we have the add on system, installed prior to it being an option from the manufacturer. Keep in mind though, most of the comments are based on the 6 point system, not the short lived 4 point LevelUp installed when the factory option first came out.

The jacks are rated for 14,000 pounds each (although I really don't think the pump is capable of that)
The system is designed to not twist the frame

If you take the time to watch the auto level in operation you can see that multiple jacks move at the same time. Some extend, some retract, but they don't twist the frame.

It is legalese in the all the paperwork that stipulates not to lift the trailer off the ground.

That alone is contradictory to the basic operation of the system. There are many times that in order for the trailer to self level, one or more tires will be off the ground.

Providing your trailer has been calibrated to level, what one or more tires off the ground means is that the ground is not level.

If it makes you feel better to have the boards, by all means, go ahead, it will not hurt. But, you can accomplish almost the same thing by using the manual mode and just extend the jacks enough to level the rig.

Actually, manual is what I do most of the time, as the auto level tends to exaggerate the lift needed. And since it starts the leveling process by raising the left side, the final level tends to be a bit high on the door side. This is not a defect, just the nature of how the system works.


BTW - crank up stabilizers are for stabilizing only, no lifting. LevelUp is designed for lifting.


The boards I used for leveling prior to my install became firewood.
The 4 bundles of the yellow lego blocks I also used - someone at work got a good deal on them.
 

Miltp920

Well-known member
I just used my 6 point level up to replace my blowmax tires. So, it is possible that when you are level, even with the tires slightly off the ground, you could still raise just that side with the tires slightly off the ground further and slide a board or two under tires. Then manually lower the tires down onto the boards. Unless the idea is that most of the weight needs to be on tires, then this might not put enough weight on the tires. Works GREAT for changing tires.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
I just used my 6 point level up to replace my blowmax tires. So, it is possible that when you are level, even with the tires slightly off the ground, you could still raise just that side with the tires slightly off the ground further and slide a board or two under tires. Then manually lower the tires down onto the boards. Unless the idea is that most of the weight needs to be on tires, then this might not put enough weight on the tires. Works GREAT for changing tires.

We did that once when the tires were way off the ground. We put boards under the wheels then manually leveled it. Worked just fine.
 
Top