Wireless Ground Control RV leveling system

[SouthernNights]

B... thanks. We can race each other now at Cherokee.

RoadJunkie, I have about 6 hours in the total install. 2 hours in the rear jacks, 2 hours in the wiring and 2 hours in the front jacks. I would have thought the front jacks would not have taken so long but they did.

I will probably end up with another hour or so in it today. I want to drop the rear jacks down 2 inches closer to the ground. Right now I have 8 inches of ground clearence on the rear jacks. The instructions tell you 6" and I see why. The travel is less on the rear jacks than the front. As soon as the tires come of the ground, I run out of jack. That would be ok if all the campgrounds had level ground but some of the state parks we go to are anything but level so I feel little more useful travel would be nice-in other words-at least with this I should have followed the instructions.

If you end up with this system and do it yourself, there is a mistake in the instructions involving the wires. Just might want to keep that in mind when running the wires. The instructions tell you that all the red wires are marked for each jack location and also marked positive when in fact ALL the red wires are marked negative. They are going to revise the instructions.

As a side note: I ended up talking to a guy named Sony who is actually at the CA show right now. Very interesting man. He is a partner at Rieco but he told me he was the one who designed the 5th airborne and Sidewinder and then sold it to Reese.
He also used to own Trail Air and developed alot of their products. Very knowledgeable person.

 

[rpkeida]

SouthernNights - sorry about the late response - but it looks like you already have the system installed!!! Good Job!! Our controller was placed on the forward wall of the main storage bin on the door side. Just forward of that wall, on the other side of it, is the battery/slide control hydraulic unit. We have a 3055RL, and I had installed a Master "on/off" switch in the same area, and I wanted the controller to be down line from the master switch so when it waqs "off" there would be no power to the system. I apologize for the late response, but for some reason I have not seen this post until this morning - I must have been just reading posts under the "frame" section. Take care and enjoy the new system. I also just posted my first review under the "frame" section of this forum under the heading tag "Review of newly installed Rieco Titan.....

 

[SouthernNights]

OK thanks rpkedia. I will read the review.
My only experience with it is sitting on a level concrete pad right now.I thought about putting the controller on the right side. My on off switch is there also but I would have had to move my ladder and and handles for the tire etc. I know they put NABO's controller where your is mounted. Hopefully I did not make a mistake by putting it on the left side.
Off to read your review!

 

[Dragoon]

Anyone with the knowledge. Do the front jacks fit the same brackets and stops as the original, or do you need to weld/bolt new bracket/stop locations? Thanks.

 

[SouthernNights]

Bill, you do not need to weld new brackets on the trailer. The bottom blocks or tabs on the new legs go underneath the existing u bracket on the trailer.

 

[Dragoon]

Thanks for the quick reply, now all I've got to do is convince the DW, she thinks I've spent enough time under the trailer. Just finished putting on heavy duty shackles and wet bolt kit.

 

[dieselengineer]

Bill, you do not need to weld new brackets on the trailer. The bottom blocks or tabs on the new legs go underneath the existing u bracket on the trailer.

So Larry (southernnights) how do you like the leveling system since you have some camping time with the system? Is the remote easy to use? System stable? Oh, have much weight do you think the system added to the coach? (estimate) Also, what is the total travel of the front legs?

 

[SouthernNights]

Jim,

Really enjoying the system. The remote is very easy. Basicly an oversize fob with 4 buttons on it. Each button has a raise and lower section.





The system is very stable. I doubt I will put my stabilizers back on. I did notice that if you dont drop the inner front legs the trailer has a little movement to it. After trial and error, we found that if we drop the front legs four holes first, all the movement is gone.

A close guess on the weight is it added about 50 lbs. and that is just the back legs. The front legs weigh about the same as the ones we replaced. The travel on the front legs is more than stock by a few inches. Sorry, I never measured it.

Just remember one thing, this is not an automatic leveling system. That was actually a selling point for me. I really like having control on the legs. I just got done repacking ny bearing, etc and it was so nice to raise the coach with the jacks rather than messing around with bottle jacks. I still used jack stands after it was up. I guess I dont trust it 100% with me under the trailer.

 

[dieselengineer]

Jim,

Really enjoying the system. The remote is very easy. Basicly an oversize fob with 4 buttons on it. Each button has a raise and lower section.


View attachment 12423


View attachment 12424The system is very stable. I doubt I will put my stabilizers back on. I did notice that if you dont drop the inner front legs the trailer has a little movement to it. After trial and error, we found that if we drop the front legs four holes first, all the movement is gone.

A close guess on the weight is it added about 50 lbs. and that is just the back legs. The front legs weigh about the same as the ones we replaced. The travel on the front legs is more than stock by a few inches. Sorry, I never measured it.

Just remember one thing, this is not an automatic leveling system. That was actually a selling point for me. I really like having control on the legs. I just got done repacking ny bearing, etc and it was so nice to raise the coach with the jacks rather than messing around with bottle jacks. I still used jack stands after it was up. I guess I dont trust it 100% with me under the trailer.

Yes, the serviceability is the selling factor. If one jack motor fails, it can be exchanged with another motor. Anyone of the jacks will not retract on it's own (self locking). And like you said, lift the coach and service the running gear is an easy task. So it sounds like if you had to do it all over again, you stay with the Rieco system. Thanks for the update, Jim

 

[SouthernNights]

Yes, the serviceability is the selling factor. If one jack motor fails, it can be exchanged with another motor. Anyone of the jacks will not retract on it's own (self locking). And like you said, lift the coach and service the running gear is an easy task. So it sounds like if you had to do it all over again, you stay with the Rieco system. Thanks for the update, Jim

That is accurate on all points.

 

[Nabo]

I ditto the same as Larry. We have had the system for over a year now without any problems. Really like the independent leveling in that it's comes in handy when servicing the wheels/axles the last 2 spring seasons for balancing. The tire center was also really impressed cuz they didn't have to bring out the heavy jack to raise the coach to pull the tires. I would go back with the same system if we got a new coach.

 

[JohnDar]

My set is still sitting in the garage, waiting for the weather to cooperate. Another winter storm is blowing in tomorrow night and I've got to go to Indy on Thursday for two days at the FDIC. My rear jack mount brackets are different than the ones already shown. They are made with a notch of sorts to go over the bottom flange of the I-beam. If anyone wants photos of the individual, uninstalled components, say so and I'll take some. The pictures on the website flyer are hard to see detail.

 

[kakampers]

B... thanks. We can race each other now at Cherokee.

RoadJunkie, I have about 6 hours in the total install. 2 hours in the rear jacks, 2 hours in the wiring and 2 hours in the front jacks. I would have thought the front jacks would not have taken so long but they did.

I will probably end up with another hour or so in it today. I want to drop the rear jacks down 2 inches closer to the ground. Right now I have 8 inches of ground clearence on the rear jacks. The instructions tell you 6" and I see why. The travel is less on the rear jacks than the front. As soon as the tires come of the ground, I run out of jack. That would be ok if all the campgrounds had level ground but some of the state parks we go to are anything but level so I feel little more useful travel would be nice-in other words-at least with this I should have followed the instructions.

If you end up with this system and do it yourself, there is a mistake in the instructions involving the wires. Just might want to keep that in mind when running the wires. The instructions tell you that all the red wires are marked for each jack location and also marked positive when in fact ALL the red wires are marked negative. They are going to revise the instructions.

As a side note: I ended up talking to a guy named Sony who is actually at the CA show right now. Very interesting man. He is a partner at Rieco but he told me he was the one who designed the 5th airborne and Sidewinder and then sold it to Reese.
He also used to own Trail Air and developed alot of their products. Very knowledgeable person.

Find that last line hard to believe...to my knowledge Dale Fenton (who we know personally) has ALWAYS owned Trailair (until purchased by Lippert) and is the developer of ALL their products and started the company from the ground up???? He and his daughter Kara run the business...

 

[SouthernNights]

Well, just tellling you what he told me. Terry is going to have him at the NC rally if anyone wants to ask him about that.

 

[boatdoc]

Find that last line hard to believe...to my knowledge Dale Fenton (who we know personally) has ALWAYS owned Trailair (until purchased by Lippert) and is the developer of ALL their products and started the company from the ground up???? He and his daughter Kara run the business...

That's what I thought. On one of our earlier rigs we had one of the first Trailair rota flex pin boxes and I spoke with Dale at length before buying it. In the end it worked very well and we were very satisfied with it.

 

[JohnDar]

Maybe it was Reese and the 5th Airborne he was associated with. I found a search for "Sonny Dismuke" brought up a Toyhauler article that said he installed the hitch for someone. Just a thought. I would be somewhat concerned about anyone going around claiming credit for inventing something he didn't. Kind of like the invention of the Internet flap...

 

[dieselengineer]

My set is still sitting in the garage, waiting for the weather to cooperate. Another winter storm is blowing in tomorrow night and I've got to go to Indy on Thursday for two days at the FDIC. My rear jack mount brackets are different than the ones already shown. They are made with a notch of sorts to go over the bottom flange of the I-beam. If anyone wants photos of the individual, uninstalled components, say so and I'll take some. The pictures on the website flyer are hard to see detail.

John If you could post the rear brackets, I like to see how they are formed. I can then see what is in the way for the install. Group Buy anyone?

 

[JohnDar]

Here ya go, Jim. I'm holding it vertical in the position it goes onto the frame. The ears at the top provide the stand-off, along with the size of the notch. The plate ends up under the frame rail. Then the jack gets bolted to this on it's own plate.

View attachment 12430View attachment 12432View attachment 12433View attachment 12431

 

[santafedave]

I just bought this system from Bills RV in southern CA. It was 2299.00 plus tax and $50.00 shipping. Has anybody taken DIY pictures of the front jacks install, I have the Genset in the front and I was wondering if you have to remove the generator to get to the front landing gear? Thanks, David.

 

[dieselengineer]

Here ya go, Jim. I'm holding it vertical in the position it goes onto the frame. The ears at the top provide the stand-off, along with the size of the notch. The plate ends up under the frame rail. Then the jack gets bolted to this on it's own plate.

View attachment 12430View attachment 12432View attachment 12433View attachment 12431

John, Thanks for the pix, I see what you were saying about the bracket change. The slide tie bar is located on the frame rail, It appears that this new design will not bridge over the bar like the older design. It will need to be placed under the bar however there is only about 2 1/2" of clearance. From the pix it looks like more is required. How far is the top of the bracket from the bottom of the frame rail?