Leveling

[MikeRP]

Hey All I had an issue this morning I want to ask about.

So last night I level up everything was fine.

This morning, after putting the slides in, I hit hitch height and the front went up and not the ones around the tires. I probably put an incredible strain on the frame.

I couldn’t figure out how to control the jacks manually, so I put the front 2 down but still above level, and re auto leveled. That worked, and when I hit hitch height again all was well and went up like normal.

Any thoughts why I might of had this happen! And how do I retract these things manually?

Any help is appreciated!

[dieselguy]

Assuming your keypad looks like this … page 7 talks about how to get to manual mode and extend / retract jacks. You should have a manual around somewhere that came with your unit or get one off the internet.
https://www.lci1.com/assets/content/...ers_Manual.pdf
I never had much consistent luck with the hitch height mode, so I just don't use it. It's pretty easy to just manually hook up.

[dalford]

Originally Posted by MikeRP

Hey All I had an issue this morning I want to ask about.

So last night I level up everything was fine.

This morning, after putting the slides in, I hit hitch height and the front went up and not the ones around the tires. I probably put an incredible strain on the frame.

I couldn’t figure out how to control the jacks manually, so I put the front 2 down but still above level, and re auto leveled. That worked, and when I hit hitch height again all was well and went up like normal.

Any thoughts why I might of had this happen! And how do I retract these things manually?

Any help is appreciated!

What ever happened, you did not put a strain on your frame. I assume the jacks around your tires stayed on the ground. The system works together. Even if they did not stay on the ground the RV is held up by the landing gear when you disconnect from the TV before you level. Either way, you did not strain the frame.

[MIFarmer]

The hitch height resume function returns the camper to the angle that it was at when the Auto Level button was pressed. So if the rear jacks are still down from an auto level, the hitch will end up higher to meet that angle because the back is slightly higher.

With that in mind, I'll first raise the rear jacks enough to put the weight back on the wheels (arrow up to Manual Mode, hit Enter, hit the Retract button to turn on the LED, press and hold the Rear button until the jacks clear the ground). Then resume the hitch height, and after hitching up perform a Retract All. The hitch height resume still only seems to work when it wants, but if you do the above it will at least be at the correct height when it does.

The jacks are fed by three valves, with each valve feeding a tee to two jacks. So you have front, right rear, and left rear valves. The pressure on the front jacks are always equal to each other, the pressure on the right rear and right middle jacks are equal to each other, and the left middle and left rear are equal to each other. When you raised the front of the camper, oil flowed from the back jacks, through their respective tees, and into the middle jacks, maintaining an equal pressure on the rear and middle jacks. No twist applied to the frame. Same thing happens as the camper is leveling from left to right - oil is free flowing from one front jack to the other.

Basically it's like a 3-legged stool, and as long as the jacks don't max out of travel, each pair will be equalized in pressure and share the load. No frame twist.

[BandJCarm]

I have never used "Hitch Height" process. I guess I should.



I have often manually tried to level trailer. This is MOST helpful on one-nighters when we don't even unhook. While still connected, I just manually drop front jacks, then rear jacks, till they are touching. Then I fiddle with manual up/down/left/right/up/down, etc etc etc till I'm about as level as I can be without lifting the front too much. I'm pretty sure the entire frame moves without twisting during this process, and also during Auto Level.


MIFarmer describes how to get to manual. BUT, I know there are newer versions of the Lippert 6 Point Auto Level display and control board, and they are very different than the older ones like mine. So which board you have, matters greatly in answering your question.

[MikeRP]

Thanks everyone still working on how to use this manually! But they are working fine right now and I’m making sure I ha e plenty of above level room before I hit auto.

[nayther]

on my electric version when I press "hitch height" it restores the jacks to where they were prior to pressing "auto level" so the rear jacks retract fully and the front go to where they were when I started. But I don't lower any jacks except the landing gear before I unhitch.

[MikeRP]

Yeah I’m the same as you nayther!

[Splashes3]

x3

[tomkatb]

When mine goes into the return to hitch height all rear jacks rise. Then the fronts go down more. The fiver is at a pretty good angle. The system has some angle at which they stop.

Mine is an Anderson hitch which has to go 3-4 inches higher than others.

[LittleBill]

I have had the same situation happen many times. If I happen to see that the rear jacks haven't risen, I just go to the control panel inside the unit and raise them manually.
What I have found with Auto-leveling is that it is very very touchy. You have to have patience. Once you hit the Auto-level button you have to wait till the green light stops blinking. Once it does stop usually you can go on and change what you want to do.
The first time I used the Auto-leveling after bringing the unit home, I quickly found out that the unit takes a nose dive first. That put us into a panic mode as even though I had pull my truck out pretty much from under the hitch the tailgate was down and it looked as if the hitch was going to hit it. Needless to say I now double check to make sure all of the truck is clear.

[MikeRP]

That’s exactly what happens every time to me also. You have to get your truck away from the nose of the trailer!

[tomkatb]

There is a learning curve to these levelers. New Cedar Creek fiver last year.

Second hurdle for us was our third campsite. Figured out why it was available in April. While beautiful it was horribly out of level. C shaped drive thru on a hill sideways. Outside legs needed close to a foot of levelers. Noticed deep runs in the asphalt drive area entering and leaving. Folks with high nose set ups.

Hit the automatic button and it locked up. Exceeded the max out of level sensors. Didn’t know we had them. Performed the traditional Chinese fire drill. Pulled out all literature. Nada. It is hot by the way. Really hot.

Discovered, I needed every leveling device available. I had about 28” of it. Later added another 12”. Just in case.

Still no go. Still locked up.

Wife discovered the useless lippert screen in the fiver would operate the jacks manually. She did that. Got it set up.

Manually had to get it down.

Since then I use a lot of levelers in state parks. I try to set up with minimum leg extension. Been flawless since.

Learned the last site available in a park is likely a turkey!

Funny we use that phrase. Turkeys were the runner up to the eagle for the national bird. We chose the fish vulture. .

[LittleBill]

We had a similar problem this trip with a site in Kentucky. It didn't appear to be that bad, but when I hit the Auto Level the front jacks went to max extension and one of the them ended off the ground. They were very accommodating , offering us blocks to put under jacks or being they weren't very full this time of year, offered to change us to another site. I choose a different site. Intend to add some leveling blocks (which I have at home) to my unit.