Tires off the ground problem

[btritschler1437]

Recently there was a discussion about the auto level system raising the wheels off the ground. Good suggestions were made how to prevent this from happening.

I have the EZ Flex suspension system on my 325 res. Something I noticed when the wheels came off the ground was one end of the equalizer (that triangle thing between the wheels) flipped. When in the correct position the end of the equalizer attached to the spring is on top. When the wheels come high enough off the ground, the suspension will drop, what was on the top is now on the bottom. When you let the trailer down it may not correct itself and the equalizer will now be pushed tight up against the frame.

I drove for several miles with this condition and now the rubber is split and coming apart.

Anybody that had the wheels off the ground may want to check for this condition.

[dretired]

Can you post a pic of that please. Also..did you contact prime time & lippert ?

[zs325RES]

Interesting - thanks for posting. Sounds like a design flaw.

[Crusaderguy]

If you contact the manufacturers, the EX Flex system is from Dexter Axle and not Lippert. PT Customer Service told me awhile back they switched to Dexter sometime ago because of problems with the Lippert suspension system.

[btritschler1437]

Dexter axle has reviewed my case and is sending me two new EZ Flex equalizers under their warranty program.

[btritschler1437]

Attached is a picture of the split rubber.

[dretired]

Originally Posted by Crusaderguy

If you contact the manufacturers, the EX Flex system is from Dexter Axle and not Lippert. PT Customer Service told me awhile back they switched to Dexter sometime ago because of problems with the Lippert suspension system.

OK..Axles made by Dexter not Lippert...got it..Lippert makes the auto leveling system..got that...So..Was the split rubber caused by the wheels coming off the ground ? Or..are there defective Dexter axels on Our Crusaders ?

[btritschler1437]

Neither. When the wheels came off the ground, the spring end of equalizer flipped. Now that end is hard against the frame. The constant pounding of the trailer shoved the metal against the rubber. This pounding on the rubber is what split the rubber. The Dexter people were very good about this problem and understood what was happening.

[dretired]

Wheels coming off the ground..Should that have even happened in the first place ?? And..If..the wheels had NOT come off the ground..Would the equalizer have flipped up ??

[F and E Damp]

I have a definitely negative opinion on auto-levellers. Whoever programs the computer is removed from the real world.

The system on my rig gets stupid and we often ended up with all four wheels off the ground. I finally gave up on the stupid thing. My technique now is to look where and how far we're out of level once we're in the site. If it's too much in either axis, I ask for a better site or move on to another CG.

My technique is to first, lower the jacks until they just make contact. My system runs the jacks in pairs (front, back, left and right). I then figure out which pairs to run to get level with the minimum amount of "off-the-ground" risk.

When we first got the rig and I had it parked on my slightly downhill driveway, I put a 24" spirit level on the bottom of the interior of the fridge. I used the levellers to get it as close as a gnat's whisker to being level in both longitudinal and lateral axes. I then stuck a couple of the 90-cent bubble levels on, one on the front of the TV cabinet and the other on the driver's side front-corner window. This gave me fore/aft and side-to-side level as seen by the fridge.

I can see both of them from the driver's seat and the controls for the levelling system are to the left of the main instrument pod. Usually, if a site is reasonably close, it takes less than a minute to get us set up.

At daughter's house, their driveway slope takes a couple of 6" blocks under the front wheels and the front wheels are off the ground before we're level.

[rhumbert]

I guess I need help understanding this. I see a lot of posts saying the wheels shouldn't be off the ground. Why not? When you service the vehicle's tires you lift it off the ground. When I stored our motorhome this past winter I lifted all the wheels off the ground and put the frame on jack stands. My thinking is that it takes the stress off the suspension and tires. This should provide extra life to those components. And you don't have to take it out and drive it around every week to flex the suspension and the work the flat spot out of the tires.
If it's that you don't want to put all the weight on a small footprint jack pad and put divots in the the camping area then use a larger pad under it. That's what I do. You have to in the northeast where it's always raining just so you don't sink in. Or is it that you don't like other campers saying you have a bowlegged RV when the front tires tuck in?
What am I missing?

[dretired]

These are Crusader 5th wheels that are in this thread not motorhomes..are the leveling systems designed to support the weight of the 5th wheel to be "off the wheels" ?? your motor home could be...not to sure about the 5th wheels

[rhumbert]

Yep, just thought I could drop the question in since I see the "no wheels off the ground" across the forums

[GeoArm]

We have a 2012 Crusader 295RST - Auto Level almost always picks one side or the other (last trip all 4 Wheels) off the ground - Seams it doesn't know how to lower, just keep raising till it gets level - I love the auto remember feature for backing the truck back under, but it's useless when I have to use the auto leveling system in manual mode. I lower the front jacks first, then disconnect the 5th wheel. Lower rear jacks, hit auto level and watch the tires come off the ground ;-(

[lindy]

No auto level system is built/designed to lift all wheels off the ground, neither TT or MH. These systems are designed to make final leveling adjustments after you've seen to it that the unit is pre leveled using boards, ramps blocks etc.

[F and E Damp]

On almost all motor-home, the parking brake is on the rear wheels. If they're off the ground, the only thing preventing a runaway is side-loads on the levelling jacks. Not good. I NEVER get the back wheels off the ground.