Auto Leveling Question

[creativepart]

All RV manufacturers purchase Lippert systems for products all over every RV. This is much bigger than Winnebago.

Lippert is huge - they have 127 office and manufacturing facilities all over the world.

If you removed all Lippert components from your RV there would be nothing left of your RV except for the chassis.

Their market capitalization is $2.80 billion.

[dkoldman]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Winnebago does not own Power Gear.

Drew Industries purchased Power Gear and Kwikee in June, 2014

Drew Industries was wholly owned by Lippert Controls Incorporated, (LCI) and seems to be fully absorbed into LCI now.

Here is a website with all of Lipperts's brands:

https://www.lci1.com/brands/

Lippert owns large numbers of suppliers for the RV and boating industries.

To get a better picture of how prevalent Lippert products are in your RV check out this webpage. LCI supplies a large percentage of the products that make up your RV.

http://techsupport.pdxrvwholesale.co...EM-Catalog.pdf

Thanks that explains it clearly and matches what I see. I have NOT seen Drew Industries name any where. But if there are two owner manuals I keep in my back pocket, it is for the Slide Out Room and Jacks leveling systems both made by Power Gear. I can honestly say I have followed the operations instructions 100% of the time without fail. Best proof of that is when I start to bring slide in and as soon as I start I notice bath door open I don't panic nor stop, I bring slide all the way and complete the process. Then I fully extend again when finished; I shut the bath door and retract the slide.

I actually have fun with the Autolevel process with the people that I may inside. I tell them not to move and they see me hit that button and system start and they go whoa But they never move; when it shows Green; I get out and verify all jacks are down. With engine still running I then ask those sitting in sofa area to move to the other side or coach or just get off the sofa and then I extend the slide.

All this talk and I will go out and spray all jacks with silicone today. I have trip tomorrow.

[tim myers]

My 2015 Fleetwood Storm has Power Gear leveling and slide mechanisms the leveling was hydraulic and the slide was rack and gear driven.

I gave up auto leveling within a month of taking delivery, as it was more jerky than a carnival roller coaster. Manual worked just fine.

[Scotty B]

Next time we get to a better campground and more level site, I'll have the wife press the magic button while I sit outside the coach in the rear and watch what happens. I'll even try and video it and post it if it's not too large of a file. Should be the next one in Winchester Bay.
The current campground site is pretty uneven. I ended up manually leveling the coach after using leveling blocks under the low side tires and jacks.
Which brings up the next great topic - leveling blocks! Thought I was done with them! But no way we could have gotten close to level without them here. First time for everything...
Oh, and I did not know manually leveling was a thing. I did out of necessity along with a carpenter's level. Now that my center point is good, I do rely on the red dots when manually leveling.
AL at this site resulted in three tires off of the ground before I aborted the process and hit auto retract...
Finally, I could tell the front of the coach was way too high with the factory settings because all of Ben's balls would roll to the rear of the coach!

[marudnick]

@dkoldman, We have the same RV as you, even the same year. Our experience is the same as yours. I run the Auto level and it just works. Last year I calibrated the leveling system. It was slightly off, shower door swung open when opening it slightly. I followed a video posted by Winnebago. Now it works fine.

BTW, I got an app for my Android phone, ‘Bubble Level’. When I get to a campsite, I start the app and set the phone on the floor. If either X or Y is 3 degrees or greater, the auto level will fail. I either move or use leveling blocks to get the RV closer to level. Once I’m within 2 degrees or less, running the Auto Level works every time.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Scotty B

Which brings up the next great topic - leveling blocks! Thought I was done with them! But no way we could have gotten close to level without them here. First time for everything...

I’ve never resorted to adding Leveling blocks. If I can’t get level by moving around in my site then I’m moving campsites until I can level with my hydraulic system. I’ve never had a campground not accommodate me on this.

[Ray,IN]

HWH has a pdf for how to adjust auto-leveling; I suspect Lippert also has instructions for adjusting auto-level.
I attempted to adjust my auto-level without reading the pdf first. When I got it so auto-level actually ended up level, my wheels were off the pavement or just touching.
Then I went back and read the pdf, followed the instructions and now after the air springs are deflated, when auto-level is completed the coach is level and less than ride-height off the pavement.
Bottom line, search the Lippert website for auto-level instructions, then actually read them.

[Scotty B]

I posted a pic of the Lippert instructions from my owners manual about four posts in on this thread if anyone needs them...non-air suspension of course.
We could have moved sites here or even gotten back on the road and gone to the next campground I suppose, but none of the other sites looked any better. Throw in being tired and hungry, and getting back on the road would have been far less safe than staying put.
Plus, we would have missed all of this
Let alone the drive thru tree!
Things are dropping off the bucket list left and right!

[Scotty B]

Thx for letting me share. The thing is, we all do this for different reasons and we each have our own way of doing things.
Back to my original post. I answered it myself. All jacks should be grounded, whether auto or manual leveling.
Peace and safe travels.