How sloped can you be and still level the Monty?

[vipermanden]

I am supposed to be getting my 2017 3820FK Monty in a week or so, and when we bring it home to our house up in Lake Tahoe, our street is sloped 3" for every 48" so the back jacks of the 5th wheel will be lower then the front jacks by how ever many times 4 feet fits into the distance they are apart, times 3". Will I be able to level the Monty using some wood blocks under the rear jacks? I will only be having the 5th wheel in front of our house to prepare for trips. Otherwise it will be stored at a flat storage yard, but that is about 30 miles away. One drawback of living in the mountains? :-( Will I be able to manually lower each set of jacks, to get it close before enabling the auto leveling system?

[BB_TX]

Assuming a round number of 32' between the rear jacks and the front jacks, that is 8 increments of 4' or about 24" difference in height at the jacks. That is a lot. I don't have auto level, so maybe someone with it can answer whether it can handle that difference or not.

[jcurtis934]

The back four operate as a unit, same with fronts...then all left or right side as unit when leveling. Will you be able to level...sounds like you live on the head of a pin. I carry two by twelve pressure treated wood cut into roughly eighteen inch long pieces and I always put one under each pad. If the site dictates that I add to anywhere to achieve level, then I add more where needed. Sort of look at the distance from each of the rams to ground before you put down rams should give you an idea on if you need to stack and where. Most times, I manual level as I can do it quicker with less throw on the rams. John

[bncinwv]

Our street in front of the house sounds much like yours. I do not use auto-leveling. I place a set of double blocks beneath the back set of jack pads, one set beneath the middle jack pads and none in the front. I then use manual controls to level the rig, so I can extend the slides for loading the rig.

[dieselguy]

Since you state you'll be parked in this location just to prepare for trips ... why worry about the auto-level? Manually use the main front cylinders to get the truck out from under it, then the same cylinders to get it close to level to make the fridge happy. At best it sounds like you may bottom out the front jacks getting it close to level if Bill's calculations are accurate.

[rmthelen]

According to my calculation, you have about 24 feet between the front and rear jacks which computes to about an 18 inch differential. In my opinion, this is excessive and would require some blocking under the jacks that are on the downhill side. With the proper blocking, there should be no problem with the level-up system attaining the level position. I have the system and have been in situations where I had to block and have had no problem with the level-up system. You are going to REALLY like it.

[Starmaster]

I'm sure everyone is aware of this, but I'll say it anyway, with that kind of slope, be sure to CHOCK WHEELS before disconnecting, DO NOT rely on the levelers to hold the trailer in place. I know its a "well DUH!", but thought it should be mentioned

Dave

[mjammersc]

One of the main items to worry about is getting the unit level enough to be within spec on the fridge. If you have the Norcold 2118 RV fridge, here is the spec range for the fridge. "The refrigerator is made to operate within 3 degrees off level side-to-side and 6 degrees off level front-to-back (looking at the front of the refrigerator)." Your street is similar to my driveway except the opposite direction (rear is uphill). I have 1 2x12 on the rear, 2 in the middle, and 3-4 on the front jacks and then manually level until I am pretty level side to side and ~1.5 degrees nose down. We are normally only in this situation with the fridge on for ~8 hours, usually less.

[vipermanden]

Thanks everyone. I am glad that I hear from you that I can operate the level system manually to get close. I have some 4 x 6 pressure treated wood that is brand new that I can make into 12 " long pieces, and probably use two on the back jacks, and 1 on each of the middle jacks? I totally agree with wheel chalks being in place, and bought 4 of the really big heavy duty ones from camping world. It would really scare me to see this thing roll down my street after un-hitched? :-) I might still rig up a safety chain to the 5th wheel pin and my truck just in case?

[JABURKHOLDER]

With that kind of slope, your landing gear will cycle out and throw an error. You can push "enter" to clear it, then operate manually instead. If you use blocks to get the height you need for autolevel, remember that the RV weight will be supported on stacks of wood that will slope with the driveway. I had a similar problem in my driveway. Tried the autolevel when I got my rig home the first time and kept getting an error. Said the heck with it and just set the landing gear at hitch height and dropped the rear levelers and chocked the tires. I didn't really need to be level as I have a residential fridge. Your RV fridge throws a little monkey wrench into the calculation.

[cw3jason]

Also, it is normal for the 6 point leveling system to lift the wheels off the ground if the ground is that un-level. Nothing special needs to be done and the jacks are designed to support the weight, however some folks feel more comfortable blocking the wheels so they sit on something.

[dieselguy]

I don't want to be repetitive, but since the OP stated at the start he's just in this position prior to trips ... why is lowering the back jacks something that needs done? You can get out from under the truck and leveled close enough for the fridge just by manually using the front cylinders and it's perfectly acceptable. All this piling cribbing so the level up computer will work and pointing out the wheels may come off the ground seems wasted effort in my view. Prior to level up if this situation came up the front legs would have sucessfuly done all the work. Why mess with the mid and back jacks if it's just sitting there to be loaded before a trip?? I do agree about the wheels chocks ... use them and use several.

[phillyg]

I've been successful up to approx. a 12" difference front to rear. Certainly, start out with the wheel chocks, but with your dramatic slope, I think the wheels will leave ground well before the unit is level. I THINK you'll be okay but do raise it incrementally and be careful.

[vipermanden]

Yep, I was disappointed to find out I could not level my brand new Monty 3820FK in front of my house without the wheels starting to lift off the ground. I had the front jacks totally retracted, and blocks under the rear jacks, and got the rig within 2 degrees from side to side and end to end. So we just popped out the smaller electric slides, so we could work in the bedroom and kitchen. I was afraid to do the hydraulic slides without being closer to zero degrees level. Since we are not going to be having it here for long, I am not going to build some big 9" tall ramp for the right rear, and about a 5" tall for the left rear wheels? I would not feel comfortable even with 4 large chalks being on top of wooden ramps.