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Old 10-06-2019, 02:39 PM   #1
ebds2019
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Auto leveling maintenance question

Hi folks. I decided I wanted to raise all of my levelers up one notch to get them a little more off the ground. The impact wrench I have is a Ryobi 18v unit. That unit will not loosen the bolts. For folks who have done it, what did you use to loosen the bolts and what method to tighten them when finished?

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Old 10-06-2019, 02:50 PM   #2
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1/2 inch breaker bar with short extension and six point socket... torque nuts to Lipperts recommended range using a torque wrench..
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Old 10-06-2019, 03:04 PM   #3
MidMOTraveler
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18V Milwaukee impact wrench, no problem. I had to raise the back 2 just to get in my drive. Now had the IS/ disc brakes installed and MORryde raised the back of the trailer 2” . Guess I can put them back.
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Old 10-06-2019, 03:24 PM   #4
Mikendebbie
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Kobalt

I bought a kobalt 24 volt impact from Lowe’s. Don’t remember if I raised the back four jack by one hole or two.
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Old 10-07-2019, 11:28 AM   #5
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At the Rally, the Lippert rep said not to raise the levelers up unless Keystone approved it.
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Old 10-07-2019, 11:39 AM   #6
ebds2019
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffba View Post
At the Rally, the Lippert rep said not to raise the levelers up unless Keystone approved it.
Well that may be so but I’ve already bent one leveler because it was so low to the ground. At $500 each plus labor I will take my chances raising them up. Did the job yesterday. Thanks to the person who told me about the breakaway bar. Without that I never would have gotten it done. The bolts were on tighter than any impact wrench could get free. Suppose to be torque to about 55. These were torqued to over 100.
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Old 10-07-2019, 12:38 PM   #7
Mikendebbie
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Originally Posted by jeffba View Post
At the Rally, the Lippert rep said not to raise the levelers up unless Keystone approved it.
Did they follow up with a reason NOT to raise the jacks?
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Old 10-07-2019, 12:50 PM   #8
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I would be lying if I told you I remembered that much.
They also recommended to not use blocks for the purpose of shortening the leveler stroke. They did say to verify if your leveler was high enough to take a string from the bottom of your back wheel and to the bottom of your bumper. The jack should not be below the line.
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Old 10-07-2019, 03:31 PM   #9
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As close as the 4 rear levelers are to the tires there is no reason to raise them unless you plan to be running off the good road surface or turning too close to curbs or other obstacles. I did raise my front 2 as high as holes would allow.
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Old 10-07-2019, 05:26 PM   #10
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As I recall they use a Serrated Flange Bolt and a Flange Nut. We had to loosen the nut, not the bolt, when we did it. Of course, the nut is on the back side. An impact driver is highly recommended. Trying to remove the bolt takes a huge amount of torque and basically ruins the bolt. Be sure to torque the assembly to 52-64 ft-lbs.
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Old 10-07-2019, 06:51 PM   #11
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I don’t concur with the factory rep stating not to use blocks to shorten stroke.. Lippert... makers of the leveling system states to use blocks to shorten stroke of leveler leg for more stable platform...

The less those hydraulic cylinders are extended the better the stability of the fifth wheel..

Using blocks will shorten stroke length and also prevent you from getting an “out of stroke” error when attempting to auto level...

The out of stroke condition can occur if the system is not able to obtain 0.0 level in either front to back or side to side motion.
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Old 10-13-2019, 04:04 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ChuckS View Post
I don’t concur with the factory rep stating not to use blocks to shorten stroke.. Lippert... makers of the leveling system states to use blocks to shorten stroke of leveler leg for more stable platform...

The less those hydraulic cylinders are extended the better the stability of the fifth wheel..

Using blocks will shorten stroke length and also prevent you from getting an “out of stroke” error when attempting to auto level...

The out of stroke condition can occur if the system is not able to obtain 0.0 level in either front to back or side to side motion.
Totally concur. The factory guy is out of step on this one for sure.
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Old 10-13-2019, 04:45 PM   #13
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You are spot on!
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Old 10-13-2019, 05:00 PM   #14
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I used a half inch breaker bar to get the nuts busted loose and then used my portable battery impact gun to finish removing. I only had enough clearance to go up one hole, but that made a huge difference in clearance over driveway curbs and obstacles. The factory truly really needs to raise the levelers up at least another inch to deal with real world situations that we will all encounter at one time or another.

The DOWN SIDE of raising the rear electric levelers (used on the HC's), there is no longer enough room on top to get a socket on the top to raise or lower in the event of a motor / gear failure. The way I see it, the chances of hitting a curb or large hole is much higher (already done it), than a motor failure - If the motor fails, you would need to remove the leveler anyway.
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Old 10-13-2019, 05:03 PM   #15
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If you do this are you more likely to experience the "out of stroke" error code?
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Old 10-13-2019, 05:09 PM   #16
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I think the bigger problem causing the jacks to be too low is the newer trucks being so much taller that makes the rigs sit nose high. Not only do the jack pads drag at times but also the back end of the rigs drag. Our rig had thin metal things at the back end that finally wore thin. I had heavy steel skids made that I bolted up in place of the thin metal. They probably should make some design changes to compensate for the higher truck beds.
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Old 10-13-2019, 06:08 PM   #17
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In our facebook 3120/21 group probably 75% of the folks have raised the back two or in many cases 4 or all 6 of the leveling jacks. None have suffered any ill effects etc. My rear two would drag a little going out my drive, typically the steepest thing I encounter most trips, so raising them was a no brainer. I also use blocks on site when I level up and have had no issues there. I agree that part of the issue is the trucks are taller these days.



She tows great though so no issues once I raised the jacks a bit..
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Old 10-13-2019, 07:14 PM   #18
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My SOB has the exact same Level-Up system and my jacks are mounted much higher than on Montanas, and I seldom get an "Out of Stroke" error.
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Old 10-13-2019, 07:32 PM   #19
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Do I believe that keystone has real engineers or hydraulic experts on staff that control what goes on with the designs or production floor....NOT...just my belief.
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Old 10-15-2019, 11:26 AM   #20
Eddy
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Check your bolts to see if they are Grade 5 or Grade 8. Grade 8 bolts have a torque specification of up to 120 ft/lbs. On my 3710FL from the factory I noticed 5 jacks had Grade 8 bolts and one had Grade 5???

See this link from Lippert:

https://lci-support-doc.s3.amazonaws...cd_0001840.pdf
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