Independent Outriggers

[LaMont13]

I just bought a 2013 Keystone Montana 5th wheel, model 3402RL and was wondering if you can operate the outriggers independently? Thanks for the help!

[psomers]

Outriggers? Are you talking about slide outs? If so, behind the door where you operate the front jacks there should be knobs that can be turned. The number of knobs should be the same as number of slides. By turning knobs clockwise will prevent that slide from moving.

[LaMont13]

That is also great info to have since I did not know about that either but I was talking about the jacks. Sorry but this is my first RV and I don't know the RV lingo or much at all for that matter. When setting up our lifts at work they call them outriggers?

Can the jacks be operated individually or only thru auto level?

The location of where I am putting the RV is on a little bit of a slope (about 4 inches side to side and about twelve inches front to back) I have built blocks to minimize how far the jacks are extended but was wondering if the tires needed to be supported or if it's ok to leave them above ground once the RV is leveled up. I will be living in the RV until I find a house to buy. Thanks

[DutchmenSport]

You always want to attempt to level the trailer as much as possible manually first form the tires on the ground. Boards, Lego leveling blacks or something else, always support the main weight of your Montana from the tires.

Next, the less you have to extend the leveling-stabilizer jacks, the better and more stable your camper will be. So, 3 rules of thumb. Avoid lifting the camper with the jacks, even if yours are hydraulic and it can lift. Second, level using the tires on the ground first. Third, use the jacks to fine tune the leveling process.

[AZ Traveler]

Gregory,

The control panel will permit you to control the jacks independently, at least right, left and forward jacks. Recommend using boards or ramps to get the rig near level before doing auto level. No danger leaving tires in the air but if you are going to stay for awhile no need.

[R.S.O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by LaMont13

That is also great info to have since I did not know about that either but I was talking about the jacks. Sorry but this is my first RV and I don't know the RV lingo or much at all for that matter. When setting up our lifts at work they call them outriggers?

Can the jacks be operated individually or only thru auto level?

The location of where I am putting the RV is on a little bit of a slope (about 4 inches side to side and about twelve inches front to back) I have built blocks to minimize how far the jacks are extended but was wondering if the tires needed to be supported or if it's ok to leave them above ground once the RV is leveled up. I will be living in the RV until I find a house to buy. Thanks

The jacks can be operated in "manual mode". We had to do it here as our slope is so great even with the front jacks all the way collapsed we were still nose high. Once the front jacks were collapsed all the way I extended the rears to get level front to back then extended right to get level side to side. Our rear tires are totally off the ground. When we get into spots like this we too fill the gap on the jacks with blocks before we extend the jacks to minimize jack extension. Makes for a much stabler setup.

[DutchmenSport]

FYI, welcome to the forums!

Here's a good web site that will help you familarize yourself with the RV way of life. Unfortunately, it looks like this site was sold out by the original owners and another group has taken it over. It's now designed completely different than what it use to be.

But if you click on the 3 parallel lines that appear in the upper left corner of the page, it will open a menu. Start at the top, and have fun reading. This web site has always been my "Go To" site for years and years now. Hope it helps you too. Lots and lots of information contained here:

https://changingears.com/

[DQDick]

For many years we worked for Fish and Wildlife in the winters and several times we had two tires off the ground for the entire winter with no ill effects.

[RBul31]

If I run into the Wheels being off the ground after leveling; I Manually lower the back jacks so the tires are high yet. Then I get my Lego Blocks out and build the foundation for the wheels. Then I can raise the jacks up so the wheels are on the Lego's, Put blocks under my Jacks to shorten the extension and then relevel. When I build the Lego foundation I put the gradual slope on the front so I can pull off them when it is time to leave. Sometime my Jacks wont level without some manual assistance. The ground is just too unlevel. That is when it get frustrating working the manual lift to get it level enough for the Auto level to work.

[LaMont13]

I built a ramp to level the low side wheels up to the high side. When I hit the auto level button it tried to level itself but the jacks were moving real slow and it kept giving me an error message that it had timed out. It was hooked to my generator after sitting for a week with no power. I thought hooking it to the generator would give it power but maybe hooking it to the generator only charges the batteries and I need to give it some time hooked to the generator?? It also gave me another error that said out of stroke but mostly it just would not finish the auto level process.

[team bradfield]

I never use the auto level feature, I put my blocks under the jacks and just manual level, seems faster on my rig versus waiting for the auto level. Mostly stay at Resorts or KOA's on the way to resorts, usually pretty level sites.

Although there is that one site in Georgia, on our way to fort wilderness, that always seems to get my curbside wheels a little higher than I like.

[LaMont13]

It is giving me an out of stroke error when trying to level it. From what I can tell that means that the jack is extended too far but it is not extended more than it was just a few days ago and it did not give me this error then?