really dumb newbie question

[galakelady]

First time owners of a 2016 Eagle 345 BHTS. Should have recorded the dealer's hitching/unhitching instructions because we had forgotten the steps by the time we got home. So.....here's my question:
When you pull the pins on the front two landing gears to lower the legs/feet, do you lower the feet all the way to the ground?
This is what happened: we lowered the feet all the way to the ground and reinserted the pins at the hole that allowed that. Then we used the auto function to lower the landing gear. Got the other steps done correctly and got fiver unhitched. Then when we tried to use the auto level to level it, it went through the steps and announced "failure." So we rehitched it and the second time, we only lowered the legs/feet a little bit putting the pin in at about the fifth hole from the foot. Followed procedure again. Unhitched. The auto level worked. A couple of weeks later we hitched it up, moved it, followed the same procedure with dropping the legs only a little. Did all the other stuff and auto level failed again. DH and I are arguing about how far the legs/feet should be dropped. HELP!

[Bookemdanno]

I've only camped with my auto level twice now, but I was instructed to pull the pin and let the legs drop completely; make sure the pin is seated properly and lower the front legs to disconnect TV. Then I place blocks at each of the leveling points and hit the auto level button. It's worked for me the 2 times I've done this and the 2 times I did it at the dealer.

Good Luck!

[Cdash]

Depends on where they are at when you drop the legs. When you get a failure, that means a leg somewhere couldn't move far enough in the direction it wanted to go. If you are too out of level, then it may not be able to adjust enough. Next time it happens, measure the exposed parts of legs. The one that is out as far as it can go will clue you into the problem area. If you are real unlevel you may even need to put some blocks on the side that has to lift the most. I'm sure the panel can tell you also, but I haven't had mine long enough yet.

Lippert manuals are available online. I learned some things reading it that my dealer didn't tell me.

[robkelly]

We were told by the dealer to lower the legs about 6" before pulling the pins. Haven't had any issues yet using that approach, but haven't really used the rig yet either.

Like Cdash, I learned a lot reading through the manual.

[klassic]

You never said how sloped your site was, or if the rear jacks even tried to deploy, or what the actual error was...just "failure" isn't one of them.
I'm assuming that when you parked, your trailer was nose high. When you dropped your feet all the way to the ground and unhitched from the truck, it left your trailer even more nose high.
And I'm assuming the rear jacks didn't deploy before you got the error.

When you pressed "auto level" it tried to drop the frontof the trailer to the below level state that it wants before it finds front to back level.
It gave, what I assume, "auto level fail" because it couldn't drop the front of the trailer enough...it couldn't retract the front jacks anymore.
After you rehitched it you lifted the legs up higher and it had more stroke during the auto level procedure to work with.

When you moved to a new site, that site must have left your trailer in even a more nose high position and you didn't leave your jacks high enough off the ground before you grounded the front jacks. Again running out of stroke on its first auto levelling procedure.

So like RobKelly said lower the legs about 6", you should then have enough stroke, in and out, for most conditions.
Next time try looking at how your rig is sitting when you park. If you're going to need the front end to drop a lot, you're better off not to lower the front feet at all and you'll need blocks on the back because they won't be able to extend enough. If it's too much out of level side to side, it won't level either. You will need to "pre level" first under the low side wheels.

Here's what the levelling is trying to do. With the info I read, that you posted, I am assuming you errored at the first few words of step one.

***Cut and paste ***
Auto Level Sequence
1. Front landing gear retract, lowering the front of the unit below level, stopping, then lifting the front end to level the unit front to back and left to right. (Fig. 7A).
2. Rear leveling jacks are grounded (Fig. 7B).
3. A side to side leveling sequence occurs

[magnumsoldier]

A really dumb question is a question that was not asked...

[namusmc65]

All these forums and questions and headaches on the auto leveling system just magnify's my decision to not get them!

[Flapper]

I don't have autolevel, but I assume the issue is the same as one that I have sometimes encountered.
The mechanical system has a fixed amount of up and down range it can travel. If it starts off close to one of those limits, you can find yourself in a situation where you either can't raise things enough to unhitch or can't lower it enough to get level.

To correct the first, while hitched, pull the pins completely and then manually run the gear up. Of course nothing will move because they are unpinned. Then repin with the gear fully down, and see if you now have enough down to complete the un-hitching. For the second, hitch up again to support the front of the trailer, again pull the pins, and this time run the mechanism down (again, no visible motion). Then repin with the gear fully down, unhitch, and see if you (or the autolevel) now has enough motion to complete the job.
The up/down range is pretty broad, so once you've got it more or less in the middle of the two extremes, you shouldn't have too many future issues.
I seem to get myself into this situation when at sites that are really uneven, especially if there is a spot where the truck is on the downside of a hump, and the fifth is on the upside. Meaning the gear has to be dropped as far as it will go to get it off the hitch, but then retracted a huge amount to get the fifth level.
If you're proactive, while on hitch, pull the pins, and and hit the retract switch. Run it until it seems to be up completely (you can either hear it, or on some it will just stop running). Then hit the down switch and time how long it takes to run to the other end of the limits. Finally, run it back up for half of the time. This will get the mechanism set to about the middle of its up/down range, which will be good for the majority of the campsites you encounter.

[fielro]

Welcome aboard, I can't help with your question