Ground Control 3.0 Auto Levelling

[Dario]

We have a 36FBTS 5th wheel and are having discussions about how to effectively level the unit Ground Control 3.0 (6 point auto-command): do you use wooden blocks under your levels (when gravel or concrete or both) and what ration front to back? We have used various configurations (3 front, 2 center, 2 rear, etc.) and 98% of the time it levels but the wheel (sometime one side but mostly both sides) are well off the ground. It get tiring hooking back up to the truck to remove or add more blocks and ultimately end up manually leveling to the best of my ability.

Dario

[robkelly]

In general I use the same number of blocks under each jack, but it's also dependent on the site.

If a site is way off side to side I'll generally drive onto a couple of blocks to at least get close to level as that way I don't lift the wheels off the ground.

Last time out I had a miserable time getting level and ended up driving the left side of the rig up onto two blocks, no blocks under the landing gear, three on each of the right (door) side jacks and six on each of the left side jacks. Very frustrating getting the "out of stroke" error and having to hitch and rehitch... The gentleman next to me (also a Pinnacle) commented afterwards that he had the same issue...

[Marine71-76]

No matter what we do we always have "out of stroke". Everything looks fairly level and the middle comes down then the "out of stroke". Very frustrating. In reading the material it says to reset, which we have done all to no avail. Have gotten out the level and placed on several spots on the trailer & guess what, it is level. So we leave it as is.

[Mopar_Earl]

Originally Posted by Marine71-76

No matter what we do we always have "out of stroke". Everything looks fairly level and the middle comes down then the "out of stroke". Very frustrating. In reading the material it says to reset, which we have done all to no avail. Have gotten out the level and placed on several spots on the trailer & guess what, it is level. So we leave it as is.

I assume you are putting blocks under your jacks to prevent out of stroke? I use lego blocks under all my jacks. Also very important, you must allow the trailer to drop below level before it levels. If it can not, it will do all kinds of weird stuff and can cause tires to be off the ground when not necessary or faults. So very important that the landing gear can allow the trailer to drop below level!! Do not drop the legs down to the ground or blocks. Lower the jacks a few inches first, then drop the legs. 4 to 6 inches tends to work unless you're in a odd situation.

My unit levels perfectly everytime with no faults or out of stroke. We camp in state parks and fields, so we never have a level or even close level site.

My rear jacks I use blocks till there is an inch or so between the blocks and the jack foot pad. The front is dependent on how low or high how the front will need to go and the site.


Earl

[DonaandDon]

I have found to keep all wheels on the ground.


1) Do not drop and pin the front landing gear. Just extend to unhook the tow truck.

2) After the disconnect circle around the unit and see what fits best. On mine I like the three in the rear and two (2X8) in the center. But it depends on the lot. Thjis will allow my rig to lower the front to max, thus allowing the rear to level without lifting the wheels.

3) Even though I have the "Big Foot" landing gear on my 17 NP, some parks will require blocks on "all" pads that touch the ground so I carry the thin plastic yellow pads.



There always seams to be a but what if, and mine is using the tripod at the king post. After leveling and depending on the lot my tripod will not fit. Then to a guessing game on how many holes are showing and pinning the front landing gear to the correct length.

[MadJoker TX]

With the front jack pins I extend to 6 full visible holes which leaves the 7th hole slightly visiable. Then I put 1 of the Lego type blocks under each front leg. On the very back Jack's I put 5 Lego blocks under each one. Then 5 under the center Jack's as well. I will very rarely get an over stroke message. Also if my site is high in the front and slopes down toward the rear then I will extend the front jack feet maybe only 2 on holes so the front can come down low enough and not have to raise the rear so high.

[Bama]

Originally Posted by Mopar_Earl

I assume you are putting blocks under your jacks to prevent out of stroke? I use lego blocks under all my jacks. Also very important, you must allow the trailer to drop below level before it levels. If it can not, it will do all kinds of weird stuff and can cause tires to be off the ground when not necessary or faults. So very important that the landing gear can allow the trailer to drop below level!! Do not drop the legs down to the ground or blocks. Lower the jacks a few inches first, then drop the legs. 4 to 6 inches tends to work unless you're in a odd situation.

My unit levels perfectly everytime with no faults or out of stroke. We camp in state parks and fields, so we never have a level or even close level site.

My rear jacks I use blocks till there is an inch or so between the blocks and the jack foot pad. The front is dependent on how low or high how the front will need to go and the site.


Earl

x2. This is what I do and has worked for me. I will also add, if the auto level process is started with the front of the camper below level the Hitch Height function will not work when you get ready to hook back up. Per Lippert it is a safety feature.

[ETCrockett]

This summer we were in a site that sloped from front to back. I made the mistake of lowering the front pads too close to the ground. This prevented the front jacks from being able to lower and level properly. I got so many codes that I ended up manually leveling it for the weekend. I had never had issues before auto leveling the FW. After the trip, I tried to auto level the FW in our storage spot which is fairly level and ended up with all the same errors. So, I called Lippert for assistance on how to correct. They recommend that the front pads should only be lowered 2-4 inches so to allow the jacks plenty of distance to travel. After unhitching from TV, they said the auto level will not work unless the rear is lower than the front. They said to raise the front manually if necessary until the pad shows a red light on the rear jacks and then start the auto level process. Since following that advice, I've never had another problem. I typically have at least 2 lego blocks under each jack and sometimes more depending on the site.

[Thomson]

Since I am old and cripple, I cannot get down to drop the pins on my Lippert 3.0. However, my wife found a wood 10" X 10" about 4' long that we cut into 6" widths and a couple of 2". To the 10 x 10 x 6 blocks we fastened 1/4" rope to one side with Romex staples. Now I can kick them under each piston and so far have just hit auto-level after taking away the truck and all works well. If there is a severe level proble we set the 2" blocks on top of the 6". We we leave I grab each rope to pull out the blockes. No bending, crawling, and no pain.

[Jace817]

Ive started using these. Pricey, but work great. They have magnets in the top so there is no guessing where to put them.