Seneca - Backup levelers in case of hydraulic leveler failure

[javamon]

Under the assumption that everything mechanical eventually fails, I could use some advise as to what manual wheel levelers Seneca owners use in the event their hydraulic leveler goes inoperable. Getting ready for our trip out west this summer and this is one area I haven't thought about.

Thanks

[2500hd]

blocks of wood you drive up on. just like motorhomes did before leveling jacks

[javamon]

Originally Posted by 2500hd

blocks of wood you drive up on. just like motorhomes did before leveling jacks

Extremely heavy and I doubt that is what most Seneca owners are hauling around for backup. There are a lot of plastic levelers (ie Camco) but I'm not sure they would hold up to the weight of the Seneca.

[2500hd]

Originally Posted by javamon

Extremely heavy and I doubt that is what most Seneca owners are hauling around for backup. There are a lot of plastic levelers (ie Camco) but I'm not sure they would hold up to the weight of the Seneca.

Anything strong enough to support a Seneca will be heavy. The plastic levelers will be a joke. Wood blocks will be most practical and cost effective. Custom aluminum ramps would be really nice.

[ed4ster]

javamon here are a couple of pictures of the leveling boards I just happened to take along on our 5 week trip. Just so happened our Equalizer system blew a couple of o-rings week one. These are 2 x 10 x 24 with a 45 deg. chamfer on each end.

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f5...rip-45360.html

ed

[SJD]

I carry both the old fashion wood levelers and plastic too as backup. I have used both but only one level high. I am not sure about going any higher, besides that is all I was willing to carry in storage. The plastic only on front axle and the wood on back axle. These were used just to see if they would hold up. I would not want to use the plastic on the back and only one high on the front axle(2 wide to provide surface needed) and only one night at a time. The wood worked just fine, but you need to use at least 2x10 so the tire has the surface needed. If you want to go more than one high I would test in the driveway first.

[javamon]

Originally Posted by ed4ster

javamon here are a couple of pictures of the leveling boards I just happened to take along on our 5 week trip. Just so happened our Equalizer system blew a couple of o-rings week one. These are 2 x 10 x 24 with a 45 deg. chamfer on each end.

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f5...rip-45360.html

ed

Thanks Ed. But now I'm wondering if any manual leveler (wood, plastic, whatever) would be worthless on the Senecas with the rear air suspension. My rear suspension completely deflates within 24 hours and the only way to counteract the rear sag (besides starting the engine and recharging the bags) caused by this loss of air is to deploy the hydraulic levelers. The manual levelers would do nothing to counteract this loss of rear suspension air...is this assumption correct? Again, I'm just talking about a manual backup to a total hydraulic leveler failure like you had.

[rgolding]

Your talking a lot of volume of storage space for a "what if". I'm always
trying to be prepared for the 'what ifs", but there are lumber companies
not to far away from anywhere in this Country. How much do you really
want to carry with you?

"Semper Paratus" motto of the Coast Guard - "Always Ready"

[jcoyle]

I use the plastic Cameco stacking blocks on my Seneca, no Issues.

[Jopopsy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlb14PqCkUQ

RVGeeks swear by these blocks. If I wasn't as much cargo capacity bound as I am, I would have bit the bullet and bought a bunch. One and done.

Of note, even though my rig has levelers I always travel w/ at least 3 bags of blocks anyway. I don't much like my front tires hanging up in the air; if I'm more then 3" out of level I'll use the blocks to get me close, put a couple of blocks under the corresponding levelers that were raised, then I'll go about leveling w/ the hydraulics.

Before somebody asks how I know how far out of level I am, I'll share this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh_5Nwu9T8E

[jcoyle]

Originally Posted by Jopopsy

RVGeeks swear by these blocks. If I wasn't as much cargo capacity bound as I am, I would have bit the bullet and bought a bunch. One and done.

Of note, even though my rig has levelers I always travel w/ at least 3 bags of blocks anyway. I don't much like my front tires hanging up in the air; if I'm more then 3" out of level I'll use the blocks to get me close, put a couple of blocks under the corresponding levelers that were raised, then I'll go about leveling w/ the hydraulics.

Before somebody asks how I know how far out of level I am, I'll share this:

I also use a couple bags of blocks each time. First I auto level. Then if any wheels are off the ground, or close to losing weight (by eye but it is fairly easy to tell) I raise the coach manually and block up those wheels, then retract the jacks. At this point I place a few blocks under each jack to keep the stroke down and re-level. This always gives me a nice stable and Level camp.

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by rgolding

Your talking a lot of volume of storage space for a "what if". I'm always
trying to be prepared for the 'what ifs", but there are lumber companies
not to far away from anywhere in this Country. How much do you really
want to carry with you?

Sometimes you just need to make room for them... We carry 12 2x8's with us... mostly to place under our Jack's to stabilize the ground under them, or to gain height. We are NEVER in a campground... always somewhere that is not level. We use the blocks to fill the gap that we need to get the rig level.

We used 10 of them under the front jacks to get "almost level" on the beach.