All (4) wheels off the ground after auto-level

[rigmaroll]

Beyond the occasional need to help compensate for an unlevel site - using planks or leveling blocks - our auto-leveler has done its job [including keeping all the wheels on the ground when it has finished] in the few months that we have been on the road. That is, until today, when after a quite short & relatively smooth journey to a campground we positioned on a concrete pad that is close to level. The auto-level process seemed to start as normal but ended up going 'above & beyond' = lifting the rig to the point where ALL wheels & one side of the front landing gear were off the ground by at least an inch... then it stopped, the steady green light indicating its job was done! Was not able to correct using manual controls as the touch panel display indicated trying to do so was causing too much frame twist (never mind that if anything what I was trying to do should have helped avoid/reduce that). Would greatly appreciate suggestions as to cause/remedy.

[Country Campers]

There should never be a situation that all 4 wheels are off of the ground after autolevel. It is possible that the sensor, located centered between the frame rails behind the axels, has come loose from travel. You will have to drop an edge of the underbelly to see this sensor. You may also have a bad controller. When you get all of the jacks back to a normal position I would try the autolevel again to see what it does. I think the reason it did this is one side got higher than the other and kept trying to compensate.

Brian

[TedS]

Was the trailer level when autolevel indicated success? If a sensor comes loose, I would expect the autolevel zero reference is no longer trailer-level.

Why would autolevel overstroke to a higher plane of level? That wouldn't make sense.

[Jlawles2]

I've notice before that the auto level function may lift tires from the ground when trying to complete the auto process. This usually happens when one side is lower than the other, if front to rear is off, or if the cross corners are out of level. In my instances what I noticed is that the unit did not try to lower the front first but instead went to raising the rear.

As for the lifting of one jack from the ground, the only way I can see this happening is during the grounding phase at the end where the affected jack is fully stroked. Grounding appears to be monitored either by the system (based on observation) by measuring the increase in amp draw to the jacks, or by extending each jack a set length. I have not monitored the stroke of each jack as it's completing the grounding process.

[Country Campers]

Some of these comments have jogged my memory to ask if the unit was nose high when you started the auto level process? This is important, and also if the unit is off level side to side it may impact the nose high attitude.

Brian

[TedS]

A feature I don't like about the system is when first extending the front legs to unhitch, both legs extend at the same time. When one leg contacts the ground before the other that first contacting leg does not stop. That puts an initial twist in the frame as the first contacting leg continues to extent as the second leg is brought into ground contact. The hydraulic system is different in that regard. The first leg to contact the ground stops as the second leg continues to ground contact putting no initial twist in the frame. I had a hydraulic system on a previous trailer.

Is the initial twist causing the system to "mis-behave"? i.e., seeing the twisted higher front corner as a reference starting point.

[rigmaroll]

Update: I confirmed that the level sensor was in the right place & still being held tight. There were no error codes/messages/lights showing on the LCI touch panel (in pass through) or on the external touch pad. Checked connections & fuses at controller - all seemed good. [Did not 'reset' touch panel but did cycle power generally in case that might clear an incidental glitch] Then used manual control on touch panel to extend landing gear at front until panel indicated rig was just barely tilting up, initiated autolevel & it worked properly, no drama. Perhaps I should have tried autolevel again before raising front end to see if it would have 'hiccupped' again, but just wanted it to work - & it did. So remains a bit of a mystery to me, especially as in the 25+ sites where I've used autolevel in last few months it's hard to believe this is the first where height after unhitching happened to result in slight downward rig tilt. From now on I guess I will confirm it doesn't, even though I thought all that would affect is ability for 'hitch height' function to work. Anyway - fingers crossed it was a one-time problem as did not like seeing it up on three legs instead of 4 wheels! Thanks for the comments/suggestions.

P.S. A suspension side effect - on one of two rig axles, the linkages that connect top leaf-spring to CRE3000 flipped down as wheels lifted off the ground & are still like that. Is that a concern or should it 'self-correct' once hauling again & go over a few bumps?

[Country Campers]

rigmaroll

I would get that linkage flipped so it is in correct position before towing. You may have to jack the wheels back off the ground or at least barely off the ground to correct that. Traveling with that linkage flipped may result in some damage.

Brian

[Scott'n'Wendy]

rigmaroll

I would get that linkage flipped so it is in correct position before towing.

Yup, get it corrected before towing

[Jlawles2]

As mentioned I would correct the flipped links issue before travel. To do this the safest way is with the trailer sitting on all 4 jacks in the level state. I found by using a jack (truck jack or other), jack up the opposite axle until it automatically corrects itself.

Jacking the opposing axle seems odd, but as that set of links is already correct, you are moving the equalizer between the axles stretching the links on the affected axle until they correct.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Jacking the opposing axle seems odd, but as that set of links is already correct, you are moving the equalizer between the axles stretching the links on the affected axle until they correct.

Learned something new today. ...and it's early. Going to be a good day!

[Cate&Rob]

I have been told that pulling the trailer slowly over a "speed bump" (or similar lumber/blocking material) will correct flipped links. Caution: I have never tried this myself.

Rob

[Todd_P]

What you described was the same thing my leveling system did before it really started to act up! I ended up finding the rear level sensor had become pitched downward because the thin metal tab it was bolted to bent; don't know how exactly that happened as it was above the corplast and nothing was above it. Additionally, the cable going to it was not anchored in any way allowing the wires at the connector to be damaged from the repeated swaying. I repaired the damaged wiring, strapped the harness properly, and installed a thicker metal tab for the rear sensor to mount to. I also remounted the front controller/sensor so it to was centered and parallel to the frame. After re-zeroing, the system once again operates as expected.

[Mike & Rebecca]

A feature I don't like about the system is when first extending the front legs to unhitch, both legs extend at the same time. When one leg contacts the ground before the other that first contacting leg does not stop. That puts an initial twist in the frame as the first contacting leg continues to extent as the second leg is brought into ground contact. The hydraulic system is different in that regard. The first leg to contact the ground stops as the second leg continues to ground contact putting no initial twist in the frame. I had a hydraulic system on a previous trailer.

Is the initial twist causing the system to "mis-behave"? i.e., seeing the twisted higher front corner as a reference starting point.

Ted, I noticed the same issue, so I try to place a block under the effected side to try to take up all the slack space and get both landing feet to bottom out as close together as possible. The one time I didn't do this, I happened to have a low battery fault and had to "retract all" to clear the fault - and when I did one of the front jacks came off the ground and left the front of the trailer supported by only one jack. I did NOT like that!

[Jlawles2]

It just occurred to me that if not using the quick pad on the front of the camper, you can lower the jacks individually. Even with the phone app you can lower one of front jacks by holding the front and side button at the same time. This will let you get the jacks in contact with the ground at the same time, then using the quick panel the act as one reducing the twist in the frame.

I've also use the wheel blocks to help or different number of holes exposed on the drop out section. https://www.amazon.com/RVMATE-Leveli...%2C126&sr=1-24