Level Level Location

[Dr4Film]

12 minutes ago, veraken said:

With the kitchen in our slideout, after auto leveling the MH, and putting out the slide, my DW complains that the countertop and cooktop are not level. Says it makes it hard for her to cook, so I manually readjust level a little to make the DW happy. Happy wife, happy life !!

Hopefully you meant to say "after putting out the slide and then auto leveling" is the factory recommended procedure.

[veraken]

1 hour ago, Dr4Film said:

Hopefully you meant to say "after putting out the slide and then auto leveling" is the factory recommended procedure.

For my MH, the manual says to level 1st and the put out slide

[6Wheels]

A three legged horse is still a three legged horse.

[Dr4Film]

I stand corrected! I thought all Monaco products were slides first then level.

Definitely do what the manual and the manufacturer recommends.

[waterskier_1]

14 hours ago, veraken said:

For my MH, the manual says to level 1st and the put out slide

Could you upload the page from your manual that states this?  It is contrary to every Monaco coach (diesel pusher style) that I've seen.  I can not find the 1998 Imperial Owners Manual online.  I did find a 2000 Imperial Owners Manual, and it clearly states: 

Quote

NOTE: Slide-out room operation should be performed with a
full air suspension system. It is not recommended to extend
the slide room in snow, sleet, ice or freezing rain. There may
be extensive damage resulting from the awning freezing up.

I don't want to advise owners incorrectly, so a copy of the page in your Owner's Manual addressing this would really help.

  Thanks, 

  -Rick N.

[Dr4Film]

I am "assuming" that the 1998 HR Imperial must be totally different than the 2001 Holiday Rambler Imperial.

It clearly states in the 2001 HR Imperial Owners manual that slides should only be deployed Out or IN with the coach at full air suspension ride height.

https://www.holidayrambler.com/owners-manuals/

[Bill R]

3 hours ago, waterskier_1 said:

Could you upload the page from your manual that states this?  It is contrary to every Monaco coach (diesel pusher style) that I've seen.  I can not find the 1998 Imperial Owners Manual online.  I did find a 2000 Imperial Owners Manual, and it clearly states: 

My manual says to have slides retracted.

Automatic Air Leveling Automatic Air Leveling Procedure: • Set the parking brake, place the transmission in neutral, and start the engine. The ignition must be ON and the engine running to operate the leveling system. Ensure the front wheels are pointing straight ahead. • Allow the air system to build to full air pressure, about 130 psi. • Retract all slide-outs. • Press the POWER button on the leveling control panel to turn the system ON. The Power indicator light will glow solid green. • Press the AUTO button to initiate the leveling process. The indicator light, above Auto, will blink and the motorhome will automatically level itself. Red lights, in the motorhome icon, indicate the motorhome is leveling. The system measures along 3 different axes (rear axle, front axle and longitudinal axis) of the chassis to check for both level and twist in the motorhome frame. • Wait until all lights turn solid green. The motorhome is level. • When leveling is achieved, turn ignition switch off

 

[Dr4Film]

Bill, that is your leveling system instructions.

Does anyone arrive at their campsite with their slides OUT where they would need to retract their slides first before leveling???

Those instructions were made by some booksmart engineer who probably has never owned or been in a RV.

[Bill R]

6 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

Those instructions were made by some booksmart engineer who probably has never owned or been in a RV.

Richard - I agree, it is a very strange way to write the instructions.  Why would you retract slides then level? 

[96 EVO]

Monaco owners manuals (in later years at least), had plenty of wrong information !

Feel sorry for owners that never joined forums, and used these manuals for all of their information!

[veraken]

Here are the relevant pages from my owners manual.  The sentence "Level motor home using leveling jacks." after "Check that you have at least five feet of clearance outside motor home for slide-out room." does NOT appear in the 1999 owners manual.  Whether this is a misprint or not, I don't know.  I have been following these instructions for years and have not had any problems.

[waterskier_1]

5 hours ago, veraken said:

Here are the relevant pages from my owners manual.  The sentence "Level motor home using leveling jacks." after "Check that you have at least five feet of clearance outside motor home for slide-out room." does NOT appear in the 1999 owners manual.  Whether this is a misprint or not, I don't know.  I have been following these instructions for years and have not had any problems.

Neither of these indicates the order of the operations.  The first discusses how to deploy the slides, but doesn't address if that operation should be conducted at ride height (aired up) or after leveling.  The second address how to level, but doesn't say anything about if that is done before or after the slides are deployed.

All MONACO (other manufacturers may be different) literature that discusses the order of operations, always has stated that the slide movement should be performed at ride height.  This is for both extending and retracting.

  -Rick N.

[Tom Cherry]

8 minutes ago, waterskier_1 said:

Neither of these indicates the order of the operations.  The first discusses how to deploy the slides, but doesn't address if that operation should be conducted at ride height (aired up) or after leveling.  The second address how to level, but doesn't say anything about if that is done before or after the slides are deployed.

All MONACO (other manufacturers may be different) literature that discusses the order of operations, always has stated that the slide movement should be performed at ride height.  This is for both extending and retracting.

  -Rick N.

Correct….this debate has raged almost back to when old Ben Franklin got a “spark” from his key, connecting the key, electrically, to a lighting rod oh his kite. Was it an electrical spark from lightning or static electricity??

Ride height, is defined (or debated if one is prone to such) as sitting on floor of the assembly line or pulling into a supposedly dead level 10 ft wide X 60 odd ft long parking pad in a CG. The body is supposed to be in a neutral state….or the body is level.  Now….the debate.  What if you have to jack up a corner…severely or even put down 2 X 14 pads??

The design theory….  Ride height.  The entire body is at rest or neutral and no one side is being jacked up, which will put stress on the entire frame or structure….OTHERWISE ….the slide opening can (will or is) be warped or cockeyed ( precise engineering term…LOL). SO…ride height is perfectly level with no air bags or jacks raising a corner or an end….then you extend the slides.  

BUT what if the site is unlevel…..and the MH has to be restored to “ride or travel height”, which is also defined as “dead flat level”….but the lifting devices (air bags and or jacks) are radically deployed?? Their is NO PRECISE ANSWER…  if the site isn’t level….are you SURE that every corner is higher (lower), so that if you had a 8 X 40 ft flat slab….the slab would rest exactly on each point where the wheel touch.

I typically try to level…but sometimes it will take all the lift or drop from a corner.  Now….it is in a strain.  My slides go in and out OK.  BUT. If you drop out all the air or retract all the jacks….then the unlevelness of the pad may still have the frame/body in a twist. 

I NEVER deploy my slides when the TWIST light is ON.  The MH, due to the fixed range of lift or depletion of the air bags may not be level.….when you drive up…that is technically RIDE HEIGHT…but definitely NOT the same as on a level pad in the factory.  If I get the MH level, or as best I can, I deploy….but never have had a problem.

The ONLY potential problem is if the slide is canted or crooked and as the slide deploys, the side or top will rub and cause an issue. If the slide cutout and rollers allow the slide to move without any interference…..extend.

I seriously doubt that from day one, when a slide was added to a MH, until now, that the “instructions” have changed.  Just folks that want to simplify everything into one sentence…and that can only take place on the factory floor or a dead level pad.  COMMON SENSE HAS TO RULE…

 

[waterskier_1]

3 minutes ago, Tom Cherry said:

Correct….this debate has raged almost back to when old Ben Franklin got a “spark” from his key, connecting the key, electrically, to a lighting rod oh his kite. Was it an electrical spark from lightning or static electricity??

Ride height, is defined (or debated if one is prone to such) as sitting on floor of the assembly line or pulling into a supposedly dead level 10 ft wide X 60 odd ft long parking pad in a CG. The body is supposed to be in a neutral state….or the body is level.  Now….the debate.  What if you have to jack up a corner…severely or even put down 2 X 14 pads??

The design theory….  Ride height.  The entire body is at rest or neutral and no one side is being jacked up, which will put stress on the entire frame or structure….OTHERWISE ….the slide opening can (will or is) be warped or cockeyed ( precise engineering term…LOL). SO…ride height is perfectly level with no air bags or jacks raising a corner or an end….then you extend the slides.  

BUT what if the site is unlevel…..and the MH has to be restored to “ride or travel height”, which is also defined as “dead flat level”….but the lifting devices (air bags and or jacks) are radically deployed?? Their is NO PRECISE ANSWER…  if the site isn’t level….are you SURE that every corner is higher (lower), so that if you had a 8 X 40 ft flat slab….the slab would rest exactly on each point where the wheel touch.

I typically try to level…but sometimes it will take all the lift or drop from a corner.  Now….it is in a strain.  My slides go in and out OK.  BUT. If you drop out all the air or retract all the jacks….then the unlevelness of the pad may still have the frame/body in a twist. 

I NEVER deploy my slides when the TWIST light is ON.  The MH, due to the fixed range of lift or depletion of the air bags may not be level.….when you drive up…that is technically RIDE HEIGHT…but definitely NOT the same as on a level pad in the factory.  If I get the MH level, or as best I can, I deploy….but never have had a problem.

The ONLY potential problem is if the slide is canted or crooked and as the slide deploys, the side or top will rub and cause an issue. If the slide cutout and rollers allow the slide to move without any interference…..extend.

I seriously doubt that from day one, when a slide was added to a MH, until now, that the “instructions” have changed.  Just folks that want to simplify everything into one sentence…and that can only take place on the factory floor or a dead level pad.  COMMON SENSE HAS TO RULE…

 

I think maybe you have "ride height" and the conditions for adjusting ride height confused.  You are correct that the proper way to adjust ride height is to have coach sitting on a flat and dead level pad.  But the general term "ride height" is when the coach is aired up to where the ride height valves are not letting air into or out of the air bags.  This condition may not be "level" with the world, but is set that the distance between the frame (chassis) and the body is fixed, floating on air.  Ride height is not dependent on being "dead flat level", but it might be okay to say "dead flat" which has no relationship to the earth ("flat" can be at any angle to the earth). 

Obviously, if you "jack" one side or corner up (jack being defined as a physical connection between the body and the ground), you would not be at ride height, since you wouldn't have the predefined distance between chassis and body, but more importantly, you wouldn't be sitting on "air".  But if you are aired up, and the "travel" light (if applicable) is illuminated, you can say you are at ride height for our purposes.  This is what Monaco intended.  

The intent of this is to relieve all stress on the body.  We don't care about the frame, as long as it is isolated from the body (by the air bags).  In fact, although not recommended by Monaco, you can safely move the slides when not at travel mode as long as there is sufficient air support in every air bag.  You can't always be assured of that (one or more my be completely deflated during the air leveling process).  So, to insure the requisite isolation and allow for the body to be "floating" with no stresses, Monaco states "ride height".  

Note that even if one corner of the body is lower (not level due to the ground not being level) as long as the coach is at "ride height" the coach is isolated and free from external stresses.  I believe there is a white paper in the file that discusses the stresses and reason for isolating the body during slide room movement.  One that might be easily understood by non-engineering types is to consider the weight of the room moving, in or out, and how that weight affect the coach body.  If it were not sitting on "air" as the slide moved out, additional weight would be applied to one side of the coach, and removed from the other.  If it couldn't "float" on air, there would be stresses applied on the side out and coach would could cause the interference with the opening.

I agree that Common Sense Has To Rule, and believe Monaco realized that we would be extending and retracting slides at locations besides the factory floor or perfectly level site pads.  

  -Rick N.

[veraken]

You can view/interpret  this any way you want.  I believe that it says to level the MH and then deploy the slide.  There is nothing else in my manual instructing me to do otherwise.  I will continue to do it the way I have always done it.  You can do it anyway you want.

[Dr4Film]

Exactly why each of us purchased the coach we have, to do with it whatever we want and to go wherever we choose.

That's called freedom!

[96 EVO]

I don't have leveling jacks, only air leveling, and have overnighted in parking lots that were so uneven, I've leveled before extending slides 😱!

Usually I'll put the slides out at ride height, before leveling, but, there is times you have to use common sense!

[cbr046]

Slides in or out leveling is like talking about which oil to use on an automotive forum.  Just sayin'

So if you park on unlevel ground is the frame twisting?  OTOH, if you level the coach is the frame twisted more or less?  Should you let out the slides first if has a L-R vs F-B lean?  So many variables.  So many unanswered questions.

- bob

[johnwgy]

What about those of us that own gas coach's without air bags. My HR Admiral manual states to extend and retract slides while sitting on the wheels. We generally are always on dirt, grass or loose gravel parking sites and rarely ever level. We have the full wall slide and it always seems counter intuitive to extend before leveling. We do have a levelmate and do try to park as level as possible but easily can be off many inches between corners.  

[Tom Cherry]

4 minutes ago, johnwgy said:

What about those of us that own gas coach's without air bags. My HR Admiral manual states to extend and retract slides while sitting on the wheels. We generally are always on dirt, grass or loose gravel parking sites and rarely ever level. We have the full wall slide and it always seems counter intuitive to extend before leveling. We do have a levelmate and do try to park as level as possible but easily can be off many inches between corners.  

Use pads and level the wheels as best you can.  Put out the slides….body is “neutral”.  Then tweak and extend jacks….

Going HOME….Retract the jacks….bring in slides….drive off pads.  End of story….

[johnwgy]

Tom Cherry, that is the way I have been doing it but wondered if I would be better off leveling with the jacks first. So many different opinions, we are motorhome newbies so no real world practical experience I guess I should trust the manual.