leveling jacks

[treedoc]

Is the end result of a leveling jack and air leveling system the same or is one for the site and other for traveling down the road?

[jello_jeep]

Most Prevost conversions use the air bag suspension for both in motion and stationary leveling.

There are valves that sense the height of the coach between the suspension & frame as you are rolling down the road, and they adjust the ride height accordingly.

When you are parked, you manually engage the "Level Low" system to get you coach level to the world when you are stopped. This is done manually via controls on your left side, or automatically if your bus is equipped with an optional controller.

Good luck..

[Jon Wehrenberg]

To elaborate a little, the bus suspension has a position in the controls for traveling. When parked in a campground or rest stop however the same system can raise or lower individual corners of the bus so it sits level.

Unlike motorhomes that use leveling jacks this system just adds or depletes air in the airbags as required to level the coach and unlike jacks which can damage blacktop, or raise the wheels with brakes off the ground (not good) the wheels are always in contact with the ground.

[0533]

Leveling jacks come in handy when you want to level your Non Prevost motorhome in locations that would otherwise be impossible for a Bus.

We have an HWH Auto leveling Jack system on the "Truck" as we affectionately call our Freightliner conversion. There are four hydraulic jacks that are programed by the HWH leveling system (which looks like most Prevost configurations for the Air Bag leveling) automatically or manually, we use both depending on the amount of grade we encounter at each location.

When you engage the HWH auto leveling system the system dumps all air in the chassis airbags all the way to level low, then it starts the auto Jack leveling process.

I have to say that Jon is correct about the possibility of raising the chassis far enough off the ground so the tires actually come off the ground, it can happen which is why I use the manual mode when I believe the grade is such that this could happen. Never had the drive wheels come off but have had the steers a few times.

The real advantage is that it is possible to level the motorhome on sites that would be impossible for a bus with Airbag leveling alone. State parks, national parks and when Dry Camping near streams etc.

I have thought it would have been nice if the Bus could have had both the airbag and the hydraulic leveling option, but quickly realized that there would not have been enough room for the jacks, enough height (ground clearance) for any real leveling effect in most cases. I wonder if any buses ever tried to install them, as I have seen some pretty large Plastic motorhomes with hydraulic jacks.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Prevost has specific body support points and if jacks are used they have to be mounted such that the lifting forces are at those points. The second issue becomes that of space. The front support points are slightly forward of the wheel well on my coach so the retracted portion would need to extend into the space behind my bumper and that starts to create its own problems.

While airbags have limited travel we rarely venture into areas where greater travel for leveling is required and I am sure most owners are looking for reasonably level sites also. If someone is getting into primitive sites where extreme leveling is required then there are other concerns such as bottoming out.

If a site is so poorly sloped that the drive axle wheels need to come off the ground to level the coach, it should be understood by the coach owner that now there are substantial side forces on the lifting jacks, enough in some cases to cause the coach to start rolling down the hill and bending the jacks sideways. Now there are other problems such as how to retract a set of jacks that have been twisted or bent sideways.

Even if the jacks are not misused we have seen heavier coaches with jacks punch through a blacktop surface and then not retract because they were stuck in the ground. I think most jacks are spring return.

With the Prevost system it is self regulating and will not allow a coach owner to damage the coach or a hard surface.

[0533]

I agree Jon, it is very important to find a level site for the bus, and more importantly not to venture into locations where it might be possible to hang the bus up, that was my biggest worry when heading into primitive locations with the bus.

When we use the jacks, even on tar we use 12X12" 2" thick blocks of wood that we cut for this purpose to make sure we do not damage sites we visit or when we are in less than solid surfaces sitting in the rain as we are now, even have added a second block in case we might start to sink in as the days stay wet.

I have decided that the jacks might well come in handy if I had a flat tire, can manually jack each side off the ground if needed.

We do find that on level surfaces that just dumping the air no jacks is fine as well.

There is no forgetting to leave a site without retracting the jacks with this system.

[sticks]

Moving up from a Travel Supreme to a Liberty Prevost , I much prefer air leveling with our Prevost. Every time I ran the jacks down I wondered if they would come back up. Heard many stories from other coach owners in our horse show circuit that had malfunctions with their jacks. Last show I was at with my TS the electricity went off at our site and by the next morning I didn't have enough battery power to lift the jacks, start the generator, or bring in the slides. Love the autostart and power loss generator starting backups with " new" coach. Also buried the jacks in grass ,turned mud ,parking spots after a large rain.
To change the subject a little, I enjoy the ability to dry camp in parking lots etc. when trying to cover some ground on a long trip, but I can't decide whether to make like Bonnie and Clyde , and leave the coach up with slides in ready for a quick getaway, or auto level with slides out an "settle in". What do most of you do?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

We don't have slides, but anytime we park in a public area I am prepared to get in the seat and drive away. On several occasions I felt very uncomfortable so rather than possibly deal with a problem I just hopped in the seat and drove away.

Our Hummer that we tow can have the doors locked and the key out of the ignition so we have no reason to get out of the coach before leaving anywhere. If I stop at a place that for some reason I feel I may want to leave in a hurry we don't even run the front shades down so I have nothing to slow down my departure.

Reasons for leaving are noises or voices around our coach, sounds of someone tampering with the coach or car, people taking an unusual interest in the coach, or even people banging on the door. So far we have never been vandalized or had to deal with obvious criminal intent, but unless we are on private property with permission (not accessible to the general public) or in a campground we are spring loaded to drive away rather than be forced to defend ourselves.

Over the years we have had people (locals) driving in circles around the coach in a Walmart parking lot, people banging on the door or windows wanting money, and we have heard voices around our bedroom and the toad. We had idiots set fire in a trash barrel and then kick the barrel over on a windy evening and had the risk of the burning debri getting blown under the coach. In all instances we drove away and found a more secure place.

If I had slides I would never extend them except in a campground or on secure private property. Because Walmarts are wide open and lighted slides might be OK, but sitting out in the open attracts the crazies who want to see the entertainer. We now tend to only park in those places if we are traveling with another bus.

[jack14r]

I am with Jon on this,I do have slides and I never extend them while over night on the road,I do level and put down all shades,I do lock the toad.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Everything that Jon said and adding to that, set yourself up for a speedy departure at a moments notice on arrival, that is no backing up or turns around obstacles being necessary to leave.

Be sure to keep all hatches and doors closed and locked.

Keep the step slide out, if the door is somehow opened it is physically more difficult to come up and over it to get in.

Don't be overly friendly with strangers who might only be trying to get you to drop your guard.

Don't let your wife and you be split (out of sight of each other) when outside the bus.

JIM