How to Level a Travel Trailer
When you reach any given campsite, you know there are a lot of things that need to happen before you can sit back and relax. These few extra steps can make your family more comfortable as they spend their time at the site, so add leveling your travel trailer to your list of things to do. Camp Site RV has provided you a guide to doing this so next time you can do it in a breeze. If you need additional help, then stop by our location in Cresco, Iowa, near Cedar Falls. We proudly serve Rochester, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Choose a Location
Don’t make the project harder by choosing a poor spot to park your trailer. Find a spot where the ground is already relatively even and compact. The more you have to fight the landscape to level your rig, the longer this process is going to take and the more arduous it’ll be. Also, avoid material like sand and gravel that can shift as you move around and make leveling useless.
Level Side to Side
Now the leveling process can begin. Start with your trailer about a foot and a half in front of where you’d like it to eventually sit and place boards or leveling blocks just behind the wheels so when you back up, the trailer will be level from side to side. Use a level to help guide this process so you know how much of a board or block to use to adjust the height of one side of the trailer. This may take a few tries before you get it right.
Chock your Wheels and Unhitch
When this step is finished, you can secure your wheels like you normally would--whether that’s chocks, more boards, or bricks--and then unhitch your tow vehicle. Pull the vehicle well out of the way so you have plenty of room to work with.
Level Front to Back
Once you’re sure your trailer won’t move around, level front to back by adjusting the hitch. You’ll want to use your level for this process as well until the little bubble says all parts of your travel trailer are even.
Stabilize
You’re not done yet. You don’t want your own movements about the rig to ruin all your hard work, so it’s time to engage the stabilizers. Most modern travel trailers have one at each corner of the vehicle and they act like jacks so, when lowered, they keep the rig from shifting around. Your model should come with its own tool for lowering the jacks, although some people prefer to mount theirs on a power tool to make the work faster.
Keep in mind, these should only be used to stabilize the travel trailer after you’ve leveled it using the hitch and leveling blocks. Many people want to use them for the leveling process, but there are a number of reasons this is a bad idea. Firstly, trying to adjust one jack throws off the balance for the other three. If you wanted to lower a part of the rig, you’d probably have to grapple with all four stabilizers before getting what you want. Plus, stabilizers aren’t designed to handle the brunt of the travel trailer’s weight and relying on them to support it could damage them.
Hopefully, this gives you the guidance you need to level your travel trailer. But we’re more than happy to give you additional advice if you need it, so stop by Camp Site RV and let our staff know how we can help you. We’re in Cresco, Iowa, near Cedar Falls, serving Rochester, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin.