Caravan levelling
We are very new to caravanning. Please can anyone advise us. We have a single axle with a motor mover.
When trying to level the caravan side to side, is it necessary only to use a level on one side or do we need to use one on each wheel ?
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I have a series of timber blocks about 15'' long and 6'' wide. There are 4 about 2.5'' thick and 3 or 4 about 1.5'' thick. I run onto these for levelling. If it needs more than 6.5'' on the offside I am on the wrong pitch
If I have to raise the door side by more than 1.5'' I am also on the wrong pitch
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just use a spirit level across the van (or go hi tech and use a phone app), and on the side that needs raising (which surprisingly for me is mostly the nearside) place a plastic ramp next to the wheel, and get the mover to move it up the ramp till it is level. You will find the mover will try and turn the ramp so either you hold the ramp and do a double act with OH watching the level (Optional is shouting at OH while doing it).
Or there is a lock and level device (google it) where you drive over a (very durable) inflatable bag and use an electric pump to raise it. Useful if you are using an Alko wheel lock. Or buy a Milenco Aluminium Leveller. Ramps or blocks of wood are the cheapest option.
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Same here. It’s wasnt a CL though, Flask Inn Site, up near Scarborough. Half a dozen house bricks sorted it.......... and we lived to tell the tale. 😂
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they do look good and easy to operate
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Seems useful on twin axle for lock fitting if that is the side you want to raise! Would not wish to use on single axle though as just an extra step for me. I line up the blocks and lock in the same way the guy does in this video. Move the caravan forward, slide blocks across and motormover caravan onto block. Then fit lock. No need to dig out electric pump from under the passenger seat in car. I see no point in spending £125 for a single axe one to be used once or twice a year
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very good point, I have a set of plastic stackers from the local dealer.
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On the rare occasion I am forced to use a hard standing, if the adjustment needed is only minor I push the gravel to form a small mound and reverse on to that. Quick and easy
When on my preferred grass pitch if needed I use the lock n level. As stated above, a great bit of kit.
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I use one of the yellow levelling ramps. I always reverse up the ramp while my wife looks at the spirit level and tells me when the van is level. Then apply handbrake. If you go forwards up the ramp then the van will move slightly down when held by the handbrake until the auto-reverse mechanism arrests the movement.
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A little OT but last month on a hillocky site recently, where you found your own patch and pitched, (one yellow wedge under one wheel of our caravan with the aid of a cheap spirit level, to answer the original post), we saw a MH parked, facing the lovely sea view. They'd backed up onto the wedges under their front wheels, so their van was now effectively parked on an even steeper slope, and it if let go would be heading off across the track and down over the edge.
I'm not a motorhomer, but it seemed to me that it would have been safer to have backed past the desired spot a foot or so, then driven forward up the ramp, so it now prevented an escape rather than encouraging one. Or am I just being hyper-cautious?
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I'ver noticed a few MHomers reverse up wedges but I always drive up them. Prudence would dictate your option as sensible.
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Anyone who tries to reverse the Fiat/Peugeot offerings up wedges really should seriously reconsider! They’re better than they used to be but still not happy reversing up slopes. 🙁
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We once saw a Motorhomer be a bit too heavy footed and go over the top of his ramped leveller. It then got stuck tight, wedged between the wheel and the wheel arch. Luckily someone jacked his van up, took the wheel off, dislodged the ramp, put everything back together and even did his levelling for him. So be careful out there.
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That's always a fear with our caravan! It's only little, but the motor mover is quite old and not really man enough to climb up the wedges in a straight line, so it's a case of careful inching up with the car while my wife shouts out when we're reaching danger level.
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I have two off cuts of floor boards - sometimes I tow forward with one under the lower wheel, and sometimes on to both of them together. Rocket science !
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To answer the original question - Yes, it can be necessary to put a leveling device under both sides at the same time.
On a pitch that has a slope along the longitudinal axis of the caravan it may not be possible to level fore and aft because one end of the caravan comes into contact with the ground. So both sides need raising, and not necessarily by the same amount. But wooden blocks are cheap so no great hassle.
To help an aged motor mover cope with the slope onto the blocks, make a special long block with a very gentle slope that gets used to move the wheel up onto the other blocks. Cutting a block to a slope provides two matching blocks which can then be used under corner steadies, so no need to carry anything extra.
The possibility of driving the caravan right off the far end of the blocks can be prevented by fitting a vertical upstand to the end of the block used on top.
Anyone wanting to try out these ideas could book a pitch at Old Hartley!
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Did you get planning permission?
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Although we have a couple of stacking boards, like you Trini, we scrape out a trough in the gravel if there is any, possibly heaping some up on the opposite side. A garden trowel is resident in the front locker, for just such occasions. The prospect of boards stacked 6.5” high, as suggested earlier, might be considered rather too precarious for many of us. 4” feels like plenty.
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+1, ‘bubble level’ app👍🏻
You can get one that has a tone depending how far from the centre you are, when completely in the centre(level all ways) there’s a permanent tone. That enables solo set up.
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thanks Rocky, I am going to get one
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Jobs a gud un👍🏻😊
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