I'm about to fly 2000 miles to buy a Barth that does not have levelers. It's a 85 28' Regal and is great in all other aspects. HWH levelers are $7000, which is way out of our reach. What to do? Putting a coach on blocks and ramps is just not my deal. Maybe I should wait until there's a coach with levelers. We do get into some camp sites that are not level. Even my class c had scissors jacks that worked well. Does anyone have some advice?
Jim

Before you guffaw, think seriously about this: long screw jacks with pyramid bases. They are real cheap, available used, easy to store, and strong enough (provided you get the appropriate strength, of course).

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"You are what you drive" - Clint Eastwood

Gunner
Do you mean like the screw jacks used to hold up beams in houses? Where would you get them? It's really a neat idea. Have you ever seen them used this way?

OK I'm about to raise the hackles of a bunch of purists, but here goes. We pull into the site, eyeball the situation, and set the PT blocks of 2by as needed. We back up another foot and if all goes as planned the coach is as level as can be hoped for. We might have to try again, but most times we can hit it on the first or second try. Crude for sure, but if we demanded perfection in every aspect of our RV adventures, we would never leave the driveway. Those of you who can afford all the bells and whistles can enjoy them with our blessings, but let us have a little fun too.

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Dan & Suzy Z
'81 Euro 28

That's the way we do it Danny. We have found also that a can of coke on the sink drain works better than one of those little yellow level thingies.

I'm with you guys. Our Barth has levelers, but they do require maintenance. Fortunately, I kept the home made set of ramps I made about 4 rigs ago. They've come in handy on several occasions where the jacks wouldn't reach.

If you hit a level site with a hard surface, it's nice to have jacks when the weather is bad. Otherwise, the inconvenience of using blocks is minor. And they never, never, never get stuck in the down position when you're on a short deadline, and you left your tools at home. Been there, done that.

"Do you mean like the screw jacks used to hold up beams in houses? Where would you get them? It's really a neat idea. Have you ever seen them used this way?"
Yes. Check the internet. Yeah, it is. Yes.

"What to do? Putting a coach on blocks and ramps is just not my deal. Maybe I should wait until there's a coach with levelers. We do get into some camp sites that are not level. Even my class c had scissors jacks that worked well. Does anyone have some advice?"

Now you know: EVERYONE has advice! (including me) Try calling some "mobile home" or "manufactured housing" parks; perhaps they have some surplus pyramids for sale cheap OR they'll know where to purchase them OR try Camping World. IMHO the disadvantage of blocks is they leave the coach on the sprung suspension so the coach will lean, wobble, shake, etc. when someone is inside. A nap interrupted by someone entering the unstabilized coach causes severe disruption to a relationship!


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"You are what you drive" - Clint Eastwood

[This message has been edited by Gunner (edited April 08, 2005).]

Gunner, sometimes it is easy to engineer something to death. Now, one can go to Camping World and have kick down, levelers installed for around $3K, but who would do that on a $15K motorhome. Deb and I are picky but we have never not been able to get level enough to be absolutely happy with the exception of the Campground of the living dead in Rockford, IL. And, that had cement slabs.

Good point, Dave. I guess if you had a big budget, you could put hydraulic levelers on a $15000 Barth, but if you had that kind of money, you'd probably be buying a Barth that had them on it. What do think about adding some scissors jacks under the rear frame to act as stabilizers, not levelers. You can get a pair for $90 from camping world and that would eliminate the rocking problem you mentioned. To actually level the coach, you'd do just what you suggested, move around to get a good site and then use blocks, etc to level it. You could also put a pair of scissors jacks on the front and the whole thing would be pretty stable.

quote:

Originally posted by humbojb:
Good point, Dave. I guess if you had a big budget, you could put hydraulic levelers on a $15000 Barth, but if you had that kind of money, you'd probably be buying a Barth that had them on it. What do think about adding some scissors jacks under the rear frame to act as stabilizers, not levelers. You can get a pair for $90 from camping world and that would eliminate the rocking problem you mentioned. To actually level the coach, you'd do just what you suggested, move around to get a good site and then use blocks, etc to level it. You could also put a pair of scissors jacks on the front and the whole thing would be pretty stable.

you know it is strange that you would come up with the scissors jacks today i was out rideing around today and found a 77 p-30 454 28 ft sitting out in a field for sale and it had scissros jacks under the front and back they were not long enough to reach the ground but you could put 4x4's under each one to eliminate the rocking problem they say great minds think a like i have a 71 p-30 24 ft 350 bored 60 over which makes it about a 373 ci i may go back and get this one monday and later sell my 71.the 77 has a rear bed with a couch behind the driver seat and a cafe booth behind the passenger seat the bath and kitchen are in the middle where my 71 has rear bath with 1 bed on driver side and upper and lower on the passenger side and one that drops down over the front seats i will have to think about this real hard until monday.you can get scissors jacks out a old car in the junk yard for almost nothing. as far as i know mine is the oldest barth running on the road in the US there is a 70 in canada some where .

KEITH WHITE
RETIRED U.S.ARMY
71 24'L P-30 350+




[This message has been edited by keithwhite (edited April 09, 2005).]

humbojb,did you ever find a solution for your leveling situation??i was looking at a 28ft breakaway that did not have them,but undecarrige had four pads welded to the frame...looks like factory installation owner claims he was the second owner and they were not on the unit,so you think barth welded pads on incase customer wanted to apply them...can give you a site that has units for around 1200 to 4000 if your still looking.....
firmbear

i am also curious about levelers. mine came with levelers which were run by a mounted switch box next to drivers seat. they were not functional so i removed them. they were mounted to 4 pads welded to frame like previous post described. they appear to be added by barth.my question is how they worked? they were all wired to switch box. each with an individual switch. i cant for tihe life of me figure out how they worked. the were flip-up style, with a black square top and a post that came from it. would appreciate any info on how they worked and if they are still available.

I have used ramps all my life, and almost never camp on level ground. We get it pretty level as my wife watches the level on the fridge for side to side and I watch the one up front for fore and aft. We use the levels that tell you how high your ramp has to be, left and right and front to back. They are pretty accurate, and where they are not accurate, one learns how to compensate. My wife is really good at placing the the ramps and guiding me as we lurch up onto the ramps. We almost always get it right the first time. Modern ('83 on)fridges allow up to 6 degrees fore and aft tilt, so try to have the head tilted a little up if you are going to end up with tilt. As far as rocking, levelers don't help that much. We use a little screw jack under the step only, or sometimes a bottle jack under the chassis right beside the step. This allows one to sleep and the other to go in and out without too much rocking. (I get up earlier and walk the dog)

So many parks and campsites are pretty level, anyway.

In short, do not let the absence of levelers stop you from buying a coach you like.

BTW, do not use the screw jack stands made of plastic. They let go like a .500 Rigby Nitro Express and wake up EVERYBODY. I never saw so many flashlights at 3 am! Even the park ranger woke up and came driving around.

Geez, Bill why is it after every post of yours I have to spend 10 minutes trying to find a picture of something you have mentioned. Man I have looked up airplanes, British and German scooters, all sorts of motorcycles, now what the heck is a .500 Rigby Nitro Express. I am the worlds best web searcher and I am caught between a pistola a bit above Clint Eastwood's "make my day" 44 or some kind of civil war musket. So what is it exactly.. And tell me, is this something that a red blooded middle aged gentleman like me should know??? Tell me please, I want to be able to impress my family and friends.

quote:

Originally posted by davebowers:
Geez, Bill why is it after every post of yours I have to spend 10 minutes trying to find a picture of something you have mentioned. Man I have looked up airplanes, British and German scooters, all sorts of motorcycles, now what the heck is a .500 Rigby Nitro Express. I am the worlds best web searcher and I am caught between a pistola a bit above Clint Eastwood's "make my day" 44 or some kind of civil war musket. So what is it exactly.. And tell me, is this something that a red blooded middle aged gentleman like me should know??? Tell me please, I want to be able to impress my family and friends.

Here you go:

It's what could be called an elephant gun. Not the cannon mounted on a howdah, but a hand held one.


http://www.johnrigbyandco.com/pages/SidelockD.html




[This message has been edited by bill h (edited May 10, 2005).]