Leveling your Travel Trailer

Your travel trailer was designed for comfort—nothing makes camping better than a fully furnished RV with all the comforts of a home. But if you don’t learn to level on uneven ground, even the most luxurious of models get pretty awkward to eat and sleep in. In fact, with an unlevel trailer, you’ll have trouble completing even the most basic tasks, like cooking, cleaning, and even walking. So if you’re tired of bringing out the hiking boots every time you climb from the kitchen to the bedroom, check out this guide from The Outpost RV. And if you need any parts or service in order to help keep your travel trailer level and comfortable, come on into our dealership in Middlebury. We serve the areas of Goshen, Elkhart, South Bend, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Park in the Right Spot

Most likely, you won’t be able to avoid the levelling process entirely. Every campground is bound to have a few bumpy spots, and where there’s bumps, there’s uneven ground. However, you can still try finding a parking spot that’s relatively flat. This will make your life a lot easier, and if you’re really lucky, you might not even need to level your travel trailer at all.

Leveling Process

As we said, you’ll want to try to find flat ground to park on, but it’s very unusual to find an area that’s completely even. If you’re lucky, you won’t need to do any work, but when you do inevitably need to pull out the levelling blocks and the jack, be sure to consider the following procedures.

Side-to-Side

You should always start by getting your lateral level sorted out. To do this, take out a level, and point it side-to-side. Whichever side the bubble sinks to is the side that needs to be lifted up a little, so you’ll need to put levelling blocks under that side’s tires. Back the trailer up from the position where you’ll park it, and put blocks in the places where the tires sat. Then, pull the travel trailer forward, onto the blocks, and make sure you leave the hitch connected to your tow vehicle. At this point, check your level, and if it still needs to be lifted more, repeat the process by adding subsequent blocks. Once you find your lateral level, place chocks behind every tire. This is very important, as the trailer might roll back off the blocks after unhitching if you don’t use chocks. Then, disconnect your travel trailer and move your tow vehicle out of the way.

Front to Back

After you have the lateral level set, you can start evening out the front and back side of your travel trailer. For this part, you can set the level on the hitch, pointing toward the back of the trailer. Then, simply crank the jack in whatever direction you need to until the bubble moves to the center of the glass cylinder. This should only take a moment, but before settling into the camper, find the landing gear, or stabilizers, and use them to keep your level stable. These are located in each corner of your RV, and they should have a jack attached to them. Your travel trailer should have a tool specifically for these parts, so use this and lower each stabilizer until it presses firmly in the ground.

With the simple process we just laid out for you, hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy a much more comfortable vacation on your next camping trip. Leveling a travel trailer is easy, but it makes a huge difference at the camp site. For more information, or if you need any parts or service, make sure you stop by The Outpost RV in Middlebury, Indiana.