E&P Hydraulic Levelling

If you can only level side to side that would not be a very good system, you also need to be able to level fore and aft to cope will all types of ground and the natural nose down attitude of most vans.

peedee

Agree - what I probably missed out is that my thinking is that since fore and aft levelling is simply a matter of adjusting the jockey wheel - plus the van already has the heavy duty legs with 'bigfoot' feet which I wind down with a drill - is it worth that extra £1k+ just for that?

I am hoping that users of both the compact and full system will share their experiences.

To me if you are going to fit a levelling system to make life easier, after all you are on holiday, then it seems a little pointless if it does not do the full job.

peedee

Sounds a lot of money just to put your jockey wheel on part-time working. there's the additional weight penalty too.

Weight penalty isn't an issue Cy.  As I said, van already has heavy duty steadies and 'bigfoot' feet which normally replace standard ones when the E&P system is fitted and account for a lot of the weight increase.  The only additional weight is re the rams and control box.  Plus with a payload of 360kg, it's not a real issue.

Strangely enough, that would normally be my argument - but now Ros is saying that - I've given up trying to second guess her reaction to anything

Once lockdown is over I will get the full system fitted. Imagine getting to site when raining and you press the button to level and still have to go around the van to level fore and aft. Let the system do it all in 2 mins and sit with a brew till rain stops. Motor movers were to make life easier so why not the levelling. Go for it.  

There are a few threads on this system, which we had fitted several years ago. If the money is not a tight squeeze, there is no choice to make. 

Enjoy the full system. the only time you will have to think about the setting up, is if the pitch you choose will not allow you to drop the front of the van below level, which the unit requires to function automatically.  Only happened once in 5 years, just moved the van a couple of feet and all was well.

For me it’s the full system.

Push the button and go and do something else, like run the mains cable or fill the aquaroll. 

I have the basic system, retrofitted from new to our Elddis Crusader. I think it is great, twin axle wheel locks are a doddle, changing a wheel easy, no jack to carry and of course side to side levelling as well. We had ours fitted in Norfolk, very helpful people.

Remember, when you first arrive on site you are probably going to use it on manual first to lift the nearside to fit the wheel lock(s). Only after these are fitted can you lower it back down and let the auto (in my case side to side only) function do it's thing.

Unless I am on hard standing I always put 12" lengths of Scaffold board under each Hydraulic RAM, virtually the whole weight of the caravan can be supported on these relatively small Discs and if they sink into soft ground they can put additional load onto the corner steadies. I also put 12" scaffold boards under each corner steady.

You can see that, for me, it would never be an "arrive, push the button = level, 2 minute result so levelling with the jockey wheel is no problem. The remote control is a useful option as it beeps and gives a green light when you are level with the jockey wheel, then wind down the corner steadies.

A few points,

When the van is lifted the axle(s) trailing swing arms fall so the wheels are dangling. If you lock the wheels solid by fitting a wheel lock then when the caravan is lowered it will lurch forward on the locked side as the wheels hit the ground and can't roll. I always lift the van fully off of the ground and put the handbrake on before lowering it down again. It will still move forwards as it lands but does not lurch sideways.

My preferred "level" is with a very slight lean towards the offside to improve shower tray draining so I always finish off the levelling with a touch of manual mode fine tuning and a small 2 vial spirit level on the sideboard.

I found that an awful lot of the Hydraulic Ram travel was wasted just reaching the ground this meant that I had to use levelling blocks under the Rams on uneven sites as there was not enough travel left to get level. I had the supplier, strictly at my risk (because they hang lower under the van) re-fit mine on the next bolt hole lower than they should be, a very useful modification. Just watch out for pillow type speed bumps.

One result of fitting a levelling system that is often overlooked is the fact that the van is very steady and does not sway in the wind or as you walk about inside.

If the van is stored I leave it raised on its hydraulics to keep the load off of the tyres, I don't quite trust the hydraulics not to leak fluid past the seals and settle over time, if this happened then once again the corner steadies could be put under excessive load. To save this worry I always wind up the rear steadies briefly every month to account for any movement there might have been. This applies to long stays on site as well. I must say that it is 4 years old now and so far I have never seen any unexpected movement in the Rams. 

Apologies for the long Post!