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Old 06-10-2017, 12:56 PM   #1
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Landing Gear and Stabilizers?

I need help in a few things here.
Since I am not completely familiar with terminology I will start here before my question.

I believe the front 'legs' are technically "landing gear" and the rear legs are "Stabilizers". Is this correct?

The landing gear and stabilizers appear to have 2 moving parts each. One part is the part of the RV itself, which I will call the 'sleeve' and the other is the free falling drop-down part with all the adjustment holes in it. So I will call it the 'Drop downs". Please correct me as this thread progresses.


Now for the real questions:
I have a 2016 Denali 293RKS

1). When I get to the site and am still attached to the truck, I lower the 'landing gear' starting with the electric lowering of the Sleeves before I lower the drop downs. How much of the sleeve should be lowered before I drop the drop downs?

2). When I am able, I drive the truck out from under the RV and get ready to setup the rear legs (stabilizers?). Same question, how far should I lower the sleeves before I let the 'drop downs' drop?

Thanks in advance.
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Old 06-12-2017, 01:02 AM   #2
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Tony,

I hate to be the one to say this...but without pics...can't tell you a thing.

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Old 06-12-2017, 03:28 AM   #3
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TonyB watch this it might help.
https://youtu.be/l3nYWq-4eDE
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Old 06-22-2017, 10:34 PM   #4
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I have a 2017 Denali 280LBS and have been experimenting with the best practice for this as well. I have Ground Control 2.0 with the rear pinned extensions and I admittedly have not watched the DVD to provide instruction on this. l have some 4"x6" blocking to place beneath the feet for a couple reasons, first so the landing gear (front legs) don't have to be extended any more than necessary (the longer the extension the more unstable) and second, to provide more raise distance when the ground at the front legs is lower than the ground at the axles.

If on level-ish ground, I will extend the powered front legs 4-6 inches prior to manually dropping the pinned extensions. I do this because the telescoping powered part of the leg is more stable than the pinned extension part. This video says a rule of thumb is to drop the powered legs halfway to the ground prior to dropping the extensions (my interpretation - the feet should be halfway between the bottom of the trailer frame and the ground, or about 6-8 inches of drop).
I assume you also have the Ground Control 2.0 auto-level system if you have rear "drop-downs" (pinned extensions). After lowering the front pinned extensions to the nearest pin hole to the ground, likely each leg will be a different distance from the ground. I am still trying to understand the Ground Control system and haven't used the "Ground All Legs" function yet. So I run both legs down until the first leg touches the ground by using the "Front" button. Then lower the other leg alone by holding "front" and then immediately pressing the left or right button until the other leg contacts the ground. Then you can again use the "front" button to run both legs and lift the trailer off the truck.

Like I said, I'm still trying to figure out the best practice with Ground Control, but I have been manually running the front legs to a near-level position prior to hitting "Auto Level".
If the trailer is nose-low when you prepare to unhitch, you don't want to extend the powered legs very far prior to lowering the pinned extensions or else you may not have enough travel to raise the front to a level position.
If the trailer is nose-high, then you'll want to be sure to extend the powered legs 4-6 inches or more so you don't bottom-out the legs when you lower the front to a level position after unhitching.

Since I run the front legs to a near-level position prior to using Auto Level, the rear legs are less complicated because the height of the trailer is not going to significantly change when you use Auto Level. The rear legs, in their raised position, are lower and presumably more stable than the front legs in their raised position, so I have not been lowering the rear legs prior to dropping the pinned extensions. After dropping the pinned extensions, I use the "Ground Rear Legs" command. Then hit Auto Level and you're done.

I hope that helps and if anyone sees that I'm using Ground Control incorrectly please chime in.
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Old 06-26-2017, 03:58 PM   #5
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So I have a Denali 262rlx with the auto-level system installed.

When we first got it (first RV for me), I kept having issues where I would back into the spot, chock the wheels, manually telescope the front landing gear almost all the way down, then use the electric motors to ground them completely, drive the truck away, telescope the rear stabilizers nearly all the way, then hit "AUTO LEVEL" which would ultimately do its thing, except it kept lifting the entire trailer off the ground (as in the wheels/axles came off the ground) to get to level. I couldn't figure it out.

Then a fellow camper with the same trailer and I spoke at a campground and he explained he had the same issue, and no documentation either of us had read explained what we were doing wrong. It wasn't until he talked to the dealer that it was explained, and he passed the following info onto me.

When Dropping the trailer off to park it in between trips:
Back it in, chock the wheels, manually telescope the front landing gear down as far as you want, use electric motors to ground them completely and take the weight off your rig. Drive away, lock it up and your fine.

When you camp:
1) Back it up, and chock the wheels. Make sure your pretty good level wise side to side. If not, use boards, plastic risers, etc to get close to level BEFORE dropping the landing gear.

2) Next manually telescope the landing gear down about half way. Guessing about 5-6 holes. (On my trailer, they are actually spray painted black up until the 10th hole on the left and 11th hole on the right. You don't want to go past the black spray paint for auto leveling on my rig).

3) Next drop the front landing gear with the motors until grounded. Take weight off truck, unhook, drive away.

4) Manually telescope rear stabilizers so they are about 1/2 way telescoped.

5) At this point hit "Autolevel" or if yours isn't equipped, now use the motor controls to ground the rear stabilizers, and then drop the nose as needed to reach level.

At the end of the day, by NOT manually telescoping the front landing gear too much, and requiring the electric motor to drop further, you are allowing the rig to "suck back up" some of the extension in the front landing gear. Whereas if you telescope the front landing gear manually too much, and only let the electric motors go out 3-4" before grounding, that is all they can go back up when trying to level, which means they will have to raise the rear a lot to make up for the inability to drop the front.

I hope this makes sense, and is helpful. Feel free to ask more clarifying questions if needed. Now that I understand what I was doing wrong, our experience leveling the trailer is flawless now.
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