The best way to level a travel trailer
The best way to level a travel trailer
What’s the best way to level a travel trailer?
Automatic leveling systems have come a long way to the point where even some travel trailers have seven-point automatic leveling systems such Keystone’s Outback brand. However you can save many thousands of dollars and simplify your RV experience with a set of Beech Lane leveling wedges instead.
I really like to write about products I’ve found that I use regularly on the road and the Beech Lane levelers are one of those products. Effectively they’re just a curved plastic wedge device but, in practice, they really make setting up camp a simple affair.
I learned about these when was on a business-related camping trip where I had to set our Rockwood Mini Lite travel trailer up in a windy, rainy and miserable condition and the camp site I was assigned was about as on the level as a politician on the campaign trail.
Basically, I just backed the trailer onto the leveling wedge until the bubble level indicated that I was level side-to-side. Simple. From that point on you use the trailer’s tongue jack to level it front to back and then set your stabilizer jacks.
Unless you’re moving slowly you can have camp ready in just a few minutes with this methodology. It’s pretty great.
When we had a single-axle trailer we used the Andersen levelers and were very pleased with those. Some friends who had two-axle trailers said that they had to cut one of the Andersen levelers to fit between the wheels.
As such, we looked into different choices when we got our two-axle trailer and settled on the Beech Lane product.
The wedges are relatively foolproof, starting about 1/2” thick on one end and going up to 4” thick on the other. Only once have I come across a paid campsite that was so off level that I wasn’t sure that it was going to work.
The Beech Lane wedges come with several pieces, the actual wedge that you drive onto as well as a smaller wedge that you use to lock the larger wedge in place. There is also a second wedge that you can put on top of the main unit to get additional height if needed.
I’m a huge fan of simple things that my brain can understand and a plastic wedge falls into that category. I know that multi-point automatic leveling systems are becoming more widespread in their availability but I just love solutions that don’t involve a lot of mechanical wizardry to make them work. But I’d prefer plain old crank windows in my pickup, which are impossible to find.
Either way these simple wedges can make a big difference when you’re setting up camp and want to get to those beers in the fridge or those fish in the stream.
One thing I really like about the Anderson version of these is that you can set them on their side and put your tongue jack into them (something about that sentence just seems naughty) so they seems to have multiple uses.
Either way, these wedges are a part of what makes for StressLess Camping.
Another thing worth having are solid wheel chocks. Those cheap plastic wheel chocks so many have are almost worthless. We rely on heavy industrial-grade wheel chocks for more peace of mind.
Something to know - both the stabilizer corner jacks on a travel trailer and X-Chocks, if you have those, are not designed to prevent your travel trailer from rolling. They are simply there to provide stability.
Further, the corner stabilizer jacks on a travel trailer are not designed to lift or level your trailer. They’re simply there to provide stability. The idea is that you level your trailer with something like the Beech Lane levelers mentioned above and then use the corner stabilizers to steady it. You can actually cause a corner stabilizer to fail by using it to level the trailer which could cause damage to the trailer - we’ve seen it happen!
