InTheDogHouse

Hi Rich, I finally had the opportunity to cycle the levelers a couple times and when pressing the auto-leveler button, the front two jacks come down first until hitting the ground, then there is a pause for a few seconds until the rear levelers come down. Interestingly, when the rear ones came down, the right one hit the ground first and they both stopped. They came down at what seemed to be the same speed. (The hydraulic pump sounds like it kicks into a second gear of some sorts, or a second pump engages, after it runs for about two seconds, but I can't see any noticeable difference in the speed of the jacks coming down...) Then the coach raised slightly on the right side, then the left side and the panel indicated it was level. (It was not, but I can re-calibrate easily enough with the TIPS sheet I used last year for that...) Surprisingly, it did not continue to "bump" the height front to rear and side to side, resulting in the wheels being off the ground this time! I cycled it twice and the steps and results were identical. BTW, my parking pad is nearly level, with the front and right sides being only slightly higher, causing a bubble level to be "on the line" indicating those levels. Many people would be fine with this.... level of level... Retracting the jacks caused the front two jacks to retract first, followed by the rear two, after the front were fully retracted. It takes the rear a lot longer to retract than the front, but the entire process, until the "wait" and "jacks down" light on the panel went out, takes about 40 seconds from when the "retract all" button is pushed. I didn't have time at the moment to re-calibrate the auto level setting, but will do so and see if it lifts me to the clouds or keeps me at a reasonable lift level and report back. Thanks for your help!

No worries Herman, your suggestion might help someone else!

I've updated the original post to clarify that I don't have air bags or an air dump option... Thanks for the suggestions though!

My research last year resulted in downloading the Operations Manual, Parts and Service Manual and Tips Sheet #153 (Calibration), which helped getting the unit to level automatically, but it still lifts us ridiculously high. I'll take a look at the sequence the next time I setup. I don't want to bring the slides in to come down off the jacks just to watch them, since there isn't really any urgency. I've always assumed the came down two at a time, but your comments and some things I've read in the past couple of days make me wonder if that's not the case... I'll followup once I get a chance to watch them cycle. Thanks Rich!

Good question Rich! I don't know how it determines when it first makes contact. I've always assumed it would sense this somehow, but don't "know" it to be the case. It does go through a sequence when lowering the jacks... It seems to go through several sequences of raising each end/side/corner before finally determining it's level. I prefer to just have the jacks raise the coach enough to level and provide a little stability, not to lift us into the clouds so that our last step out the door involves... stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door, jump right out and count to four...

'05 Holiday Rambler Admiral SE 30PDD with a Power Gear Auto-Leveling system. I noticed last year that when leveling using the auto-level button, we'd end up out of level every time. It wasn't terribly out of level, but it was enough to cause doors to refuse to stay where I put them and enough to bother me and make me feel like I was sleeping with my head down in bed. I Googled the problem and found a whole lot of information regarding the issue and how to re-calibrate it so it's level. (Tip Sheet #153) Another thing it was doing however, and still is, that pretty much means I never use the auto-leveler, is that it ends up lifting us so high, I typically ended up with a wheel or two in the air, even when we're just barely out of level to start with! Googling wasn't so helpful this time... I manually level now using a couple of levels inside the coach, but would like to be able to just push the single button and be done with it. Fuses, fluid condition and fluid level are all good, as are all the connections I've checked as part of the previous exercise. UPDATE: Mine is a Ford V10 (Gas) on a Ford Chassis with no air bags / dump option... Anyone have any suggestions?

Gesundheit wolfe10...

Thanks Tireman9. I've been hoping you'd chime in on this. I've read your comments in other threads on this topic and you seem to be the resident expert on the subject. Not to diminish what manholt and wolfe10 stated. I've read many of their comments in other threads and both also seem to bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table and I appreciate each of you sharing! Thanks to each of you!

Manholt, it says 120 psi max on the old and new tires.

Greetings All... I recently had six new 245/R7019.5 Michilen XZE (Load Range H) tires mounted on my coach. (The total installed price of $2,862.51 through the FMCA Tire Program seems a bit shocking compared to some other prices I've seen in this forum, but I suppose that's the result of the cost of Michelin's compared to some other brands...) My old tires were Goodyear G670 (Load Range F). The front were inflated to 85 psi and the rear to 100 psi by the previous owner who said this was based on the axle loads. I noticed when I picked my coach up from the tire dealer after getting the new tires mounted, they were all inflated to 85 psi... Even though the ride is VASTLY improved with the new tires, it got me to thinking about the pressure vs. weight vs. load range factors I've read about on this and other forums and sites. Below are the placard numbers for my coach: GVWR: 20,500-lbs GAWR: 7,000-lbs (front) GAWR: 13,500 (rear) We loaded our coach of all our goodies, plus I filled the grey, black and water tanks and my wife and I headed over to a local truck stop to weight on our way out of town for our first quick weekender of the year. The weights shown are the maximum we ever expect to have as we don't always carry all the gear included and we rarely travel with much in either grey or black tanks and almost certainly never with everything full. We do routinely carry water to our destination, but not full holding tanks at the same time. (Results of the weight-in are as follows: Steer Axle: 6,280-lbs Drive Axle: 12,840-lbs Gross Weight: 19,120-lbs For the front axle, that works out to an average of 3,140 per tire (I understand weighing each corner would be better, but nobody in the area can do this...) According to a pdf downloaded from Michelin's website, the closest air pressure shown for each of these weights works out to 75 psi, which is shown as supporting a load of 3,390 -lbs and is the lowest pressure shown on the charts provided. According to another chart on Michelin's website, the weights shown are half this value (1,695-lbs) Should I assume the larger is per axle and the smaller per axle end? For the rear axle, it works out to an average of 6,420-lbs per dual-wheel-set. The charts show 6,420-lbs load capacity at 75 psi, again this being the lowest pressure shown on the chart. (Same issue re the two charts showing half/double values and being uncertain if they're indicating per tire...) I've read that it's not advisable to run pressures that result in being right at or too close to the maximum loads listed and also that you don't want to be over or under inflated. With all that being said... What would our resident tire experts recommend for pressures on these new tires?

I just got back from picking up the Coach from Pomp's Tires here in N. IL to replace the OLD Goodyear G670 RV's with the afore mentioned Michelin XZE's. A quick check for date codes showed dates ranging from 0318 to 1618, which is just last week! (Don't know how that's possible with them being stamped as "Made in France"...) I left Pomps and drove along a stretch of concrete roadway that usually produces the repeated thump-thump going over the seems. Nope! Smooth and quiet as she goes... I then got onto I-90 and merged at about 65mph and thought I was missing something as it was so quiet... so smooth... so steady! I typically drive at about 63 as it gives better mileage and seemed to be a little more squirrelly above that. Not this time! I ran up to 75mph and passed a series of trucks and nothing! No push, no pull and hardly any effect at all from the trucks! WOW! We'll hit the road next weekend and I'll know more then, but I am super happy right now with the new XZE's after a quick 20 mile ride!!!

Sounds completely reasonable. Thanks! Going with the XZE's all around, more by default than for any other reason...

Well now... Nobody wished me luck and I now fine myself in a not-so-fine kettle of poo... While walking through the parking lot to the RV Center to buy what I need, my back decided I was done with this project for awhile. It seems crawling around on the roof, pulling super-sticky tape for three hours this morning was too much for my bad back and I'm out of action for at least a few days. I made it into the store and one of the Tech's suggested I consider putting 8" tape over the top of what's still in place, to avoid the roughly 12 hours of pulling old tape that remains. He said they routinely use 6" tape to cover failing 4" tape when everything else is in good shape. I''ll cut any existing bubbles to confirm if they're air or water bubbles and pull up what shows to be wet. It's not what I wanted to do, but it's going to have to do, at least for this season anyway. Once my back goes out, it's usually at least 3 months or more of great care to avoid it again. Funny thing was, he couldn't get 8" eternabond through his distributors, but told me I could order it on Amazon, or through Walmart. It will be here Monday... I'll use acetone to clean everything the new tape will contact and keep a close eye on things to see how it does. Never mind the luck this time...

Yeah, acetone for cleaning vinyl window components has pretty much been removed from most plants in my industry after OSHA comes in and puts their requirements for it's use and storage in place. Unfortunately, rubbing alcohol or warm-soapy water, the usual replacements, accomplish little other than possibly cutting down on colds amongst those using them. I've pulled back about 12 feet of tape where the bubbles appeared most common as a start and fortunately, while I did find a few small pockets of water, I don't see any signs it entered the coach or got past the 4" foil tape in place with self-leveling adhesive over it's edges. The bubbles mostly were just air bubbles underneath the 6" eternabond in place. Whew! Heading out to buy some new eternabond and acetone (along with some gloves, since I don't want to run through a pair of sewer gloves every four minutes! ) Forecast says no rain until Wed, but it's cloudy and radar shows it's raining cats-and-dogs right now! Virga due to dry air, I suppose... Hope it holds, or I'm gonna have a whole new problem on my hands! I really don't want to scramble to get the cover back on it, especially in the rain!! Wish me luck! (The good kind, please... )

Soooo, are you saying acetone is a a good option? hahaha Great stuff there Bill! Thank you kind sir! Our's is an '05 HR Admiral SE 30PDD and we're booked for our first trip out this season in two weeks. The weather hasn't cooperated until today and is putting a kink in my plans for getting ready for the season. I've got my work cut out for me to get ready by our first trip with this discovery regarding the tape, but will be better off than before after it's done. Thank you again Bill for your help!

I actually thought I had added the coach info to my sig, but apparently not so that it shows up... I'll get that figured out at some point.

I took the cover off the RV today and was quite pleased with almost all aspects of the results. Everything is clean, inside and out, with no signs of any incursions anywhere. Everything inside smells very nice with no signs of bugs or rodents in anyway! All good right?! Mostly... I noticed while covering it last year that the sealant between the roof and side panels was separating in a few places, so I planned to remove the old sealant and reseal with Dicor non-levelling sealant, which I picked up this morning. Still no worries as I was planning on this! However... Upon further inspection, I noticed bubbles all along the tape used on the seam down the middle of the roof and from side to side at the front and rear of the roof. Pressing them, I can't tell if they're air or water, but either way, I'm not too pleased. Still not terrible, right? Buuuuutttt... At one place in the center of the tape running from side to side across the front of the roof, pressing on a bubble pushes water out from under the tape. #$#()#U!#$&#*#*!#$( and dadgummit! A followup inspection inside shows no signs of any water anywhere at all, so I consider myself still amongst the lucky in the world, but won't wait to reseal as needed! I spoke with a local repair facility and he explained in great detail how to make the repairs. I asked what he would charge to do it and he said due to the labor and amount of tape it would probably run between $700 and $900, depending on how long it took and whether he could overlay 6" tape on top of it after bleeding all the bubbles, or had to remove the existing tape completely to replace. He's also running several weeks out to get to it... Unfortunately, it already has 6" tape on it, so other than doubling the tape to ensure it was sealing to the fiberglass shell on both sides, it will require removing the tape already in place. I plan to attempt it this weekend myself, starting with where I know there is water. I plan to use plastic putty knives I picked up at menards, but I understand what's under the tape is very goopy/sticky. Anyone care to recommend anything at all to help? Methods? Materials? Solvents or cleaners? Thanks in advance!

Can you please expand upon that a little regarding dealer networks? Would you make any recommendations?

Great question! Especially since I can answer affirmatively... I called Michelin after receiving a quote from Pomp's in which they listed it as "discontinued" and offered several other options. Nick at the number you list stated that they have been discontinued in the size I need. He didn't have any reason for it. A search on Michelin's website seems to indicate they're still available for larger wheels, but not 19.5".

After much research, I selected the 245/70-19.5 Michelin XRV as replacements, only to find out they've been discontinued in this size! (Dangit!) I've reached out to a local Pomp Tire and he's ordered Michelin XZE tires for me since the XRV's aren't available and is awaiting confirmation of my FMCA transaction to schedule installation. I'm curious what other's experiences have been regarding the change in ride characteristics and mileage between the G670, XRV and XZE tires. I've read about a gazzillion or two threads online and the feedback can be overwhelming. Going from Load Range G to H isn't a concern for me unless it will greatly affect the ride quality. We aren't and won't likely ever approach our weight limits, with most of our basement storage and some of our inside storage remaining completely unused. (A couple different RV friends think we're weird for that as they always appear to be busting at the seams when loading up! haha) Mileage isn't too big of a concern either since we don't really drive a lot of miles on most trips (less than a few hundred miles each way in most instances...) and the mileage, being at 8+ without Toad and 7+ with Toad won't impact the budget all that much given how we travel. I'm also curious as to whether anyone knows why Michelin would discontinue the XRV, particularly in just the 19.5 sizes. (Is that size-ism?) Thanks in advance for any feedback anyone wants to offer and be safe all!