Become a pro at leveling a travel trailer with the help of these tips.
You’ve driven for hours, you’ve arrived at your campsite and checked in, you’re going to your reserved space and you park your travel trailer. You may think it’s time to immediately climb aboard and start making dinner or wander around the campground, leaving your trailer just as it is. Wait! You’ve forgotten one crucial step in the process: leveling your travel trailer.
This might not immediately strike you as essential, but trust us: an unlevel travel trailer can present you with many problems. Your bed could be tilted awkwardly to one side. Water could pool in the shower and overflow. You’ll feel uneasy walking around on a floor that isn’t even. Do yourself a favor and spend a little time performing the process outlined below.
Locate a Good Spot
Your first task is to figure out a flat, even piece of ground within your campsite area where your travel trailer will ultimately rest. A concrete pad is ideal, but if you’re at a more primitive campsite or boondocking, you’ll have to settle for hard-packed dirt. Gravel and sand will shift underneath your trailer’s stabilizers and unbalance it, so look for firm ground without rocks, dips, or bumps.
Level from Side to Side
Don’t unhitch your travel trailer yet! Use a level to determine how much you’ll need to adjust your trailer to make it even from side to side. Drive the unit forward and put chocks or leveling blocks where the tires will rest. Reverse into that position and check how even things are. Keep adjusting until you’ve placed enough boards or blocks strategically so that your trailer sits evenly.
Secure and Disconnect
Now that your bubble is in the center of your level, secure it with chocks in front of and behind each tire. Then you can unhitch your towing vehicle and drive it out of the way. You’ll be able to finish the leveling process without it.
Level from Front to Back
Your next task is to make the travel trailer level from front to back. Use the jack for your hitch to raise or lower it accordingly until your level says you’re centered. Lock the hitch when you’re done!
Stabilize Your Trailer
At each corner of your travel trailer, you’ll find a stabilizer that you can lower and lock into the ground to anchor it in place. Many campers have a tool to help you do this or they have automatic lowering. You can use a power tool to make things go faster. Just make sure each foot is firm against the ground without driving it in too deep.
We hope that our guide has helped simplify the leveling process for you! If you’re planning to buy a travel trailer, stop by Mountaineer RV & Outdoor Center at one of our dealerships in Jane Lew or Mt. Nebo, WV, to see what we’ve in stock. We welcome all our customers visiting us from across West Virginia, including Morgantown.