Leveling, slide out and dumping air

[Lawrence Tarnoff]

We're about to take our maiden voyage with our '99 Contessa.  The placard in the coach says to extend the slider before leveling the coach.  This seems counter-intuitive.  Also ... should we dump air prior to leveling?

Thanks,

Larry

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Larry,
Always move slides when coach is at or close to  ride height. In other words, extend slide before leveling and retract slide after turning leveling off and the "travel" light illuminates on your level control panel. No need to dump air prior to leveling as this will occur automatically when you activate the level system. (above based on an IDS jack to axle and an HWH Air/jack system).
Reason for this is that the body can twist a bit relative to the frame when it gets in the "level" attitude. This can cause some misalignment that can result in the slide not coming in or going out correctly.
Steve

[Gerald Farris]

Larry,
Like Steve said, only extend or retract your slide when the coach is setting on the suspension and at proper ride height.

Only dump the suspension air pressure if you have a manual leveling system before leveling. However, if you have an automatic hydraulic leveling system, it will dump the air automatically before extending the jacks. An automatic air leveling system will use air dumping as a means for leveling the coach by dumping the air at the high side of the coach before inflating the low side air bags. The reason for these air dumping procedures is so that the coach is leveled as close to the ground as possible to make entry and exit of the coach as easy as possible.

Gerald

 

[neil omalley]

Lawrence : slides-1st thing out + last thing in. Yeah, it does seem counter intuitive,but....