How to Level your Travel Trailer?

It can be difficult to keep your travel trailer level when you’re on the road. This is especially true if you have a heavy load in the back of your truck and it’s not weighed down evenly.

If this sounds like something that might happen to you, then there are some things that you need to know about how to level a travel trailer!

If you are in the market for a new travel trailer, chances are you have recently discovered that leveling your camper is easier said than done.

Travel trailers tend to be much heavier than other types of RVs and can weigh anywhere from 2,500 lbs to 8,000 lbs when fully loaded with all of your belongings.

How to Level Your Travel Trailer?

If you’re not careful when trying to level your trailer on an uneven surface like grass or dirt, you could easily sink into the ground and lose valuable space inside of it.

To avoid this problem before it even happens, follow these simple steps below:

First, you will need to decide what type of leveling kit that you want to use with your travel trailer.

There are systems out there that require no additional equipment and can be used with both RVs and trailers alike. 

See also: Best RV Levels

Be sure not to forget about the gears when installing these kits as levels may vary widely if your axle ratio or engine size changes from your standard configuration originally.

If you don’t have any improvement on the way you drive, chances are good that using jack stands or placing your blocks under the tires will work just fine. 

Just know that you want to limit the amount of time that it takes for you to set up your leveling kit as much as possible, because every minute spent setting up is one more minute that you’re not hitting the road!

How to Level Your Travel Trailer Step by Step

Step 1: Identify Where the Stabilizer Jacks Need to Go

Once you have your blocks under the tires, place your stabilizer jacks underneath them and make sure that they are even with each other. In some trailers, these end up being under the hitch area while in others they are located near the trailer doors on either side of the entrance point. 

If you don’t happen to know where your stabilizer jacks were originally installed at, a good rule of thumb is to follow where all of your lighting wiring is run towards!

This should give you a pretty good idea about exactly how much space you have left to work with between your stabilizers and calliper brakes.

You might find out though that there isn’t enough room for your stabilizer jacks under the tires when you’ve already got blocks set up.

If this is the case, then ask yourself if you can move some of your items around. 

In order to make room for them before you install them? If this isn’t an option or you simply don’t want to mess with what’s already inside, then there’s another solution as well.

Step 2: Identify Where the Suspension Needs to Go

If lifting your travel trailer is out of the question and you don’t have any more room underneath the calliper brakes, then it might be time to consider carrying leveling equipment with you on the road! 

This tends to be a bit more expensive than buying something that works like a charm since these types of leveling systems can be made out of either aluminum or steel.

While the initial cost is more expensive, it’s typically cheaper in the long run to go with aluminum if you’re purchasing a permanent system that will not need yearly servicing.

Step 3: Place the Jack Stands on Each Corner of Your Trailer (if Applicable)

If your travel trailer doesn’t already have jacks built into its frame, then you’ll need to place these under each one of them for support before installing anything else.

If they are evenly spaced underneath your trailer, then this shouldn’t be too difficult of a process especially if there is no weight inside over top of them!

Step 4: Lower Your Suspension Onto the Jack Stands or Blocks

Once all four corners are supported, you should be able to lower your suspension onto the jack stands (or blocks) that are hidden underneath.

If you’re driving on uneven ground or if this is your first time leveling out a travel trailer, then take it slowly and keep an eye on all of the connections!

It might not make sense while you’re doing it, but moving around like this will help to ensure that everything keeps in place while under load.

Step 5: Place Wheel Chocks Behind Any Remaining Tires

If there are any remaining tires besides the ones already blocked off with blocks or jacks, then you will need to place wheel chocks behind them for safety reasons before moving forward.

This will help to avoid accidents because even though these trailers can handle a lot of weight, there is a chance that they can still shift and move around especially on loose surfaces like dirt and sand.

Step 6: Use the Levelers to Adjust Your Trailer as Needed

After everything has been installed from above, you should be able to make any final adjustments using your leveling system if you have one available. It might take a bit of time to do this because after all, most blocks work on an angle as opposed to using a kingpin! 

Keep in mind though that whatever it takes, don’t give up until you’re satisfied with the way things look at both front and back since this will directly affect how well you’re going to perform while driving down the road. 

Think about the last time that you had an unbalanced load in your truck or car for instance. Even though it might have been able to handle the road just fine, you won’t be able to say the same thing about your trailer!

The main reason why this is important has everything to do with weight distribution and how evenly things are placed across any surface that you’re driving on. 

For example, I always use my leveling system when boondocking which is typically done in undeveloped areas.

Unless you plan on using wood blocks (which can be moved around), then there isn’t anything else available for smaller trailers instead of jacks that will keep them stabilized for very long periods of time!

Step 7: Clean up Before Parking for the Night

Even after you’ve left your leveling system in place, it’s still not safe to park for the night without taking the time to clean up.

Unless you’re using blocks that can be stored, then this means picking them all up and carrying them back into storage (or your trunk if they’re portable).

Otherwise, you might think that everything is okay because none of it fell over or shifted during the night only to find out otherwise when morning comes!

Step 8: Remove Wheel Chocks and Lower Suspension Completely Before Driving Away

Once finished, remove any wheel chocks from behind any tires that were previously blocked off with a block or a jack.

You should never drive away while leaving any wheel chocks in place unless there are no usable surfaces available for parking since this is a safety hazard that could end up causing some serious damage. 

With that said, use your suspension system to raise your trailer back into an upright position before driving away! Not only will this make it easier to see what you’re doing but at the same time, it’ll help out with road visibility if you do have things blocking your line of sight.

If there were a few minor adjustments made throughout the night or if you simply didn’t get a chance to put everything away earlier, then do so now as long as you feel comfortable doing so without any blocks being in place underneath! 

Trust me on this one since those new tires will be taking a beating by rolling around on gravel and other rough surfaces below especially when turning onto hard ground from the soft stuff.

Congrats! You just learned how to level your travel trailer and should be able to notice a difference in virtually no time at all once you begin using these tips on an everyday basis!

Keep this content nearby whenever possible because chances are that you’re going to rely on it for years to come.

Wrap Up

If you’re looking to level your trailer, there are a number of different ways that it can be done. The first step is choosing the right kind of leveling blocks for your application.

After getting those in place, they’ll need to be secured with stakes or cinder blocks so they don’t move around when being used.

For added security and stability, some people use sandbags on each side of the block as well. 

Once these steps have been completed, all that’s left is filling up any holes where the ground may not quite reach the top edge of the trailer frame with dirt or gravel then spreading out tarps underneath to protect from moisture seeping into flooring.