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Ok, thanks people, now you have to bear with me here because I am a mere female.....

What you are all saying is save our money and don't buy one of these £80 levellers, but instead get a scissor jack that you place on the jacking point of the side that is the lowest, raise the van up and insert the orange wedge under the tyre at the appropriate point to provide a level van?  Is that it or have I completely missed the point here!!

If so, is this an easy thing to do and reasonably safe, are the jacking points easy to find and robust enough to have this done to them, say, every 2nd or 3rd weekend?

Our van is in storage on the site we use so we don't tow it anywhere.  I would not therefore be unduly concerned about tyre distortion as if we sell it on or decide to tour the first thing I would do is put new tyres on anyway, as a precaution more than anything.

Ali

Shooie, our van is in their storage compound and is taken out every time we go down so am I right in saying you would only use axle stands if it was in the same place all the time?  We only get to go for a weekend at a time and 3 or 4 weeks during the season too.

Ali

I used a Bulldog leveller for years and found it to be superb. When I had a twin axle I used two as it was the easiest way I could find to level the van across the axles and keep even weight distribution between the two axles. A new caravan with bigger wheels stopped me using it. They do get a good price on eBay because they are good albbeit a bit on the heavy side. It is best to use a racket spanner to raise and lower.

They can sink in but the ground has to be really wet. You cannot roll the van over them thats why their U shaped.

One question though, why do you need to level the van across the axle whilst in storage?

Quote: Originally posted by snowy747 on 01/10/2006

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am I right in saying you would only use axle stands if it was in the same place all the time?

Ali

Sorry Ali, I mis understood your post, however a trolley jack and chocks under the axle would be my choice for any period of time.

Hi, our van is stored at the site that we use.  Whenever we want to go to the van we arrange it in advance, they tow it onto a pitch and then we have to level it and set it up when we arrive.  The pitches we like have a slight slope on them and my car doesn't have a towbar so the only way to maneouvre it is by hand, it is very heavy!  Therefore I thought if we got a leveller it would be easy to level without pushing and shoving and getting nowhere.

Ali

Hi

When we bought our van we got a 'Rise & Clamp' wheelclamp included.

It works as both a wheelclamp and a leveller.

We have used it without a problem and if it is wet I put some wood under the lifting foot.

Found the video on the mnakers website

http://www.pyramid-products.com/rise_&_clamp_video.htm

Cheers

Ref levellers (centre picture from shytot4x4).   Iv'e had one of these for many years, haven't used it fot years either.  It has 3 problems

1. On soft ground, bottom frame can sink considerably.

2. OK on hard standings, but liable to move when trying to get van wheel onto top frame recess.

3. The jack screw gets closer to wheel as the top frame rises.  Can eventually foul wheel before required height reached.

I think mine cost around £50 and I consider it money wasted.   I now use ramp and chock method (moulded plastic items).  The chock locks into ridges in ramp face. Perhaps I also find this easier because I have a mover fitted on van.

Regards, Bertie