Self Levelling System

[Tiger Bear]

Parked near to us is a Kontiki with a self levelling system. I mentioned it to our lass that may be desirable for us, and I may add it to the list of other mods for the future, the two main ones being air suspension and solar/battery/inverter upgrade. I told her how they worked.
She: "That sounds good; it'll save you the hassle of being in and out of the van, moving it back and forth, and fannying about with your spirit level. Anything to make it easier for you, you do enough already. How much would it cost to get it fitted?"
(Tippy tappy on t'internet)
Me: "Babe, guess how much it will cost"
She: "Well, you can go bollox with that! It won't hurt you spending a few more minutes doing yourself."


Joking apart, given that our van is a twin axle, and won't weight more than about 3900kg after the air suspension is fitted, and we don't plan to camp on the side of a mountain, is spending about £6,000 justified? I can see the benefit for the triple axle Kontiki, which looks like a Chinese bit of kit, but not necessarily for us.

 

[Tiger Bear]

A big benefit for us also is the lack of rocking around when Vic gets up for a pee in the night, or even in strong winds (weather ones, not hers).

We have Ma-Ve system and had E&P on last van. It means you get no movement in strong winds when parked up.

I'm usually up three or four times a night peeing so our lass will welcome that benefit.
Last night the wind had us rocking like a mechanical bull. Good job everyone, apart from the Kontiki had the same problem, otherwise we may have had a knock on the window with, "will you guys give it a rest".

 

[Tiger Bear]

We have the AL-KO sytem.

Have a look at AL-KO Hi 4 system each ram has its own oil so no need for hydraulic pipe runs under the van and also less hassle when changing vans.

To be clear, you are referring to a levelling system made by AL-KO rather than one for an AL-KO chassis? We don't have the latter.

 

[funflair]

To be clear, you are referring to a levelling system made by AL-KO rather than one for an AL-KO chassis? We don't have the latter.

The AL-KO HY4 system is different in that it uses a motor and pump local to each ram compared to the others that use a centralised motor and pump and then pipe out to each ram.

 

[ShiftZZ]

........ or better still have an HPC system fitted in the first place which have a simple lever pump system to retract jacks in case of a fault .. but then in almost nine years I never had to resort to this as HPC systems don't go wrong.

Ar the time everyone was talimh about E&P.. hmmm

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[Lenny HB]

also many (E&P definitely) have a 'tank empty' option which tips the van to completely drain your grey tank.

Only works if you wast pipe comes out by the side of the tank. Although the pipe comes out the side on ours the tank exit is towards the centre at the rear of the tank so to drine the rear needs to be lower than the front & you can't set the tank drain option like that.

Have a look at AL-KO Hi 4 system each ram has its own oil so no need for hydraulic pipe runs under the van and also less hassle when changing vans.

Nice system but over 20kg heavier.

 

[Holly's mum]

Tiger Bear I had much the same reaction as Mrs Tiger Bear when I was told the cost of levellers but what swung me was the fact that if a future van didn't have them on we could swap them over for a fraction of the cost of the initial purchase.

We love our levellers and wouldn't want to have a van without them now.

 

[Speve]

Only works if you wast pipe comes out by the side of the tank. Although the pipe comes out the side on ours the tank exit is towards the centre at the rear of the tank so to drine the rear needs to be lower than the front & you can't set the tank drain option like that.

Nice system but over 20kg heavier.

Not quite Lenny HB E&P 55kg Alko 69kg I have plenty of payload so not to worried

 

[Speve]

To be clear, you are referring to a levelling system made by AL-KO rather than one for an AL-KO chassis? We don't have the latter.

Yes it will fit most chassis as they have a variety of brackets

 

[Lenny HB]

Not quite Lenny HB E&P 55kg Alko 69kg I have plenty of payload so not to worried

Both get different weights quoted, I've seen 50kg quoted for E&P and 77kg for Al-Ko, main problem with the Al-Ko is that each leg is a lot heavier which made them a no go for us as even with suspension upgrade we are on the limit on the rear axle.

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[enark]

A further, never mentioned advantage of levellers is;

If your still up for passion in the night, neighbouring campers dont get the spectacle of a rocking van!!!

 

[Lenny HB]

A further, never mentioned advantage of levellers is;

If your still up for passion in the night, neighbouring campers dont get the spectacle of a rocking van!!!

But a big disadvantage is you don't get rocked to sleep by the wind.

 

[Roby2008]

To be clear, you are referring to a levelling system made by AL-KO rather than one for an AL-KO chassis? We don't have the latter.

Ours is on a standard Fiat chassis, it may be the heavier system but I like the lack of pipes etc, each unit is self contained. I just have the remote under the dash; I have the weighing function too, just to keep me within the weight limits

 

[Tiger Bear]

Ours is on a standard Fiat chassis, it may be the heavier system but I like the lack of pipes etc, each unit is self contained. I just have the remote under the dash; I have the weighing function too, just to keep me within the weight limits

Yes, the weighing function is certainly an advantage

 

[Tiger Bear]

Tiger Bear I had much the same reaction as Mrs Tiger Bear when I was told the cost of levellers but what swung me was the fact that if a future van didn't have them on we could swap them over for a fraction of the cost of the initial purchase.

We love our levellers and wouldn't want to have a van without them now.

That's good to know
Also I suppose, as our lass mentioned earlier, that it would make the van more desirable if we sold him on, that is if we left the levellers on.

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[Tiger Bear]

A further, never mentioned advantage of levellers is;

If your still up for passion in the night, neighbouring campers dont get the spectacle of a rocking van!!!

I'm afraid that ship sailed a long time ago!

 

[ChrisL]

Your mot man will like you as he won't need to jack your van up to test steering and suspension etc.

 

[Mleabon]

You can also use it to change a wheel if you get a flat. Or to help with snow chains. We change wheels from summers to winters twice a year so would be great for that and so much safer. Can't afford it yet though.

 

[Whippet93]

Only works if you wast pipe comes out by the side of the tank. Although the pipe comes out the side on ours the tank exit is towards the centre at the rear of the tank so to drine the rear needs to be lower than the front & you can't set the tank drain option like that.

Nice system but over 20kg heavier.

I know rhe E&P and the Ma-Ve systems have a manual option that allows raising either front, rear, left or right always using a pair of "legs". The one saved setting for both mine was set by the fitter, so I'm not sure if there is only the possibility of draining to left or right.

 

[Tiger Bear]

Thanks for all the replies folks. My arm has well and truly twisted and vicariously so has our lass's. We'll research the different systems and decide what we will go for. Any more recommendations are welcome.

We are definitely going the rear air suspension route, so will see if we can get both jobs done at the same time.
Incidentally, I may have dreamt it, but I seem to recall reading that some full air suspension systems also have a levelling system as part of the set up. I haven't the time to fully research that at the minute, but will do so when we get home. If that is so, then I wonder if it may be worth going down that route rather than just installing rear air suspension.

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[TheMobileWanderer]

Thanks for all the replies folks. My arm has well and truly twisted and vicariously so has our lass's. We'll research the different systems and decide what we will go for. Any more recommendations are welcome.

We are definitely going the rear air suspension route, so will see if we can get both jobs done at the same time.
Incidentally, I may have dreamt it, but I seem to recall reading that some full air suspension systems also have a levelling system as part of the set up. I haven't the time to fully research that at the minute, but will do so when we get home. If that is so, then I wonder if it may be worth going down that route rather than just installing rear air suspension.

Air suspension may be self-levelling (to manage weight issues effectively) but once the vehicle is jacked up, the levelling requirement is different and won't be done by the suspension.

 

[Hettie's Crew]

We’ve had the HPC hydraulic jacks for around seven years and certainly think the results justify the cost. When we’ve looked at swapping this van we’ve automatically considered the cost of fitting to whatever we may change to as we wouldn’t like to be without it now. The cost of air suspension must be even more expensive and I don’t think I could justify that for the possible result.

 

[enark]

Thanks for all the replies folks. My arm has well and truly twisted and vicariously so has our lass's. We'll research the different systems and decide what we will go for. Any more recommendations are welcome.

We are definitely going the rear air suspension route, so will see if we can get both jobs done at the same time.
Incidentally, I may have dreamt it, but I seem to recall reading that some full air suspension systems also have a levelling system as part of the set up. I haven't the time to fully research that at the minute, but will do so when we get home. If that is so, then I wonder if it may be worth going down that route rather than just installing rear air suspension.

Air suspension systems come in 2 or 4 wheel versions, just the rear is usually required for a weight upgrade, and many newer vans come with a uprated (but not air) front suspension due to the heavier auto gearboxes.

Air alone only gives a couple of inches of variation in levels, and wont help with wheel changing, snow chain fitting, oil changing etc. also limited stabilisation compared to rams.

A few highly recommended garages do this, IMO, ring Mick at SAP just north of Doncaster, he does a very professional job.

 

[Tiger Bear]

We’ve had the HPC hydraulic jacks for around seven years and certainly think the results justify the cost. When we’ve looked at swapping this van we’ve automatically considered the cost of fitting to whatever we may change to as we wouldn’t like to be without it now. The cost of air suspension must be even more expensive and I don’t think I could justify that for the possible result.

Thanks for the info
For us, air suspension is now a necessity; we've been away for four days and at the start of the trip, whilst fully laden, I weighed him. What a fat knacker! 120kg over and rear axle at maximum weight limit. I know there may sometimes be an unofficial 5% allowance in the UK but I don't want to risk it, and certainly not when we go abroad.

 

[Tiger Bear]

Air suspension systems come in 2 or 4 wheel versions, just the rear is usually required for a weight upgrade, and many newer vans come with a uprated (but not air) front suspension due to the heavier auto gearboxes.

Air alone only gives a couple of inches of variation in levels, and wont help with wheel changing, snow chain fitting, oil changing etc. also limited stabilisation compared to rams.

A few highly recommended garages do this, IMO, ring Mick at SAP just north of Doncaster, he does a very professional job.

Funny you should write that, the mechanical engineer at Timberland also told us to contact Mick; they send all their vans to SAP.

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[1967bowesj]

Your mot man will like you as he won't need to jack your van up to test steering and suspension etc.

lol, last years mot was a new lad doing the test he tried to use the usual pit jack lol not a hope in hell of lifting the old girl so I jacked it up for him

 

[Holly's mum]

Funny you should write that, the mechanical engineer at Timberland also told us to contact Mick; they send all their vans to SAP.

There are a lot of Funsters who have used SAP, including us

 

[Hettie's Crew]

Thanks for the info
For us, air suspension is now a necessity; we've been away for four days and at the start of the trip, whilst fully laden, I weighed him. What a fat knacker! 120kg over and rear axle at maximum weight limit. I know there may sometimes be an unofficial 5% allowance in the UK but I don't want to risk it, and certainly not when we go abroad.

We had air assist added to our Alko rear axle for exactly the same reason. We were at the 2000kg limit when loaded so adding the air assist and going up a size in tyres allowed us to have it reclassified by SV Tech as 2240kg.

 

[Simonnsj]

Well folks, the arm twisting may be working. Anyone else want to chip in with the sales pitch so I can overwhelm our lass?

We deliberated for a couple of years before opting for the E&P system at £6500 our only regret is that we didn't fit the system sooner - it's a massive chunk of money but if you use your MH a lot as we do it is such a great addition.

 

[Lenny HB]

I know rhe E&P and the Ma-Ve systems have a manual option that allows raising either front, rear, left or right always using a pair of "legs". The one saved setting for both mine was set by the fitter, so I'm not sure if there is only the possibility of draining to left or right.

The E&P you can only det the drain position to left or right, I wanted mine tilting towards the rear, it allows you to set it but it won't save the settings, so I have to do it manually.

We are definitely going the rear air suspension route, so will see if we can get both jobs done at the same time.
Incidentally, I may have dreamt it, but I seem to recall reading that some full air suspension systems also have a levelling system as part of the set up. I haven't the time to fully research that at the minute, but will do so when we get home. If that is so, then I wonder if it may be worth going down that route rather than just installing rear air suspension.

We had full air on the last van, yes you can level with it not to the same extent as jacks but we could get level over 90% of the time. It really improves the driving stability. The Goldsmittch has a weighing function, VB around £9k, Goldsmittch a couple of grand more.

We were going to get full air on our current van but it had uprated front struts & side wind stability, the on road stability was so good we just went for Air assist on the rear and had the E&P jacks total cost was just under £9k.

We used Rosmia, excellent service & didn't even ask for a deposit they are at Bolney just north of Brighton, useful for us as only 20 miles from us.

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[ChrisL]

The Goldsmittch has a weighing function

E&P had this as well, but Mick advised me it wasn't very accurate and was more trouble then it was worth, so I didn't have it fitted. I don't know if the Goldsmittch version is better but if anyone is considering it then maybe do some research first.