Corner steadies for rear of motorhome

[Kups]

Motorhome corner steadies continue to be a problem for us. We have had standard Adria rear corner steadies on the last three Corals. However on the current vehicle, because we've had a towbar fitted (for the ebike Thule carrier), fitting corner steadies has been a headache! So we've abandoned the idea and are now looking for alternatives to prevent the rear end "trampolining" when on site for more than a couple of days. My preference is the Kampa Jack Stand <Broken link removed>
which are reasonably robust and cheap but come in a set of four (I only need two).
Is anyone using these? Are they good enough for the job?
Any better alternatives?
We do NOT want the huge expense of hydraulic levelling systems either thanks.

 

[Dave and Mand]

I tried using the jack stands, they were ok but a bit of a faff so I bought two scissor jacks off ebay much easier

 

[IanRJ]

Motorhome corner steadies continue to be a problem for us. We have had standard Adria rear corner steadies on the last three Corals. However on the current vehicle, because we've had a towbar fitted (for the ebike Thule carrier), fitting corner steadies has been a headache! So we've abandoned the idea and are now looking for alternatives to prevent the rear end "trampolining" when on site for more than a couple of days. My preference is the Kampa Jack Stand <Broken link removed>
which are reasonably robust and cheap but come in a set of four (I only need two).
Is anyone using these? Are they good enough for the job?
Any better alternatives?
We do NOT want the huge expense of hydraulic levelling systems either thanks.

Kups I've tried a number of times to make these jacks work for my van (AT Delaware) and find they are fiddly to use and where my van really bounces around (the middle of the van when stepping in and out) they are too tall to fit under the chassis. You often need two hands to hold one of these to get the screw turned to bite on the van chassis. That is awkward and means laying down to get them in place (on my van at least).

I tested with a bottle jack under the door area during a trip at the end of last year, that seemed to work pretty well, so now I have three cheap bottle jacks and rubber pads, to try next week, one under each end of the tow bar and one on the chassis under the entry door!

I like the idea of the HPC hydraulic jack system but at £4/5k I have been trying to justify it to myself and anyone else who might have a financial interest in me (SWMBO)!

Nobody asked, but for what its worth... here is my reasoning:

I can easily take up to 35-40 mins each time I setup, shuffling the van looking for the most level spot + levelling on the ramps + placing steadies; I am always concerned I might overrun the ramps, which results is cross words with the watch-lady on many occasions (is it almost over - not high enough etc) and perhaps 20-25 mins packing up.

If I measure my time at £30 and hour (conservative of course - I'm an artisan you know) I have between 133 and 166 set-up/downs over which to recoup the HPC investment; its creative accounting I know . In the last 2 years I have done 145 setup/downs, plus around 20 carparks, laybys and truck stops where I would have used levellers had I had them, I guess I will be doing a similar number in the next couple of years too! Add to that doing so in the p*ssing rain and on muddy / dirty ground and convenience becomes a big factor in addition to the money!

I'm sold... ow if only someone was 'actually' paying me £30 an hour to mess around in my van I'd be able to buy the HPC instead, and resign .

 

[cmcardle75]

Kups I've tried a number of times to make these jacks work for my van (AT Delaware) and find they are fiddly to use and where my van really bounces around (the middle of the van when stepping in and out) they are too tall to fit under the chassis. You often need two hands to hold one of these to get the screw turned to bite on the van chassis. That is awkward and means laying down to get them in place (on my van at least).

I tested with a bottle jack under the door area during a trip at the end of last year, that seemed to work pretty well, so now I have three cheap bottle jacks and rubber pads, to try next week, one under each end of the tow bar and one on the chassis under the entry door!

I like the idea of the HPC hydraulic jack system but at £4/5k I have been trying to justify it to myself and anyone else who might have a financial interest in me (SWMBO)!

Nobody asked, but for what its worth... here is my reasoning:

I can easily take up to 35-40 mins each time I setup, shuffling the van looking for the most level spot + levelling on the ramps + placing steadies; I am always concerned I might overrun the ramps, which results is cross words with the watch-lady on many occasions (is it almost over - not high enough etc) and perhaps 20-25 mins packing up.

If I measure my time at £30 and hour (conservative of course - I'm an artisan you know) I have between 133 and 166 set-up/downs over which to recoup the HPC investment; its creative accounting I know . In the last 2 years I have done 145 setup/downs, plus around 20 carparks, laybys and truck stops where I would have used levellers had I had them, I guess I will be doing a similar number in the next couple of years too! Add to that doing so in the p*ssing rain and on muddy / dirty ground and convenience becomes a big factor in addition to the money!

I'm sold... ow if only someone was 'actually' paying me £30 an hour to mess around in my van I'd be able to buy the HPC instead, and resign .

I just stop and put the hand brake on. Am I missing something? OK, I might have to scoop water towards the drain in the sink, but that sounds like a lot less faff.

 

[IanRJ]

I just stop and put the hand brake on. Am I missing something? OK, I might have to scoop water towards the drain in the sink, but that sounds like a lot less faff.

LOL - Just the dog jumping in the van is enough to feel like I'm going to be bounced out of bed (yes SWMBO walks the lad)!

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[Manic]

Would it be possible to make some brackets on tow bar and fit caravan type legs
<Broken link removed>

 

[donkey]

I have had many different motorhomes over the years and never felt the need for extra stability. One of them actually had steadies fitted but I never used them.

Geoff

 

[irnbru]

We have corner steadies in our Benimar, only used them once. Too much hassle for me. Once you’ve had a few beers or wines you don’t notice any difference

 

[SIFTA SAM]

As Dave and Mand in #2
Have used two small scissor jacks with pads for a long time. Stops me getting seasick as well.

 

[Kups]

Would it be possible to make some brackets on tow bar and fit caravan type legs
<Broken link removed>

Thanks for the suggestion. However, the ones that are suitable for the Adria will not fit due to a towbar fitting that I've got.
Thanks for the comments, I may either use the Fiat Ducato scissor jack at the back under the towball fitting or splash out £25 for the Kampa jacks. Would love to install the hydraulic system but I'll wait to see if the cheap solution works.

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[Manic]

I was thinking of brackets onto the tow bar

 

[cmcardle75]

I was thinking of brackets onto the tow bar

Be careful, though. Any modification of the towbar will invalidate its type approval, which would be illegal <= 3500kg.

 

[Speve]

I bought a pair of second hand steadies on the forum and fitted to our Hymer with towbar just made up a couple of brackets and bolted to chassis.
similar to these:

AL-KO Click-Fix Steady Legs 1239362 - 1239362

AL-KO Click-Fix Steady Legs suitable for frame height of 310mm - 424mm. Specifically designed to be fitted to the AL-KO AMC chassis to provide a level and stable support to your motorhome. Please note - does not include the brace that is in the photo. Product Type Steady Leg Brand AL-KO

shop.chastheboat.co.uk

 

[Minxy]

This is a conundrum we have too ... I've toyed with various ideas but came to the conclusion that a couple of scissor jacks are likely the best solution, what I would like to do is permanently fit them to the chassis though upside down so that the base is at the top and they extend downwards when used, this would mean I don't have to keep getting them out and setting them up on the ground first so could just wind them down when required, it would also mean they aren't nickable either.

As I've currently got an Ebay voucher for £10 off a £20 spend I think I might splash out and get a pair and try them - note that some sold on Ebay do discounts when you buy 2 or more so what is the cheapest for 1 initially may not be for a 2 of them.

 

[IanRJ]

Would it be possible to make some brackets on tow bar and fit caravan type legs
<Broken link removed>

Not on my tow bar - they'd be dragging on the road!

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[Emmit]

I'm with Speve on this one.
Just bought a pair of Alko steadies on here (thank you Richard) and bolted them direct to the chassis.
Only this morning I said to Mrs. Emmit that as a non essential, they're the best accessory I've ever bought and are far better than those supplied on our previous van (Hobby)

 

[denisejoe]

Never bothered with the steadies on our van.

 

[Landy Andy]

Got drop down steadies on my Adria coral with towbar. And we use them a lot.

 

[pappajohn]

I just stop and put the hand brake on. Am I missing something? OK, I might have to scoop water towards the drain in the sink, but that sounds like a lot less faff.

Another one who could live with their house not being level.

You wouldn't accept that so why accept it in your van?

 

[cmcardle75]

Another one who could live with their house not being level.

You wouldn't accept that so why accept it in your van?

Because the cure is worse than than the problem. Either £6000 to do it automatically, or much time spent faffing.

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[Speve]

Because the cure is worse than than the problem. Either £6000 to do it automatically, or much time spent faffing.

No faffing with wind downs two minutes and they are set no fuss and stick a label on steering wheel to remind yourself to wind them up.

 

[cmcardle75]

No faffing with wind downs two minutes and they are set no fuss and stick a label on steering wheel to remind yourself to wind them up.

Do you actually use the wind downs for levelling, rather than just stabilisation? (i.e. jack the wheels right off the floor).

In any case, I don't spend 2 minutes emptying the sink. Besides, the sticky on the steering wheel is already full of all the other things I always forget to do, like locking the kitchen drawers so they don't fly across the room on the first roundabout.

 

[donkey]

Another one who could live with their house not being level.

You wouldn't accept that so why accept it in your van?

Not sure we are all on the same page here.

Are we talking about leveling or steadying the motorhome. they are two very different things and require different approaches.

Geoff

 

[Lenny HB]

Big problem with steadies is they stop the van rocking In the wind we always sleep better with the van rocking and rolling.

 

[Vipar]

Don’t you mean you sleep better AFTER it’s been rocking and rolling?

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[NicandJay]

With many nose down moho's including ours by the time we are roughly level front to back on ramps the wind down supports at rear cant get to vertical so cant offer too much support. We dont bother with ours a lot of the time and never if freeing it somewhere for the night. Quick getaway and all that

 

[Conal]

We have AL KO levellers fitted by them at their Daventry factory. Like many improvements, if I tried to justify buying them only in monetary terms, I would fail. However many say they buy a motorhome rather than a caravan because they don’t want all the faffing around setting up on site even thought a caravan is often less than half the price of a motorhome. We bought the levellers because we wanted to be level on site and could afford them. The cost is what it is. Similarly we bought an inverter because we wanted to be able to use the microwave when mains electricity was not available. There are lots of examples of choices people make that are not solely based on a cost/benefit analysis, the most common one that springs to my mind is purchasing a premium badged car rather that a very similar version from the same manufacturer under a “lesser” brand. I am not critising the choice simply noting that such a decision would probably receive less criticism than buying automatic levellers, but cost more.

 

[donkey]

I am not sure we are talking about the same thing here. The Al-ko levelling system is a million miles away from normal corner steadies and is designed to raise the vehicle. Whereas corner steadies are just that 'steadies', and should not be used to lift the vehicle.

Geoff

 

[DDJC]

Had two drop downs fitted as standard. Too close to the rear wheels to be of any use, and the dropdown graduation was too long, so I removed them.
Have to say, I don't miss them.

 

[Shrimp]

Wind down steadies are fine, don’t take long and the handle sits over the brake/etc pedals as a reminder.