Longitudinal Tilt (Pitch)
Longitudinal tilt is the angle the vehicle makes with the horizontal along its nose–tail direction. In an RV it directly affects grey water drainage, bed comfort and drawbar height. In the automatic cycle of the KTS200 it is the first axis corrected after ground contact.
Pitch is rotation not about the long axis of the vehicle, but about the horizontal axis perpendicular to it. It is shown as positive when the nose is up and negative when it is down; the sign convention varies from device to device, so the direction is verified by taking a tare after installation.
- Water drainage: the grey water tank and its drain outlet are usually near one end of the vehicle; a longitudinal tilt in the opposite direction prevents the tank from emptying completely.
- Sleeping comfort: beds are mostly laid out along the long axis of the vehicle, so it is pitch that sets the head–foot difference.
- Towed caravan: drawbar height changes with pitch; the vertical load imposed on the tow vehicle is affected by it too.
The reason pitch is corrected first in the automatic cycle is that the lever arm along the long axis is greater and correction on this axis requires more jack stroke. Coarse correction is done first and fine adjustment is left to the end.
Context in which this term is used: RV automatic levelling guide