Using Levelling Ramps
Using levelling ramps is the method of doing a coarse levelling by driving the wheels on one side of the vehicle up onto blocks. The method is cheap and needs no equipment, but it requires repeated manoeuvring, does not give precision on the order of tenths of a degree, and becomes less safe as the stack of blocks gets higher.
The procedure is this: blocks are laid in a ramp shape in front of the wheel on the low side of the slope, the vehicle is driven slowly up onto the blocks, the slope is measured and, if necessary, the operation is repeated with a different number of layers.
- Its limit: the correction step is the thickness of a block; you cannot reach the values in between.
- Stability: do not go more than three layers on top of one another; move the vehicle if you need to.
- Safety: once the vehicle is sitting on the blocks, always place the wheel chocks.
- Manoeuvring: on every attempt you have to reverse the vehicle and drive up again; that is troublesome on a crowded campsite.
An automatic levelling system and levelling ramps do not exclude one another. If the ground slope is greater than the leg stroke can close out, doing a coarse correction with ramps first and then running the system for fine adjustment is the soundest route. Even when using ramps, do not try to lift all the wheels off the ground; this is a practice explicitly prohibited in manufacturers' manuals.
The context in which this term is used: RV automatic levelling guide