3 Common Atwood Levelegs Problems (Troubleshooting)

Atwood is a famous brand amongst people who own trailers and RVs. They’re known for manufacturing quality products related to recreational vehicles that can be used to make driving on long trips safer, easier, and more enjoyable. Atwood has a huge lineup of products to select from which can be viewed on their website.

What’s more is that Atwood was recently purchased by Dometic who now owns all their products. Dometic has been known for its amazing useful devices focused on the outdoor pursuits market. Hence opting for Atwood for your outdoor vehicle needs is a brilliant idea.

One of the best products that the company has come up with is its leveling system. This allows your vehicle to stay in a balanced position so that you can have a smooth drive. The auto-leveling has several modes that can be changed at any time. Once you buy the leveleg, you’ll get an instruction manual with complete details on how to switch between modes and what each mode does when activated.

That being said, even though Atwood levelegs are great to use, some people have also complained about getting problems with them. Keeping the fact that products can run into trouble sometimes, we diagnosed the most common issues present in the Atwood levelegs, which we’ve mentioned below. Follow our troubleshooting steps to have your levelegs working perfectly again.

Atwood Levelegs Troubleshooting

1. Extend and Retract System

One of the most common problems that people get with the Atwood Levelegs system is that the jacks do not move sometimes . This can be quite frustrating to deal with as the user is unable to change the settings on the device.

That being said, before you try to troubleshoot the problem, it’s crucial to note that the product has some requirements of its own.

The first thing that you need to look out for is that your engine is running. After that, make sure that your vehicle’s gear is set to parking. Finally, you should also have the emergency brakes of your motorhome or RV set. If even one of these criteria is not fulfilled then the leveling system will not move.

In most cases, simply looking out for these three things will fix your problem and the jack should be able to retrace and extend. On the other hand, if you have not used your vehicle in some time and it has been sitting still in the garage, then the leveling system can get locked in its place. This explains the refusal of the levers to move.

Atwood gives an official procedure for solving this condition. It may not work every time, but it’s all you need on certain occasions.

To start troubleshooting, you will have to first shut off the alarm from the control panel. You can then inspect the vehicle to see if the system has gotten stuck at a specific place. Try to manually extend it and then retract the system from its position. You will have to hold the EXT key along with the two keys on each of its sides for the extension, all while the RET and the same two buttons should be held down for the retraction. These should allow the leveling system to come free and start working again.

2. Reset The Device Completely

Another reason why the leveling system can start giving you trouble can be that there is some problem with its configuration. This is uncommon but can be resolved easily by resetting. There is no way to fix these manually which is why the user has to reset the device and bring it back to the default settings.

This will bring your vehicle back to its default position and then turn off the leveling system. You can then configure your settings again and the leveling should now work as intended. The process can be a little complicated but if the user follows it throughout then there should be no problem.

• Disconnect the main power from on the jacks by taking out the socket for it.
• Switch the power on for your control panel and hold RET along the ALL button.
• After all the lights have started blinking, switch off the main power by pressing the ‘ON’ button.
• Now access the nuts on the system’s motor and spin all of them
• Plug the cable back into the jack you had disconnected it from.
• Finally, press the ‘ON’ button again and test all of the jacks one by one. Make sure that all of them are moving separately.
• Hold down both of the ALL and RET buttons to bring the jacks back to their original position.

3. Manually Retract the Device

If none of the steps above work out for you then there might be a problem with your system. The board on your leveleg can get faulty and to fix it, you should contact Atwood directly. They should be able to provide you with a replacement unit or repair your device. Though, people who cannot do this can retract the device manually.

You will have to turn the nuts present on the system 500 times to move the jack-up by one single inch. This can take a lot of time and effort if you do not have access to a drill. However, this is the only way to retract the device if the system is not functioning. If the jacks on your leveler have retracted completely but the control unit won’t close, the best solution is to unplug the jack present on the back of the control unit. You can then drive around and go on trips without the distraction.

Before you leave for any place, however, always keep in mind to visually check all the jacks and make it certain that all of them are placed as per guidelines and the levers or jacks are fully retracted.

How To Prevent Leveleg Damage

Most customers love Atwood products for not running into problems when maintained properly. A great way to prevent your Leveleg from acting up is placing high square blocks (wooden or otherwise) underneath each jack. You can make these blocks 4-5 inches high.

These blocks can be placed under the trailer or RV when parked for a long time and you can occasionally check by moving the jacks up and down.

If you want to make such wood blocks yourself, it’s best to use treated lumber pieces here, then prime it and paint it. Other forms of wood rot pretty fast, especially when they’re in direct contact with the ground for so long.

You can also staple a dryer sheet to the top. This may or may not prevent insects like spiders from crawling up those jacks and into the ring.

Why Are Atwood Levelegs Important?

Having an RV leveling system like Atwood Levelegs is essential for making it certain for some appliances to work efficiently. A leveled trailer also provides more comfort. There are various other ways to ensure your coach or motorhome stays level.

Leveling systems come in different methods of installation and some products are more suited for certain RVs. Some of the basic leveling you can do is use wooden planks, while sophisticated methods include using automatic hydraulic leveling systems. These help you drive a vehicle with trailers easily.

Another reason for keeping the RV at a specific level is to help refrigerators operate normally. If you own a gas absorption fridge, then the device needs to stay at an even surface level for proper functioning. Along with this, the evaporator coils of your fridge may use liquid ammonia for cooling. This ammonia needs to flow properly and produce cooling. Keep the fridge level using the jacks .

Conclusion

And that’s it- this concludes our troubleshooting guide. If you follow the prevention ideas we mentioned along with our troubleshooting guide step-by-step, your lever system will work efficiently again.