Our 2004 Starcraft Centennial has 14" tires. We were able to purchase a bal leveler used locally. They are supposed to fit most 13, 14 & 15" tires. We felt we were safe with having 14" tires, but when we got to the CG, we could not get it to go around the tire. Anyone else have this problem and/or any suggestions?
We usually only need a hair of adjustment and felt the leveler would be perfect.
One problem might be low tire pressure, I've noticed when it's just a few #'s off it's a little harder to slide around the sides.
Unless we lost pressure in route, we checked the pressure before we left. We check pressure before every trip and we have not lost any pressure since we have had the camper
I have the same problem, I am willing to bet that you have Goodyear Marathon tires on the trailer, right? The Duro that are standard on Colemans (Fleetwood FT) work better. As for suggestions, I lift the tire off the ground, place the leveler, lower and adjust...not the best solution, but it works.
If anyone has a better idea...we are listening.
Something else I do is drive the low side tire onto a piece of 1/2" X 24" X 15" plywood and then slide the Bal around the tire keeping the Bal cleaner and making it easier to slide on. I have the Duro tires.
I've heard of people driving onto a piece of wood first (just big enough for the tire to sit on), then sliding the Bal in. Seems to me, if you have to go through all of that, you might as well use wood or lynx levelers to level the camper. JMHO, but then again, I can't use a Bal leveler because I have dual axles... :(
I carry one lynx leveler around for just this problem. When we get to the CG. I just put the low-side tire on the lynx and slip the BAL around the tire. Pretty painless.
Only have this problem if the tire is sinking into the ground. I have found, that by placing a small 1/2 inch thick plywood under the tire and then using the BAL I get better results
People generally spend about 60 bucks on a Bal to get away from carrying wood or other leveling devices, yet after spending the money, they still end up carrying good old fashion wood planks to make the thing work. If you have to fool around with wood at all, what's the difference if you just level with the wood blocks to begin with? Why not save yourself the money? I'm not completely convinced that a Bal is such a great device, but that is just my opinion, and this right here is the reason why.
My advice, sell the Bal to the first person that comes along and start carrying wood blocks, it's much easier, and cheaper. With all the threads I read about storage issue's, grease all over the place and a few "screw" issue's, my wood blocks are looking better and better. No grease, they stack neatly in little nooks and cranies, and they don't fail under load.
Bear, if you'd experience the difference between a trailer up on blocks and one chocked with BALs you'd understand why so many people love them.
It's not only a leveler but a world class wheel chock as well.
It takes away that motion you get from even the best regular chocked trailers and there's no need to rechock after a day or two of folks entering and leaving the trailer.
I love my BAL!! Best thing ever invented ~ especially if you have to level the trailer all by yourself like I do. I get stressed enough backing the PU into a site without worrying about how much wood to haul out to level the thing!
I keep a 10"-square piece of plywood for the situation Nancy describes. Get the tire up off the ground just a bit and the leveler slides right in. It's a lot easier, IMHO, to use one piece of wood and then crank the leveler up than to try and figure out how many Lynx blocks or wooden blocks you need to get level.
And I agree with Mike4947 ~ I was absolutely amazed at how stable the trailer is with the BAL.
Ok, question for all you BAL users.
On my PU, the tires are 'behind' the frame rail, in addition, on the curb side there is a 2-3" metal skirt that extends below the frame making the tires virtually inaccessible.
My guess is that I won't be able to use the BAL, but does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on this?
Quote from: MartoriousOk, question for all you BAL users.
On my PU, the tires are 'behind' the frame rail, in addition, on the curb side there is a 2-3" metal skirt that extends below the frame making the tires virtually inaccessible.
My guess is that I won't be able to use the BAL, but does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on this?
My guess is that you could use one ... the BAL doesn't ride that high on the tires. Just slides in and pretty much cradles the tire. Somebody else could probably tell you how far up the tire it goes ~ best guess from memory is a couple inches. If you measure how far from the ground that skirt starts someone could tell you whether or not a BAL would fit in under it.
Here's a LINK to their website ~ there's a good picture of how it looks 'in action'!
I too like my BAL leveler. The only time I had problems with it was when the ground was real rocky and it wouldn't slide under until I removed a few rocks. It keeps the trailer much more stabilized, lets me park and then level (which I do alone often) and I keep it in a wood box I had made and don't have any problem with the grease. :)