Hydrolic Leveling

Hi All,Has anyone had a leveling system fitted to a Corinium Duo recently.All the usual questions,any good,who fitted,cost,is it worth the effort? and anything else you can think of.Thank you for your help and advise.

Have made do with leveling blocks for over 20 years but then being Devonians find anything horizontal a bit odd. Taunton of course is on the edge of the Somerset levels  that might explain your concers.
 Most CCC and CMH sites reasonably level. Non club sites less concerned  where you pitch and find parking across slope often enough
,Loss of 35 kg payload,  If site too sloped prefer to spend on fuel and find site that suits. each to their own.

Ordered yesterday for my Burford. For me it’s two things I am after, levelling being the obvious but mainly stopping the movement when walking around. Even with the rear legs down you can still feel someone using the van. 

As for weight you no longer need your ramps and could remove jack (which is a chunk of metal in the Sprinter) so it’s not the full weight of the system.  

Guess I’ll be able to tell after Oct install if it was worth it.

Threads like this that cover hydraulic levellers often become a justification for having them or not as the case may be, which I think is generally understood.  What would be more useful is to know the make of leveller (there are at least four - E&P, MA-VE, AMPLO and HPC) that some members have, why they chose that make over others, where and when it was fitted, the location of the hydraulic pump on their specific Auto-Sleepers model and any tips or advice they have about the installation.

I had the E & P system fitted to my Broadway. It worked fine, but a point worth noting is that the standard boxer chassis sits quite high so a lot of the Jack length is used up just getting down to the ground.  The Alko chassis on AS models probably benefits more from hydraulic levelling. 
Another point to note is, when  using in auto mode more jack length is used compared to levelling in manual mode.
It's also claimed that in the event of a system failure the jacks can be retracted manually from the location of the pump box. Fine if you can access the pump from a locker. Not so handy or safe if you need to access the pump from under the vehicle.

Flyingv58 wrote:I had the E & P system fitted to my Broadway. It worked fine, but a point worth noting is that the standard boxer chassis sits quite high so a lot of the Jack length is used up just getting down to the ground.  The Alko chassis on AS models probably benefits more from hydraulic levelling. 
Another point to note is, when  using in auto mode more jack length is used compared to levelling in manual mode.
It's also claimed that in the event of a system failure the jacks can be retracted manually from the location of the pump box. Fine if you can access the pump from a locker. Not so handy or safe if you need to access the pump from under the vehicle.

Thanks - where did they mount your pump?  Is it possible to mount it in the skirt/wet locker which is pretty close to the vehicle battery?

The pump was fitted beside the rear facing side of the fresh water tank. It's enclosed in a metal case that is removed by unscrewing 4 Allen bolts. A tight squeeze to get at if the van isn't jacked up. It may well be possible to mount the pump, minus the cover, in the wet locker. I can't measure this for you as I've recently sold the van. I believe if you're willing to sacrifice locker space then they will install the pump wherever you want. It doesn't need to be near the battery.

I would always want to be able to access the pump for maintenance and emergency use without crawling under the van which may not be safe with the feet down.  I wouldn't want to lose any above floor storage space, so that only leaves the skirt/wet locker.  Have any members used their skirt/wet locker for the pump?

Big bit in the Erwin Hymer Centre insert with the September MMM on leveling systems and fitters
frederic

I had mine (HPC) fitted onto the chassis rails, there’s no room in the wet locker..
Re: justifying self levelling….it’s a personal choice, I’m not sure that anyone can be convinced it’s a good thing because others say it is.
My view is that you either accept its benefits or not, it’s very true that it’s not really value for money in a real way but if you can afford it, it has its advantages.

Ray

Libraryman2 wrote:I had mine (HPC) fitted onto the chassis rails, there’s no room in the wet locker..
Re: justifying self levelling….it’s a personal choice, I’m not sure that anyone can be convinced it’s a good thing because others say it is.
My view is that you either accept its benefits or not, it’s very true that it’s not really value for money in a real way but if you can afford it, it has its advantages.

Ray

Thanks Ray.  I can see that the HPC has a hand pump and buttons to open and close the valves if there is an electrical fault.  When the unit is mounted under the van and noting your's is an Al-Ko chassis, how difficult or easy is it to access these controls?

Sorry for the late reply, we’ve been travelling for a couple of days!

It’s easy to access, the pic shows my fitting.

Libraryman2 wrote:Sorry for the late reply, we’ve been travelling for a couple of days!

It’s easy to access, the pic shows my fitting.

Thanks Ray.  How easy is it to operate the hand pump or top up the oil?  It doesn't look easy from the photo but it might be misleading.  I have confirmed that the HPC pump unit is 26 cm high which is 2 cm more than the height of the wet locker.  The HPC pump unit appears to be higher but shorter than some other units.

Yes I guess it is misleading but you can’t see that the handle is fitted into its holder, I’ve operated the pump just to check the I could….
Having said that, you don’t have to fit it where mine is, there’s plenty of room under there, and you could ask the fitter to ensure that you have access…there’s also an oval hole in the chassis Cross member that you can easily get your hand into…

For some; I guess this is not pucker….it’s a matter of personal preference, personally I don’t see the pump as anything other than an emergency and of course you want to be able to access it in such a circumstance, I believe I can access mine ……but in any emergency situation things are never as easy as they could or should be.

I have a Dutch friend who lost his legs, his pump is also under the chassis, he’s never worried about it, who am I to argue it’s wrong.

Ray

It's probably an odds game too.  In the 3+ years mine has been installed I've needed to access the pump precisely zero times.

I suppose if you couldn't get one or more of the feet up and didn't want to climb under the van to try and resolve it, you could call out emergency breakdown services just as many do if they have a flat tyre and don't want to change the wheel themselves.  From an installation and space saving point of view I can see the merits of mounting the pump below the floor.  If the pump is small enough to fit into the wet locker I am starting to have my doubts that that is the best place for it.  As the name suggests the locker is not dry and its strength would be compromised by the numerous holes that would have to be drilled in it.

A friend has an Adria, he had hydraulic jacks fitted because of the fridge/freezer needs to be level to work properly, and he could not always get it to work, with ramps, the jacks sorted all the problems.

Well there is plenty of choice - at least 5 hydraulic systems including the Al-Ko HY-4 - albeit there are currently some supply chain issues.  I am told the MA-VE is particularly hard to source at the moment.  They all do it slightly differently with the price ranging from £4,750 to £6,000 or thereabouts which for most is the main issue.

We have E&P on our Burford.  Fitted by Specialist Automotive Product just outside Doncaster in 2016.
Primary reasons for installing:
- When walking around the van the front suspension doesn't move and I don't wake my wife because there isn't any suspension movement. I'm up at 06:15 and my wife doesn't do before 08:00 and wow-betide me if I cause her to wake before then   
- The fridge works and the door closes under its own steam.  The fridge only needs to be a few degrees off vertical for the door not to close and not much more than that for the gas mode to fail.
- The Burford manual legs are a long way from the side of the van and almost impossible to deploy without kneeling down.
 
Secondary reasons:
- Removes the load from the tyres when stored so less of a tendency to be driving on a threepenny-bit.  I know motorhome spec tyres don't suffer from this very much BUT)
- E&P because it was the only one that linked to the VB-Air (at the time).
- The level system could cope with greater slope angles that the legs.
 
Pump is installed in the skirt locker behind the passenger door with easy access for the manual override (not that I've even has to use it) and servicing.
After removing the manual legs and the bottle jack the nett weight gain was 32Kg. 
 
From my perspective, worth every hard earnt £.
If I every swap our van I'd fit them again!

Molly Motorhome wrote:We have E&P on our Burford.  Fitted by Specialist Automotive Product just outside Doncaster in 2016.
....
Pump is installed in the skirt locker behind the passenger door with easy access for the manual override (not that I've even has to use it) and servicing.
.......

I have read favourable reports about SAP.  As covered in other threads the bottom of the skirt locker is prone to being damp.  Is this the case with yours and is it a problem?  Are you able to store anything in the locker with the pump?

I can’t see a problem with damp in any situation…as long as there’s air flow…..nothing is more prone to damp than mine; under the chassis, however I have tried to mitigate the problem by attaching curtains where water might get in!
These pumps are pretty well engineered!

Ray

Unlike the MA-VE, AMPLO and HPC systems the E&P appears not to have a hand pump but instead has a socket to take a rechargeable power driver or drill.  This seems fine if at home but does it mean that E&P users take a rechargeable power driver or drill with them on trips?

Libraryman2 wrote:I had mine (HPC) fitted onto the chassis rails, there’s no room in the wet locker..
Re: justifying self levelling….it’s a personal choice, I’m not sure that anyone can be convinced it’s a good thing because others say it is.
My view is that you either accept its benefits or not, it’s very true that it’s not really value for money in a real way but if you can afford it, it has its advantages.

Ray

Hi Ray

Was it fitted locally ?

What sort of cost ?

Terry

Hi Terry, I had mine fitted by LNB towbars in Bristol, I managed to knock them down to £4900:00: 

It’s O.k, everyone else charged £5000 + and my system is fine.

Ray

LNB has just quoted me £5,500 + £150 for a pump box to conceal the HPC pump beneath the motorhome - it being too high to go in the wet locker.