BAL Leveler

[Old Granddad]

Makes me wonder, too, if the screw jack part of it is slightly bent.  That'd make it pretty tough to crank up.  Mine isn't all that easy, but I have a slightly heavier trailer than the Cheyenne.  I use the furnished ratchet, too.  Maybe a longer handled socket wrench would help?

And within limits, such as wheel bearings, there's no grease like mo' grease. 

 

[freenaz]

I'm considering buying one soon but was wondering if there is a problem with it sinking if the ground is soft?

[austinado16]

Yes, there can be.  The remedy is to cut a piece of plywood just slightly larger than the BAL, give it some love with your choice of spar varnish, etc. and then in soft ground situations, you'll put that down, push the camper onto it, and then slide the BAL in around the wheel.....on top of the plywood.  I'd guess some 3/4" thick or 1" thick would be plenty strong and you can find precut scraps of it at Home Deep Hole and Low's.

[Brian]

Here is my update on my first camping trip with the Bal Leveler. Over all I loved it!!

It was easy to slip under the Plantation's 13" tire and I gave it a few twists and let DS98 do the rest and it was pretty easy. The Plantation is a relatively heavy camper and I was expecting some resistance and I got a little but overall easy work for a 51 year old man and a 14 y/o boy.

I really liked being able to get the camper completely level and I was pleasantly surprised at how stable the camper felt.

It was money well spent and I wish I had bought it sooner.

Brian

[Oz and Us]

I use the furnished ratchet, too.  Maybe a longer handled socket wrench would help?

If you're not going to use some sort of powered assist such as a cordless drill to raise / lower your BAL leveler then extending the length of the supplied BAL wrench will significantly reduce the amount of effort required to turn the wrench as you're in effect creating a breaker bar.  The longer it is the less will be the effort required to turn it ... that said, I made mine long enough to make a difference but short enough to fit in the box I wanted to store it in.

[luv2campsum]

I use the furnished ratchet, too.  Maybe a longer handled socket wrench would help?

If you're not going to use some sort of powered assist such as a cordless drill to raise / lower your BAL leveler then extending the length of the supplied BAL wrench will significantly reduce the amount of effort required to turn the wrench as you're in effect creating a breaker bar.  The longer it is the less will be the effort required to turn it ... that said, I made mine long enough to make a difference but short enough to fit in the box I wanted to store it in.

Good idea.  Cant really tell from your pics/description on exactly how you did this.  Could use more pics and say where and how you got/mounted handle.  Did you have to drill holes in wrench.  Pics of the other side may have helped.
What exactly did you put into the small wrench opening, if anything, cant tell.

[austinado16]

Here is my update on my first camping trip with the Bal Leveler. Over all I loved it!!

It was easy to slip under the Plantation's 13" tire and I gave it a few twists and let DS98 do the rest and it was pretty easy. The Plantation is a relatively heavy camper and I was expecting some resistance and I got a little but overall easy work for a 51 year old man and a 14 y/o boy.

I really liked being able to get the camper completely level and I was pleasantly surprised at how stable the camper felt.

It was money well spent and I wish I had bought it sooner.

Brian

Glad you liked it Brian.  I figured you might.

[Brian]

^^Thanks!!, your recommendation was one of the main reasons I pulled the trigger.

It really was clear tho that the ability to get the camper "dead level" side to side, instead of just most of the bubble between the lines, makes the canvas go in the door channel easier and the fact that the leveler holds that side tire much more securely than a block of wood or a brick makes the camper more stable.

Those would have also been benefits had the site been dead level to start with, which it almost was. I now see how it would have been better all the way along.

I had to use it on the door side wheel which is right in front of the door and when I first pulled it out of the bag, DW thought it might stick out too much and be a tripping hazard, but after we leveled the camper and put the wrench back in the bag the unit was pretty well contained in the wheel well area and was no problem for the 3 day trip.

Really great product, IMO

Brian

[Oz and Us]

Cant really tell from your pics/description on exactly how you did this.

Pretty simple ... as you may know the supplied BAL wrench isn't anything special but rather is just a common double ended ratchet wrench.  I cut a piece of scrap flat metal about 1/8" thick to about a foot long, drilled two holes in it, and bolted it to the wrench.  Referring to this pic ...



One hole was drilled in the metal stock so it would line up with the wrench's ratchet end that isn't used (on the right in the pic), ran a bolt with a couple of washers through the hole and secured it with a nyloc nut, drilled a second hole in the metal stock & through the wrench itself and secured the two together with another bolt, washer, nyloc nut combination (just left of centre in the pic).  I filed the sharp corners of the handle created and added a length of shrink wrap tubing to soften the grip - done.  If I had made the handle even longer it would have reduced the effort required to turn the BAL leveler drive screw even more but settled on this particular length because I wanted to store the wrench in a storage box I had mounted on the trailer tongue that also housed my Fresh Water Transfer Pump.

[luv2campsum]

Thanks for the info.  Must make it really easy to jack up now.

[mstrbill]

It really was clear tho that the ability to get the camper "dead level" side to side

Actually, the ability to not get the camper "dead level" is what makes the BAL valuable to those of that have sagging ABS roofs. The AC condensate pools in the middle of the roof and eventually runs off, usually over the door. The BAL made it really easy to make it run off the other side.

[generalbeluga]

All of this talk about hand cranking is nice but, nothing beats putting the socket on the top of the BAL Leveler and pulling the trigger on my Ryobi cordless Hammer Drill.  In 5 seconds the trailer is level and I can hold a class of wine in my other hand at the same time without spilling a drop...what's it worth??! 

Lazy John

[austinado16]

^^LOL^^  A truely refined camper.  Love it.

[bfmoon]

got my BAL today! $45 well spent! I didn't even try to ask him to take less. We actually live about an hour away and he met us halfway! woot! got it in use already! The guy only used it like 3 times!

After some 'discussion' with DH about how it works... The process of lifting the PUP up and taking the blocks out, then lowering, then raising with the BAL didn't go quite as it should have. We forgot to put the stabilizers up so they were actually supporting the PUP with the wheel off the ground for a minute. I tried telling DH we needed to put the jack back in and raising so I could put the stabs up and he said it would be fine.....

After putting the BAL on and getting it to the tire, we had to put the stabs up anyway because we could not level correctly with the stabs where they were from the wood blocks... grr men! lol 

[Wintrmte]

Rather than start a new thread, thought I would ask in this one --

We got a BAL Leveler a couple weeks ago and I noticed that the screw / auger mechanism doesn't quite go into the hole with all the grease in it (the hold on the bottom plate).  Does it move in there the higher it gets, or am I doing something wrong?

It seems like when I get mine under our tire and start wrenching on it, the screw part is just outside the hole.