Ordered Bigfoot Automatic Leveling System for my Wayfarer

Okay. I finally caved. After being too jealous of the new 2019 Tiffin Wayfarers having this as an option I bit the bullet and ordered an auto leveling kit. Was pleasantly surprised with the discount for the fully automatic system. For Tiffin Wayfarers they have to ship longer bolts than for some of their other Sprinter chassis based systems. Now I get to wait for delivery and then to try to perform the install myself. Fingers crossed!

Best,
-Mark
 
Just finished my install. Took me two weekends. Here is a summary of each weekend...

I am impressed by what I received from Quadra Manufacturing. I was able to install all four Bigfoot jacks this weekend, but still have more work to go.

The hardest part was removing 2 of the four bolts that Tiffin uses on each side to add the chassis frame extension to the back of the RV. The bolts are installed such that they are inserted from the outside and the nuts are threaded on and tightened on the inside. You can easily remove the nuts, but then the bolts cannot be slid out as the generator is up against them on the passenger side and a storage bay box blocks the driver side. Had to use a sawzall with a carbide metal blade to cut off the bolt heads so I could pull the shafts inward and out of the holes. Pulling out the cut off bolt shafts also being a pain. Then I had to use a grinder with a cutoff disk to cut down the excess threads which were protruding from the other chassis extension bolts. This took more than half my time Saturday. Adding the two rear jacks and crossbar was very easy compared to the prep work. I did one side at a time. Was easy to line up the jacks as either the holes line up or they don't. I packed it in late Saturday afternoon. 5 hours... I'd say a third of my time was crawling around as I was doing in my driveway, using the angle of the entrance from the curb and sidewalk to lift the back end up vs using jacks or ramps. Call me paranoid... That said I was able to sit upright under the rear as I worked.

Sunday ended up being about removing my Equalizer stabilizer jacks and installing the front hydraulic jacks. This time I used the street gutter as my access under the vehicle given my lack of trust in jacks or ramps when under a vehicle. The electric stabilizers I removed were heavier than I imagined so I used a jack to keep them in place while removing all the bolts that mated them to the chassis frame rails. They are sitting in the garage and I'll get around to weighing them later.

Installing the front jacks took me the rest of Sunday. I used the supplied template, took the leap of faith, and drilled the two holes in the floorboard on each side. No going back now. These hold the jacks up against the frame while driving down the road. Trying to ensure the jacks were mounted level was a challenge given the vehicle was at an angle. I had to use a crowbar a few times to line things up as bolts were tightened. I then torqued them all to spec, which is straight forward but a pain while laying on your back with minimal clearance.

I then planned out where to put the tank and pump unit. On my vehicle on the driver side chassis rail mid coach ahead of the differential seems like the only place that would work with the supplied install bracket. After 7 hours on Sunday I packed it in...

Next weekend comes me mounting the tank, hydraulic and electrical lines, installing the control panel, wiring it up, flushing the lines, and testing the system. I'll keep you posted ..

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And the install is completed! Spent this weekend hanging the central pump housing, running hydraulic and electrical, hooking it all up, mounting my control unit and panel, flushing air out of the lines, and calibrating what "level" is. I must have gone through 30 to 40 zip ties. ;) If the main power cable had been two inches shorter I would have hated life though as I hate spices or extensions of power cables carrying that much juice. Good news is it was exactly the perfect length.

All and all I'm impressed. Works great and rig is back in storage. If you can turn a wrench and do simple electrical you can install yourself if you don't mind spending two weekends crawling around on your back and skinning a knuckle or two.

While I was under the rig and already having to route wires to my entry cabinet wall I added a switch in parallel to my screen door closed detection circuit. Now I can lie to the coach and tell it the door is closed even when opened if I ever want to prevent the steps from going out.

Best,
-Mark
 

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