Leveling 3326 door jam problems

Got very little help from the factory on this.

I have a 2006 3326. I have always had problems with the left door jam going into its clip with the trailer level. I generally have to add 7 turns to curbside rear leveler to get it to engage properly.

One tip I got from another owner is to put some levels on the rear of the trailer to make sure the rear is level. His comment was that on these bigger trailers the rear may sag down.

That sounds quite logical and I plan to test that out. One of the things I would like to know is how do I determine the rear is level?

I am thinking about putting one of my carpenter's level on the rear and jacking it up until level. Then opening the trailer to see if its level and door latches engage. After that I can put the Hobby level on the beams.

Anyone else have similar problems?

I have a 2008 3326 unit and occasisonally have had similar problems with the door - as well as not being able to keep the door shut (even had to use the dead bolt). However, I discovered that leveling the front and the back of the unit is very important. I use bubble levels on both the front and back. I adjust the unit and my DW tells me when it is level. I make a couple of trips around the unit until I am satisfied. And the door works great...

Hi ng2951,

I fixed my door alignment problem while replacing the upper door due too rot, I'm sure it was addressed before my time and what I found was the pocket stop bolts and arm height adjustment fixed the door alignment pins on mine.

Mine is open and I'll check the rear side to side level vise front side to side and see if there is any difference? I hope not.

The door alignment has stayed perfect since so maybe this will help.

I did read a note on another problem or fix that the hose clamp that is on the end of the torsion bars need to stay put or the bar slides out??? It could happen but not an every day event, but worth taking a look to see.

Good Luck

Thanks everyone.

You are telling me what I have suspected. What I am trying to do is figure out when I have the rear of the trailer level. I have to determine when the rear is level so that when I attach the permanent levels I know the trailer is level.

Just two weeks ago I ran into the problem you described with the door jam. We have had the 3326 for a year and this is the first time that we had the problem. What was different about this campsite is that it was very un-level from both front to back and from side to side. I eventually was able to get it jacked up so I could get the door jam to set into the clips. Next time I will put levelers under the two tires and the jacks on the low side. My theory is that by having the tires support more of the weight you will have less “buckling” in the center that can affect the fit of the door jam into the clips.

[Mr. Adventure]

Every RV I have owned had an amount of flex that surprised me, but especially the trailers. Levels on the floor give different results than levels on the bumper, the frame, the kitchen counter, glued to the sides, or the tongue. Some of this is due to "field tolerances" as they say in the homebuilding business, but lots of it is because of flex in the frame as it is supported in different configurations.

In particular, a trailer on the road has 85 or 90 percent of its weight on the axle. If you think of the frame as a beam, the jacks fore and aft provide support exactly opposite from the axle. With the level confusion I mentioned, most of the time there's probably a bit of twist as well by the time you have it done.

My long time practice has been to pull the trailer wheels up onto leveling blocks to get it close, not only to make the jacks easier, but also to have the trailer more "normally" supported once set up. And yes, once in awhile it takes some adjustment to make the door fit better.

Well I did some very exacting leveling on a concrete slab and learned a few things about leveling the larger trailers.

First off the levels at the front of the trailer do not work real well on such a large trailer. The trailer flexes along its axises.

What I determined is that loading on the jacks needs to be somewhat equalized. All the jacks need to bear some part of the load. That is the goal by the end of leveling.

With the jacks up, us the tongue jack to level the trailer front to back. Check the torsion level and determine whether the curb or street jack need more turns on them.

Put the rear jacks down with more load on the side needing to raised more. Put the front jacks down, again with more load on the side needing to be raised.

Check the levels and repeat. Put the emphasis on the rear jacks.

I got on a crawler and check the level along the rear support beams. I found that when level there was about 1/2 bubble or less level towards the front of the trailer. Torsion level was dead on.

The door jams engaged perfectly.

Later I plan to put some levels on the rear of the trailer.

[jquarles]

This is great information. Thank you. I am picking up my 3326 this weekend. This will help me learn how to do this.