My camp mode leveling initial review

[Dark-Fx]

While I really appreciate the effort that Rivian is putting in here, I'm going to start off with a warning to other people that might want to play around with it.

*Edit: I did some more testing and updated this.

TL;DR: The truck seems capable of eliminating about 3 degrees of angle regardless of the direction of level. If it's really out of whack, I seemed to get better results starting off in the highest suspension mode. If you're only out level from side to side, it will take up about 5 degrees if you start in highest mode. If you start in lowest, it won't raise the suspension parts up enough. It seems like it might time-out after quite some time.

Warning: After playing with two different situations, the truck locked me out of returning back to normal position due to overheating suspension, and it limits you to 8 mph until it thinks things have cooled down enough to go back to normal. If you plan on going anywhere after leveling the truck, only do it once or your suspension might get stuck like this for a while:

After letting it cool down it's still acting strange. Trying to get it into a third situation seemed to work, but may have been too much for the truck to compensate for. After having to wait even longer for a fourth session, it seems to have stopped even trying to get level (or it could just be a complex situation doesn't work, but I won't retest it for a while)

And to the review...

I wanted to test out the limits of what the truck would be able to correct to. I brought out my digital angle gauge to check. First test was at 10 degrees. Obviously way more than what the truck would be able to compensate for, and it told me right away that it wouldn't be able to. My disappointment was that it wouldn't even let you run the leveling system to get it at least a little better.

I backed up the slope until the truck finally let me try to level it out. The gauge read 3.20. I went forward until it stopped saying I could continue and it read 3.75 degrees. Seems the sweet spot fore/aft is probably around 3.5 on my truck.

Back at 3.2

I ran the leveling process and waited. It took probably a couple minutes. I stayed in the truck, but I'm not sure if you have to, it seems to just pause the process while any doors are open, and continues after.

After it finished, my gauge read 0.35 degrees. This is close enough to level that it probably doesn't matter.

(See the first photo in the thread to see the position of the truck after here. I didn't take a before photo)

Measuring around each corner, the lowest wheel arch, rear passenger, was ~33.25" off the ground. The highest was the front passenger at ~39.75"

I rolled back up my driveway and put the driver's side up on 6" ramps. My driveway has a natural slope of around 1 degree in both directions, so this ends up being a bit over 5 degrees side to side and about a degree to the rear.

And this is where it stopped at.

Still 2.85 degrees out of level side to side. I was surprised it would still let me try to get it level with the end result being this poor.

Here is where the truck locked me out of even being able to exit the level mode. Driving forward left the truck in the same suspension position and got stuck at 8 mph. I thought maybe the truck gave up on trying to get level early, but it seems it didn't.

The driver's side front corner measured out at 32" to the wheel arch.

Rear passenger at 39.5"

After coming back 10 minutes later, the truck would let me begin the process to go back to normal height, but then got stuck at "Drive to finish resetting" and still limited me to 8 mph.

I did a quick loop in my sub and then tried to do a fourth test with a single wheel up on a ramp. It started and then seemed to stop working shortly after. Never received the notification that it was done and was not getting overheating warnings, but the suspension won't make any adjustments and is stuck a little wonky right now. It'll drive around like that at 8 mph until it gets back into a "safe" position.

*Came back later to test out on a flatter section of my driveway, starting in highest suspension mode. This is pretty flat fore/aft, but about 5.80 degrees side to side.

Once leveling mode finished, it was only 0.45 degrees out of level.

I'm a bit more impressed about it now. If you are able to get your truck in a position where it is only out of level side-to-side, and not forwards-backwards and you need a big adjustment, do it, you'll get the most bang for your buck out of it.

Other items about camp mode:

The outlets seem to be limited to a 24 hour timeout. Even if turned on from the energy screen, where you don't get a notification about a timer, it's still limited to 24 hours. I really hope that this is just something they overlooked when they added the feature. I know I'm not the only one that runs a fridge off the 120V in the bed, and having to make sure the truck doesn't turn off the outlets every day is going to be annoying as fuck. If you have the "Stay On" camping mode, the outlets still have a timer.

Display off mode asks you to unlock and hit the brake pedal to wake the displays, before they blank out. I think a lot of people would like to see this be a selectable mode for the truck being woken from sleep instead of waking when unlocked or opened.

I'm sure by now a lot of people have the update, but I'm still willing to try to answer questions if people have them.

Sponsored

 

[SoCal Rob]

Thanks for the detailed write-up! I thought 3 degrees front/rear back in June but better side to side. https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/passenger-side-lower-than-driver-side.5969/post-159070

I wonder how much the max slope it can compensate for changes if you air down the high side tire(s) and then use the auto-level feature. While not as convenient as just tapping a control, airing down and then back up doesn‘t require any extra equipment on a Rivian.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Thanks for the detailed write-up! I thought 3 degrees front/rear back in June but better side to side. https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/passenger-side-lower-than-driver-side.5969/post-159070

I wonder how much the max slope it can compensate for changes if you air down the high side tire(s) and then use the auto-level feature. While not as convenient as just tapping a control, airing down and then back up doesn‘t require any extra equipment on a Rivian.

You could probably get another degree or so, maybe two on AT tires, but that's a good question. I'm doubtful the 22s would make enough of a difference at a pressure that would be okay.

I expected about 5 degrees side to side but if it's not level fore/aft you get significantly less.

Rivian definitely still has some work to do to optimize this. I can't tell for sure, but it feels like they can only do half of the truck at a time instead of any single corner. I think this is just perception because the truck is so rigid. If you air down any single corner, the truck feels more like it moves in a single dimension more than two.

 

[Dark-Fx]

I tried again with just a single corner up, truck was in lowest suspension mode starting off. Didn't get to level before saying it was done. I understand why they tell you to drive around after though, it seemed like the truck couldn't decide how much air to put in each corner. It was level, but felt like it had too much air in opposing corners and was bouncing and diving from the other two corners. A problem I wouldn't have thought of if they don't have pressure sensors in the air bags.

Going to try to level out from high suspension mode in this same instance with just a rear tire up once it has cooled down enough.

 

[SANZC02]

You could probably get another degree or so, maybe two on AT tires, but that's a good question. I'm doubtful the 22s would make enough of a difference at a pressure that would be okay.

I expected about 5 degrees side to side but if it's not level fore/aft you get significantly less.

Rivian definitely still has some work to do to optimize this. I can't tell for sure, but it feels like they can only do half of the truck at a time instead of any single corner.

There is only a .6 inch difference between the sidewalls between the 21 and 22 inch wheels

275/50R22
Diameter : 32.8"
Width : 10.8"
Sidewall : 5.4"
Circum. : 103.1"
Revs/Mile : 615

275/55R21
Diameter : 32.9"
Width : 10.8"
Sidewall : 6.0"
Circum. : 103.3"
Revs/Mile : 613

 

[Dark-Fx]

There is only a .6 inch difference between the sidewalls between the 21 and 22 inch wheels

275/50R22
Diameter : 32.8"
Width : 10.8"
Sidewall : 5.4"
Circum. : 103.1"
Revs/Mile : 615

275/55R21
Diameter : 32.9"
Width : 10.8"
Sidewall : 6.0"
Circum. : 103.3"
Revs/Mile : 613

The AT tires should have another inch over the 21s.

 

[Ash]

It's a shame they didn't add a loading mode while they were at it. Raise the front and lower the back.

 

[mini2nut]

It’s probably in the works.

 

[Dark-Fx]

It's a shame they didn't add a loading mode while they were at it. Raise the front and lower the back.

IMO it takes too long for the adjustments to happen if you start from the lowest suspension mode. The compressor is undersized for this type of work.

 

[cbuckley]

I wonder why we didn’t hear about more suspension heat issues back when the ride height was constantly adjusting. Did the air movement while driving provide enough cooling to prevent that from happening or is this leveling process just more thermogenic?

 

[Ash]

IMO it takes too long for the adjustments to happen if you start from the lowest suspension mode. The compressor is undersized for this type of work.

Nah, it's not so bad, especially if you're only raising the front. I agree the compressor should be rated for a longer duty cycle than it is though.

 

[ssincl3]

While I really appreciate the effort that Rivian is putting in here, I'm going to start off with a warning to other people that might want to play around with it.

*Edit: I did some more testing and updated this.

TL;DR: The truck seems capable of eliminating about 3 degrees of angle regardless of the direction of level. If it's really out of whack, I seemed to get better results starting off in the highest suspension mode. If you're only out level from side to side, it will take up about 5 degrees if you start in highest mode. If you start in lowest, it won't raise the suspension parts up enough. It seems like it might time-out after quite some time.

Warning: After playing with two different situations, the truck locked me out of returning back to normal position due to overheating suspension, and it limits you to 8 mph until it thinks things have cooled down enough to go back to normal. If you plan on going anywhere after leveling the truck, only do it once or your suspension might get stuck like this for a while:

After letting it cool down it's still acting strange. Trying to get it into a third situation seemed to work, but may have been too much for the truck to compensate for. After having to wait even longer for a fourth session, it seems to have stopped even trying to get level (or it could just be a complex situation doesn't work, but I won't retest it for a while)

And to the review...

I wanted to test out the limits of what the truck would be able to correct to. I brought out my digital angle gauge to check. First test was at 10 degrees. Obviously way more than what the truck would be able to compensate for, and it told me right away that it wouldn't be able to. My disappointment was that it wouldn't even let you run the leveling system to get it at least a little better.

I backed up the slope until the truck finally let me try to level it out. The gauge read 3.20. I went forward until it stopped saying I could continue and it read 3.75 degrees. Seems the sweet spot fore/aft is probably around 3.5 on my truck.

Back at 3.2

I ran the leveling process and waited. It took probably a couple minutes. I stayed in the truck, but I'm not sure if you have to, it seems to just pause the process while any doors are open, and continues after.

After it finished, my gauge read 0.35 degrees. This is close enough to level that it probably doesn't matter.

(See the first photo in the thread to see the position of the truck after here. I didn't take a before photo)

Measuring around each corner, the lowest wheel arch, rear passenger, was ~33.25" off the ground. The highest was the front passenger at ~39.75"

I rolled back up my driveway and put the driver's side up on 6" ramps. My driveway has a natural slope of around 1 degree in both directions, so this ends up being a bit over 5 degrees side to side and about a degree to the rear.

And this is where it stopped at.

Still 2.85 degrees out of level side to side. I was surprised it would still let me try to get it level with the end result being this poor.

Here is where the truck locked me out of even being able to exit the level mode. Driving forward left the truck in the same suspension position and got stuck at 8 mph. I thought maybe the truck gave up on trying to get level early, but it seems it didn't.

The driver's side front corner measured out at 32" to the wheel arch.

Rear passenger at 39.5"

After coming back 10 minutes later, the truck would let me begin the process to go back to normal height, but then got stuck at "Drive to finish resetting" and still limited me to 8 mph.

I did a quick loop in my sub and then tried to do a fourth test with a single wheel up on a ramp. It started and then seemed to stop working shortly after. Never received the notification that it was done and was not getting overheating warnings, but the suspension won't make any adjustments and is stuck a little wonky right now. It'll drive around like that at 8 mph until it gets back into a "safe" position.

*Came back later to test out on a flatter section of my driveway, starting in highest suspension mode. This is pretty flat fore/aft, but about 5.80 degrees side to side.

Once leveling mode finished, it was only 0.45 degrees out of level.

I'm a bit more impressed about it now. If you are able to get your truck in a position where it is only out of level side-to-side, and not forwards-backwards and you need a big adjustment, do it, you'll get the most bang for your buck out of it.

Other items about camp mode:

The outlets seem to be limited to a 24 hour timeout. Even if turned on from the energy screen, where you don't get a notification about a timer, it's still limited to 24 hours. I really hope that this is just something they overlooked when they added the feature. I know I'm not the only one that runs a fridge off the 120V in the bed, and having to make sure the truck doesn't turn off the outlets every day is going to be annoying as fuck. If you have the "Stay On" camping mode, the outlets still have a timer.

Display off mode asks you to unlock and hit the brake pedal to wake the displays, before they blank out. I think a lot of people would like to see this be a selectable mode for the truck being woken from sleep instead of waking when unlocked or opened.

I'm sure by now a lot of people have the update, but I'm still willing to try to answer questions if people have them.

Unrelated but I notice you have the aftermarket light bar. I have the same thing. Is yours connected to your hitch 7 pin? Does it trigger tow mode and prevent adaptive cruise? Do you have a work around?

 

[Dark-Fx]

Unrelated but I notice you have the aftermarket light bar. I have the same thing. Is yours connected to your hitch 7 pin? Does it trigger tow mode and prevent adaptive cruise? Do you have a work around?

Hey, I wrote a quick thing about it here:
https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...-blocking-brake-lights-chmsl.5014/post-171200

I still have my original wiring going up into the space from the trailer hitch area but it's not being used by anything.

 

[Mark’s RT-1]

Leveling last night worked great! Took about 2 minutes however.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Leveling last night worked great! Took about 2 minutes however.

I've been just getting out and getting my tent ready. It levels just fine without anyone in the truck, it just pauses if a door is opened.

Sponsored