to the pit supported portion 21 to where the deck supporting portion 22 supports the deck 5 in a position level with the surrounding dock floor 2 the fastening system 32 is then tightened to keep the pit supported portion 21 and the deck supporting portion 22 from moving relative to each other the pit supported portion 21 and deck supporting portion 22 may then be welded or otherwise fixed to each other in short there are at least two primary ways of installing a dock leveler in accordance with the invention either starting with a deck 5 level with the surrounding dock floor 2 and adjusting the pit supported portion 21 to rest on the dock floor or start with the pit supported portion 21 resting on the pit floor 9 and adjusting the deck 5 and deck supporting portion 22 to move cause the deck 5 to be level with the surrounding dock floor 2 fig7 13 show alternative embodiments of the invention having a lip keeper 24 integrated with a lip keeper frame 42 the lip keeper frame 24 includes slots 30 in some embodiments of the invention the lip keeper frame 42 further includes a notch 44 that fits into a corresponding notch 46 in a perpendicular member 26 as shown in fig1 13 in fig7 13 the lip keeper 24 may be of various geometry which in some embodiments as shown in fig9 may include a hook 40 the hook 40 helps to hold a plate 41 welded to the hook 40 as shown in fig1 one feature of the embodiments shown in fig7 13 is that by having two slots 30 with two fastening systems 32 the lip keeper frame 42 can be skewed.