HWH Jacks Will Not Retract

rg · 09-27-2007, 05:06 AM

When the jacks a put down 90% of the time they do not retract. I have been working with HWH for a while and have tried releasing the T handle on the valves per their advice. This lets the oil flow and three of the four will sometime retract. It is a pain. I have to carry a leverage stick and block to force the jacks back up. One jack is almost imposible to force back up. HELP any ideas?

rg · 09-27-2007, 05:06 AM

When the jacks a put down 90% of the time they do not retract. I have been working with HWH for a while and have tried releasing the T handle on the valves per their advice. This lets the oil flow and three of the four will sometime retract. It is a pain. I have to carry a leverage stick and block to force the jacks back up. One jack is almost imposible to force back up. HELP any ideas?

RKL2 · 09-27-2007, 05:23 AM

rg...first check to make sure the HWH reservoir is not too full....second clean jack rams and rub WD-40 on the tubes and then put a light coat of Dexron on the tubes and wipe off....then try recycling several times......good luck RKL

"007" · 09-27-2007, 06:32 AM

I had a problem with the front drivers side jack and finally had to replace it. How to replace

The problem is the flat "O" rings in jack if they get a twist in them you will brake your back trying to lift that jack up. Best way I found was use your 8 ton jack and lift axel and put blocks under jack pad and drop axel down and keep adding blocks until jack is up and you can drive coach.
Best thing I use now is spray on silicon and wipe it off will leave a slippery film on jack piston and HWH fluid in jack will relube shaft when piston retracks.

Barney B. · 09-27-2007, 08:06 AM

I have the same problem on the right rear. I've learned to spray the shaft with silicon spray. Even then it can take 10 minutes for full retraction.

David K · 09-27-2007, 08:43 AM

I use silicone spray on my rams. Spray it on and then wipe off with a soft, clean rag. Don't leave a residue on it as that will attract dirt and dust and can "cut" the seals. Also, the O-ring kit to rebuild the silonoids can be purchased directly from HWH. It costs about $10.00 and there is another discussion thread on this forum that shows the replacement of the O-rings.

I had the same problem with a passenger side leveler and sprayed with silicone and worked up and down and now works well -- still takes some time to go back up but, now it is not always the last one up everytime.

Hope this helps.

"007" · 09-27-2007, 11:44 AM

Heres the "O" ring discussion. Replace "O" rings

David K · 09-27-2007, 03:49 PM

"007"

Indulge me for a second -- tell me the procedure for inserting a "link" into the messages. I am glad that you saw my post and inserted the link -- I did not know how to do it -- just knew it was out there.

Roscat · 09-27-2007, 03:56 PM

Had similar problem with my HWH jacks when 2005 coach was new. Tried the wiping of shafts with
lithium greas, adding fluid, but what worked was the new stronger springs they sent to my dealer that gets them up quicker. (For the past year, anyway). I really had to harass HWH and the dealer to work on it.

"007" · 09-27-2007, 04:05 PM

Dave if you have a link just copy and paste in the URL block above. In fact you can do it with any link I have found.

"007" · 09-27-2007, 04:09 PM

New springs will help but have found the silicone works well for my old springs it slicks up the piston so it will slide easier.
Grease or WD-40 will cause piston to stick if all is not wiped off.

rg · 09-28-2007, 04:54 AM

I was promised the springs but never got them. I have used the grease, silicone, and WD 40 before heck the silicone and grease spray cans are in the storage area.

John_Canfield · 09-28-2007, 09:49 AM

Our jacks were slow retracting for the two years we owned our coach and it was extremely frustrating. We went through two sets of springs with Winnebago factory service replacing the springs the second time (I replaced them the first time.)

Spraying something on the shafts would always improve the retraction times, but this was a very short term improvement.

Finally we decided to have HWH in Moscow, Iowa look at our problem and they quickly decided that all four jacks needed to be replaced! The tech told us about the time our coach was built, HWH made a bad run of jacks where the cylinder case was compressing the seal too tightly which caused the slow retraction.

Our jacks now always retract in usually less than a minute!

I was absolutely flabbergasted that we have suffered with this problem for two years and HWH was apparently aware of the jack manufacturing problem and we had to find out by taking our coach to the HWH factory.

Jestme13 · 09-28-2007, 10:19 AM

John, look at all the $$$ they must have saved by being quiet.

Tom-NC · 09-29-2007, 04:32 PM

I have had a problem with my rear jacks and went to HWH where they replaced one jack and told me to spray silicone on shaft and wipe it away fast which I did and haven't had any problem. I also exercise them when unit sits for awhile. I do this while exercising the generator and it seems to help.
You know these units take a beating when sitting idle. Try silicone and exercising them once in awhile and you'll be fine.

NeilV · 09-29-2007, 04:57 PM

I use dry paintable silicone but sparingly so as not to have a buildup. After my first incident I have not had any more. Spray it on and cycle the jacks a few times leaving them extended the last time and polish the exposed cylinders with a cotton cloth.

Jeeperrmartin · 10-10-2007, 05:50 PM

I stopped one time at HWH, and told them I had jack problems. They said which one? I told them to take a pick none worked. They replace with 2 new ones, and 2 rebuilt ones. The guy said he had never seen all of them not work.

The back 2 I had to put air in the suspension then dump it to get them up. He said they never have to do that. Well the next thing he was doing was what I told him.