Leveling jacks taking forever!

[jauguston]

Mary,

There is a good chance that for the price of a spray can of silicone and the inconvenience of laying on your back to reach under your coach with the jacks down to spray the rams they will start retracting better. It may take several applications to see improvement.

The other thing that can help is replacing the springs. The better/stronger springs can be identified by looking at the ends of the springs. The newer good ones have a tapered/bee hive shape end. If yours are not like that get a set of the newer style ones.

[Alan Wilson]

Originally Posted by jauguston

Mary, There is a good chance that for the price of a spray can of silicone and the inconvenience of laying on your back to reach under your coach with the jacks down to spray the rams they will start retracting better. It may take several applications to see improvement. The other thing that can help is replacing the springs. The better/stronger springs can be identified by looking at the ends of the springs. The newer good ones have a tapered/bee hive shape end. If yours are not like that get a set of the newer style ones.

I agree. Like I was told, that stuff is like magic in can.

Alan

[jerichorick]

Please see my thread called

"CRC Power Lube Industrial High Performance Lubricant with PTFE".

It is on this very subject.

[vapor3000]

Originally Posted by maryinreddin

We have a 2005 Winnebago Journey 39F. Our jacks are painfully slow. The rears will go up at a good pace but the front ones are terrible. Sometimes the front passenger can take 30-45 minutes. Sometimes it stops altogether and you have to put it all the way back down and start all over. It became so annoying we dreaded having to level the coach at all. When we returned from our last trip we took it in to our local shop and told them to please check it out. They said that they were replacing a switch to see if that helps. If not, then we will try some of your suggestions. We never thought of lubricating them.

Do you have a HWH 325 jack system?

[maryinreddin]

I am not sure what a HWH 325 jack system is. It does not say on our build sheet. Where could we find that info for our coach?

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by maryinreddin

I am not sure what a HWH 325 jack system is. It does not say on our build sheet. Where could we find that info for our coach?

http://www.hwh.com/ml40256.pdf

[jerichorick]

A sticking shuttle valve will prevent the jacks from coming up. Are your jacks a bit better after a wd-40 wash?

[vapor3000]

Originally Posted by maryinreddin

I am not sure what a HWH 325 jack system is. It does not say on our build sheet. Where could we find that info for our coach?

Turn your jack system hyd pump on. Go to the area of the coach where you hear the pump noise. The mfg of the jack system will be identified there. Use the link previously posted to identify your control pad on the dash.

[maryinreddin]

It is the 325 with dump system. We have identified it with your guide..very helpful, thank you.

[vapor3000]

Originally Posted by maryinreddin

It is the 325 with dump system. We have identified it with your guide..very helpful, thank you.

Suggest you contact Chuck Stuart who owns Stuart's Service at 574-262-0225 and review your problem with him. He knows more about HWH systems than HWH does and he is a very helpful person.

There is a good chance that he will suspect the shuttle valve ($75.00) as your problem as an earlier post indicated. He will probably ask you to run certain tests which I am unsure if you are in the position to do. He can provide any HWH parts you need and will ship with outstanding customer service.

One thing I strongly recommend that you DO NOT do is recycle your jacks multiple times to get your jacks up. This overheats the solenoid valves ($185.00 ea!!) and there are four of them for the jacks. After replacing all four of mine, I never engergize these valves for more than 6 minutes without allowing 30 minutes of cool off time. Since I installed the new shuttle valve, I don't exceed my 6 minute limit. Winnebago does not warn owners about this nor does HWH until they sell you new valves.

Send me a pm with your email address and I'll send you a HWH 325 service manual that may help you further.

[inspector8]

Originally Posted by steved44

The springs get weak, and cold fluid doesn't help any. We wipe ours down with silicone spray too and that helps a lot. We did have two new springs put on our front jacks last year and it made all the difference in the world.

I replaced two springs myself when my LR was slow/ not retracting. I used clothes pins to remove springs by extending jack all the way and putting clothes pins on coils. I used a long heavy Snap On screwdriver to install new springs. Then I wished I had used screwdriver to remove springs too. This is because to remove the clothes pins I had to individually pry open coils of spring with expanding snap ring tool, almost half hour or more. Could have thrown away clothes pins with the springs, but just too frugal.

[jerichorick]

The clothes pins is a great idea. If the jack were forced into the retraction position and this idea were used on the old and new springs it would be even better.

I can picture putting the pins in the old spring extended and then jacking it up manually. The springs would fall out just about at some point. Pin the new springs and insert them with little effort then extend the jack and the pins will fall out I think.

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by jerichorick

The clothes pins is a great idea. If the jack were forced into the retraction position and this idea were used on the old and new springs it would be even better.

I can picture putting the pins in the old spring extended and then jacking it up manually. The springs would fall out just about at some point. Pin the new springs and insert them with little effort then extend the jack and the pins will fall out I think.

that is pretty much how i did mine.
one of my old springs was broken. the opposite spring fell off.
i used a come along across my garage door tracks to extend the new springs to install the cloth pins.
ims it took about 100 cloths pin halves total.
after installing both springs i extended the jack hydraulically and the pins fell out.

[maryinreddin]

Finally got our mh back today. It took this long to fix because of the weather back east and the shipping problems. The solenoid switch in the right front leveler wad bad so they replaced that and now they all go up or down in that 6 minute window. definitely made us happy campers.

[jerichorick]

[maryinreddin]

which crc formula should I get? I see on amazon they have it in a red can and a green can. which is best?

[inspector8]

Originally Posted by maryinreddin

which crc formula should I get? I see on amazon they have it in a red can and a green can. which is best?

I bought my red can of CRC silicone at Autozone. However as a Navy Veteran Aviation Hydraulic specialist. I suggest you replace your springs if your jacks are slow to retract. I replaced my springs and went from no retracting to retracting in under two minutes. If you must use a lubricant (wipe it off) use the MTH suggested WD-40 or the fluid used in your leveling system.

I'll use silicone on my hinges, seals etc. not on the jacks.

[jerichorick]

Originally Posted by maryinreddin

which crc formula should I get? I see on amazon they have it in a red can and a green can. which is best?

I use the green can that has "PTFE" in it (Teflon). I learned of this stuff on this forum. It works great for slide rack and gear lubrication, awning track and squeaky hinges. I tried it on my jack and I loved the results. It jacks still need to be cleaned from time to time with WD-40 and the PTFE reapplied, but the time between cleanings is longer and the retract time is improved (for me in any case). My jacks retract in under 2 minutes.

Do a web search and see if you can find a better price with shipping included. Specials are often out in the cyber world.

Rick

[bonfield]

I have a 2002 adventurer with hwh jacks model 310 .What length spring do i need . i have measured them and they are 12 inch but may be stretched.the most common ones i see are 10 inch.Any suggestions

[michealwhela]

My 2003 Adventurer had that problem with the left front. Investigation indicated the springs were weak. I ordered a new pair and 15 minutes work under the coach and they come back to the park position as designed. All of mine come up in about a minute, maybe even less. Of course it is hot up hear right now so maybe the fluid flows better.