Hydraulic Leveling Jacks stick on Adventurer

[azpete]

he should look horrified. he didnt know that hwh only recommends using wd40 for cleaning the cylinders and shaft. its in all our manuals.has been for years.
ive worked on hwh systems since 1970, and have worked full time for hwh since 1998. i have every service manual that hwh has ever printed.
i've also been to numerous hwh service schools, and conducted a few myself.
in the manuals, where solvents are mentioned, hwh has recommended wd40. the seal material is neoprene, not rubber. solvents like brake cleaner, and brake fluid will affect the seals, but not wd40.
its your jacks though, so use what you are comfortable with. lots of guys swear by silicone, and some of the newer lubricants, but the shaft of the cylinder is lubed by the dexron trans fluid used in the system, every time its retracted.
on your jacks, hwh used stainless steel for the shaft of the cylinder. most lubricants and solvents have no effect on this material. in the last five years, hwh has starting using a nickel impregnated steel for the shaft. tests usually used for testing this material for corrosion and wear shows it stands up to anything normally found on the road or campsites.
the best information is on our website. there is a large amount of information that is specific to your system. from parts, service manuals, wiring diagrams, led's
and just general questions.
i am also available for questions all the time
. please call 1-602-549-3638 paul maddox
i do work for hwh. i do not sell parts or solicit service work on this forum.

[More-Gas]

Stuarts in Elkhart IN is the best place to fix HWH he has been doing it for 35 yrs.

[Jim_HiTek]

Didn't see where anyone mentioned that the pull up springs used on HWH jacks were too weak straight out of the factory and were replaced with a stronger spring in '03? I think? My '02 Journey came with the weak springs. The first place the slow retraction problem shows up is at the rear jacks.

You can tell the kind you have by looking at the ends of the springs. The flat top and bottom are the weak springs, the tapered top and bottom are the stronger replacements.

[azpete]

jim, the spring design was changed because of a seal change made on line in 2002 thru 2003. in that time period, on the older jacks, the square bottom springs worked as designed, except on larger jacks and colder weather, and sometimes for no reason at all,
because the seals on the newer jacks were very tight, and stopped an issue we had with certain jacks, we changed to a stronger spring. nice. it was a pleasure seeing the jacks retract like they should.
yes, there were cylinders that got sent out with the older springs, and they were not quite adequate, especially in colder weather. hence the spring change. funny thing, the 6K cylinders retracted fine, even in cold weather.
we did change out some springs on new coaches, still under warranty, and some goodwill repairs, that didnt retract in the time normally required for cylinders to retract. there is a bulletin on that on the hwh website. the retract timing was key to whether the springs were changed or not.
i had these square bottom springs on my 2002 chieftain, bought new from winnebago, and they were a real pain, until i changed to the new design spring. i had 9K jacks on front and rear.

[Jim_HiTek]

Thanks for the info, Pete. Interesting. Tighter seals meant slower retraction times. Makes sense.

My '02 rears were fairly slow when I bought the rig and replacing the rear flat springs with the tapered really made an improvement. I no longer feel the urge to take a pry board back there to get them moving faster. I'm going to do the front springs sometime later this year when I'm down in Mexico. They usually have retracted by the time I'm buttoned up and ready to roll but could use some help in cooler weather.

[Holysmoke]

I have a 2005 Vectra 40AD with AP 33345 HWH leveling jacks they are leaking fluid big time,
I removed the jacks from unit and trying to rebuild, can,t get apart looks liked they are welded is there seals that I can buy if I can get these things apart, I called HWH and they don’t make repair kits any more

[Jim_HiTek]

I've read many times over the years that people take their jacks to hydraulic shops and have them rebuilt. And that it's usually fairly inexpensive.