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Nancy_and_Neil's avatar
Jul 28, 2013

Hydraulic Leveling Jack Issues

We just purchased a 1997 Itasca Suncruiser. So far it has been a great purchase, although we have only been able to get out a couple times. Since we bought it the leveling system has not worked. The guy we bought it from said he had it looked at and fixed, but not the case. It is a box on the drivers side that works when the parking break is on and then there are levers beside the drivers seat to extend/retract the jacks. We now have 2 issues:

1) When trying to level the motorhome I have a heck of a time getting it to say the parking break is in place (this is what was supposed to be fixed). I have to put in and release or wiggle back and forth a bit about a million times before the box will recognize it. Is this a simple wiring issue? Is there anything I can do to fix this?

2) The jacks all come down/ extend fine but now 2 do not go up. If you pull the levers to release and wait about an hour they will go up about half way and maybe after a day they may go up all the way. My husband worked them up with a crowbar but I am not really an advocate of this. I think it may do more harm than good. Because of my lack of knowledge in this area I do not want to be shafted if I take the motorhome in to get fixed. I have had a few bad experiences where I knew what I was talking about and the mechanic/ sales rep tried to rip me off. I have never left a vehicle anywhere to be fixed (my dad and I always worked on our vehicles) but I do not feel comfortable at all with hydraulics and neither does my husband. Does anybody have any insight/ advice or experience with this hydraulic system? I was looking underneath and wondered if it could be the springs? When the jacks are retracted and you move the pad thing it seems pretty loose compared to the others. But then again I do not know what they are supposed to be like. I would rather not be told to replace things that do not need to be.

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

5 Replies

  • 1. IF you have a FORD chassis, the Parking Brake switch is bad at the foot pedal. COMMON problem on Ford Chassis's. REPLACE the switch
    2. The odds are you have HWH as Winne used HWH in the 90's
    IF the retract levers are in the retract indent(you must have either the 4 lever system (100 series) or (the 200 series Joystick system with 3 levers), AND YOU CANNOT force the jacks up even with a crowbar the Internal seals of the Jack is bad and the jack needs rebuilt or replaced with new.
    3. HWH jacks, you CAN easily push up by hand, a jack to retract even if you have NO spring attached. You may need new springs, especially on a unit 16 years old. But even if you have weak springs, you can manually push the jack to full retraction without prying or using excessive force. Doug
  • Nancy,
    No need to panic here. Leveling jacks frequently cause problems/issues. You're certainly not alone in the "malfunction" party here. As has been stated, one of the first things you need to do is, find out the make and model of the Jacks you have. You might have any one of top brands like, HWH, Power Gear, or Kwikee, and others. Then, once you find that out, try and find the model number.

    Once that information is found, you can either look up the users manual on line, (if you don't already have one) and find out any particular operational characteristics. Most of the time, they're pretty straight forward in the operations. About 99.9% of them require the parking brake to be set, prior to initiating the Jack use. It's a safety thing.

    Now, as for your tempermental brake switch issue, as has been stated, it sounds like it's just an adjustment thing. But, without diving into that panel to see the switch, the wiring, and the contacts etc. it's fairly hard to give an exact analysis. In any case, it's most likely not that hard to fix.

    As for the retraction speed of your jacks, well, join the slow jack retraction crowd. The manufacturers sometimes put out a time chart that applies to certain size jacks with other criteria, that tells you the "supposed" time it should take to retract the jacks. But, there are so many variables, temperature of the day, (the colder the hydraulic fluid, the thicker it is), lots of bends in the hydraulic hoses and fittings, the solenoids that are used to control each jack may be acting up and not opening completely, any number of things can cause slow retraction, not to mention, weak or possibly broken retractions springs.

    I have the HWH 625 system which is the automatic and/or manual jacks and it's a very nice system but, the jacks, especially the two in the rear act up quite often in terms of slow retraction. I keep a shovel in one of my compartments and use a leveling block on end for a fulcrum and leverage those jacks right up in no time. (that is when they act up).

    And, some manufacturers of Jacks and or motorhomes, require the engine to be running for deployment of the jacks so the pump motors can get full voltage to pump the fluid to each jack. Ours is not one of those. But yours might be. So, first things first, find out what you've got in Brand name etc.
    Scott
  • New springs and an adjustment to the parking brake switch. Parking brake switch is located on the parking brake arm or on the mounting bracket.They are usually just bolted on and can be adjusted. Get under the dash and work the parking brake by hand and you will be able to see the switch ( has two wires coming out of it) and how the parking brake arm pushes against it. You say you have mechanical experience so you should not have a problem. Because it does come on after many tries it is more than likely just out of adjustment, not defective. You may find that if you push as hard as you can on the parking brake the light will come on.
  • Find what make the hyd jacks are.
    If HWH. They have a good web site to get help from.
    Need make and model number.