Levelers Need Help Retracting

Gjac wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

Gjac wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

MeanderMan wrote:
I had the springs replace two years ago, and about a year ago the jack started retracting slower and slower, until they quit about half way up. I tried what the HWH tech said at a rally, dry silicone spray, but it didn't help. I fabricated a piece of wood with a lever that gets them up, but finally got underneath, cleaned the seals with a toothbrush saturated with WD40, and wiped the jacks with it also. Since then, an occasional cleaning and wiping keeps them operating smoothly. BTW, I'm a full timer, and the jacks get raised/lowered an average of once a week. Personally, I think it's an inherent design problem, and I'm not going to replace any parts until the jacks lock up and won't move.

Yes, it IS a design problem, but HWH has corrected the type seals used. That is why you replace the cylinder or have it rebuilt. This problem has been around for over 10 years and HWH has updated the type seals 2 times as the problem does happen on newer cylinders and they updated the type seals again a few years ago. Doug

Doug based on what you stated are there years of MH's that we should not buy based on the seal design flaws? Say 3 years or newer they are good, and 3 to 12 years old they are a bad design, older than 12 they are good? Also when HWH rebuilds the cylinders in these years do the replace with a smaller tolerance o ring seal or the same one?

As I stated. The problem does happen on units in the past 10 to 13 years old. Not ALL have the problem, that is why over the years HWH has stated various things to do that did NOT correct the problem---Wipe with Silicone/WD40/ATF. Once they received defective cylinders their Engineers determined the failure of the internal seal and redesigned them. Then after a few years, the problem came back but not as bad. They checked and did another redesign of the internal seals. So, the ONLY fix is a rebuild or new cylinder. NOT BUY, due to this type problem???? Not a valid reason to not buy when their are hundreds of thousands of HWH systems out there and the failure is small. The Diagnosis is simple. You extend all 4 jacks for 24 to 48 hours and then retract. If any cylinder does NOT retract within 5 minutes, that cylinder needs replaced/rebuilt. Doug

The reason I asked this question is that my system is a 19 year old 200 series joy stick kick down jack which has failed to retract all the way about 3 times in the last 10 years. It retracts to about 4 ins. If I extend the jack and spray silicone on the shaft it works fine. The last time I did this was 2 years ago. I have the original square springs and they retract within 30 secs so it seems very reliable to me. I have been looking at newer MHs and it seems a lot of people post about retracting problems.

Your system is NOT affected by this type problem. You "May" have defective seals but that would be from AGE, not a defective seal. A LOT of people post and instead of fixing the problem others argue to just lube or some other silly nonsense. Remember you have 4 jacks and rarely do more than 2 need replaced at any given time. Usually just 1 out of 4. Doug