Having trouble getting support from HWH Corp ... grrr.

So our trip to Colorado was mostly uneventful and the kids had a good time which was the intended goal. I also really appreciated the feedback and comments. Thanks!

Prior to the trip I did get a call from HWH and spoke with a very knowledgeable person and he ended up recommending the replacement of the actuator. As of yet I have not ordered a replacement because I noticed an odd quirk during my final pre-trip checks.

When I deploy only the rear jacks, (which is the original fault that started this thread) the passenger side fails to rotate but it will extend. However. If I deploy only the passenger side (front and rear), the rear passenger jack will rotate and extend as expected without issue.

Do you think that the actuator should still be replaced or should I be looking another part of the system or is this generally considered normal ops?

As Doug stated, they do bleed themselves. Now if you have rear Jacks like mine, you will have the actuator attached to the large cylinder and getting the seals just right and the funky clamps on correctly can be a two person job. Taking the large springs off is relatively easy, putting them back on is a matter of getting the right leverage. I did do the job myself although at first I was going to stop at the factory(Iowa) on a cross country trip to have them repaired...that didn't work out. It did take us a few times of taking the Jack on and off, trying to get new seal's locally at first and then finally getting two rear new/rebuilt actuators. No more leaks and the jacks just need a little fine tuning to keep them straight up and down.

While I agree with Doug about many not wanting to Pay for service on an RV...lets face it, the labor cost alone is much more than most of us want to spend and that's taking for granted that a Tech actually knows what he or she is doing so that your not paying for their trail and error/on the job training!

Case in point, while having a code on my Allison Tran's, I called an authorized service center, there rate for diagnosing the actual issue, 200.00 an hour and the estimate was 5-6 hours, plus the cost of what they thought the problem might be, so roughly 2000.-2400.00. Through my own trial and error, No cost and about 100.00 in parts.

pryoclastic wrote:

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
Having just gone through the same issues as you are having, I was lucky find someone via E-mail who knew something about the jacks themselves.

Thank you very much for posting Acampingwewillgo. I have been nothing but super nice when speaking with HWH and was on the verge of starting to take it personal.

Did you replace them yourself? If so, how did you bleed the system?

If you have found HWH online manuals and parts you should download the service manual for your kick down jacks. Now, HWH is NOT in the business to tell YOU how to repair your Jacks. That is why there are hundreds of HWH authorized Service Centers in the USA. CALLING them is almost futile. Because of people like you, that do not want to pay someone to fix their RV, they get hundreds of calls a day. They give priority to Service Centers and Qualified Technicians. E MAIL is the best way to get a response. The systems are SELF BLEEDING. Just operate all 4 jacks to full extension and retraction 3 or 4 times and that will purge any air. IF the jack will NOT kick down, there are usually only 2 things that will cause it. The PIVOT bearing that the Actuator pushes against is rusted and will not spin. That is easy to check when retracted. You should be able to spin it. If NOT, replace it. IF the actuator does NOT extend at all, most common fault is the jack does not swing down, replace the actuator. If it was mine, I would replace the Actuator AND the Pivot bearing. The pivot bearing is cheap. Make sure you go to all 4 jacks and spray liquid Wrench or WD 40 all over the various pivots on the jacks. Any rust will cause binding and failure to operate correctly. Doug

Acampingwewillgo wrote:
Having just gone through the same issues as you are having, I was lucky find someone via E-mail who knew something about the jacks themselves.

Thank you very much for posting Acampingwewillgo. I have been nothing but super nice when speaking with HWH and was on the verge of starting to take it personal.

Did you replace them yourself? If so, how did you bleed the system?

Having just gone through the same issues as you are having, I was lucky find someone via E-mail who knew something about the jacks themselves. I had a rear jack that was leaking on a 96 motor home and I did get the same BS about a 2 week waiting period to get Tech support to call back. Even after ordering rebuilt actuators(the small cylinder next to the jack), they put me on a call back list just to give them my Credit Card number.

Long story short, I purchased new two two actuators and then sent my old ones back for a 30% refund. I did all of this through E-mail!

Our HWH are a different series, but YES we're both talking about the same part as Actuator. We don't use ours all that often, and that makes matters worse. I spray the extended ram piston with silicone and the linkage with WD40. Seems to help. The more often I use the jacks the better they work.

Is anything binding? Does the jack pull to vertical by hand? Could you do it with an awning rod or something you can rig up before you head to CO?

I wouldn't let a jack interrupt a trip, especially one I could make work and deal with it at a more convenient time.

j-d wrote:
By "Actuator" do you mean the small cylinder that looks like a trunk lid support, mounted next to the Ram that does the lifting once the Jack is vertical?

On the AP7001 diagram found here:

http://www.hwhcorp.com/mr243250.pdf

Item #2 is the actuator. Hopefully, it is the same part of the jack as what you are describing.

Also in the Service Manual:

http://www.hwhcorp.com/ml23934.pdf

Part 1 Section D:

Check that rollers or actuator cables or rods are not missing. Check that horizontal stops are in the proper location. If everything is OK, replace the actuator.

So that is why I think it is an actuator that is failing but I wanted confirmation from the pros.

;)

By "Actuator" do you mean the small cylinder that looks like a trunk lid support, mounted next to the Ram that does the lifting once the Jack is vertical?

I don't have a fix to share with you, but I can say that I nearly always have to pull the HWH kickdown jacks to vertical. Today was a pleasant surprise. We went to level and I stopped deployment half way down to check, and they were vertical.

Maybe somebody here has replaced Actuator(s) only on these systems and restored normal operation. I'd sure like that!

Thanks for the reply guys. I have to admit it is not what I wanted to hear.

*sigh*

Since it has been going on for so long it feels like I am getting the run around.

No it's not typical, they have always been very good for customer service.