Jack won't retract - HWH

[Jim]

This '02 Winnie Journey has the HWH manual jacks/room extender system and in general, works easily to drop the jacks and extend the rooms.

However, when retracting the slides, after I press 'Store', the jacks slowly retract and the retract speed seems for 3 of them, normal. But one of them takes far too long. Sometimes it doesn't reach 'stored' position.

I did lithium spray lube all the shafts a week ago and added a quart of ATF Dextron. No evidence of a leak anywhere. Apparently, the dealer's tech didn't bother to check the level before delivery...typical. I know the tech worked on the slow retracting jack too, I watched him a bit.

Anyway, rant aside, the jack furthest from the pump and tank, passenger side rear, takes forever to retract. It was 'slow' when I bought the rig 2 months ago and yesterday, (at 80°F ambient), wouldn't retract more than a couple inches until a 6' lever coaxed it and then it seemed to quickly retract.

I did try to open the valve but the valve shaft wouldn't turn...twisted the shaft right off the end of the valve. So I can't use that to relieve pressure.

Anyone know where I can buy a HWH jack valve at a decent price? Or what I can do to improve retraction speed of that jack?

This almost sounds like a piece of crud blocking an orifice somewhere but I'm open to advice.

Thanks!

[SNOPRO711X]

I have had the same issue with one jack on my 2003 Itasca Horizon. It only happens about once a year, usually on the first use of the season. I always make sure I have some sort of lever to help the jack back up. If it happened more often I would replace or rebuild the jack.

[dougrainer]

Jim@HiTek wrote:
I extended the jack that was 'stuck' (and then unstuck) when I got to my current RV park. The morning after arriving, I had to move the rig to a new spot to avoid some construction work going on in the park and darned if this time it didn't retract as fast as the others.

So I think that the problem solved itself for now. And I got myself a 6 foot long lever (2X4) to carry with me too, along with my floor jack. This will give me the time to try to find a new valve since there's no hurry on that part of the issue.

Thanks for everyone's advice...especially Doug's. Nothing like having a RV tech on the forum.

When you have the seal problem, the test is to extend the jack fully, let sit for 24 to 48 hours and then retract. IF it fails without levering up you replace the jack. Just extending and then retracting will usually retract as the seal has been stretched slightly from current use. You let it sit for a few days and it usually fails to retract. Try after a few days and see if it fails again. Doug

[Jim]

I extended the jack that was 'stuck' (and then unstuck) when I got to my current RV park. The morning after arriving, I had to move the rig to a new spot to avoid some construction work going on in the park and darned if this time it didn't retract as fast as the others.

So I think that the problem solved itself for now. And I got myself a 6 foot long lever (2X4) to carry with me too, along with my floor jack. This will give me the time to try to find a new valve since there's no hurry on that part of the issue.

Thanks for everyone's advice...especially Doug's. Nothing like having a RV tech on the forum.

[dougrainer]

mabynack wrote:
Could be air in the system, too. If the fluid level was low at some point it could have allowed air to get in. You could bleed it by cracking a hydraulic line at the farthest jack and extending the jacks. Make sure someone is stationed near the reservoir to make sure it doesn't start sucking air again.

It could also be a collapsed hydraulic line. Sometimes they're hard to detect because the inside of the line collapses and the outside looks normal. Check for a pinched line. A hydraulic shop can check for flow at the cylinders and figure out if that's the problem.

HWH jacks are self bleeding. AIR in the HWH system is a non issue. You can have NO fluid in the system and the jacks will retract. Of course with no fluid they would not be extended:) In 35 years of working on HWH systems, I have NEVER had a HOSE have an internal restriction. Pinched yes, but that is visible. If you are concerned about hoses and such all you do is crack the Line for that jack at the Pump solenoid block. That will bypass the solenoid and allow the fluid to seep out. Have a catch pan underneath. Doug

[mabynack]

Could be air in the system, too. If the fluid level was low at some point it could have allowed air to get in. You could bleed it by cracking a hydraulic line at the farthest jack and extending the jacks. Make sure someone is stationed near the reservoir to make sure it doesn't start sucking air again.

It could also be a collapsed hydraulic line. Sometimes they're hard to detect because the inside of the line collapses and the outside looks normal. Check for a pinched line. A hydraulic shop can check for flow at the cylinders and figure out if that's the problem.

[chastho]

spraying the shafts with silicone while they are extended has always fixed mine. Never ever use any kind of grease on the shafts.

[Dale_Traveling]

Quickest recourse for parts would be directly thru HWH. You could also try a search using the part number. For a cylinder rebuild I would first search locally for hydraulic repair shop over send it back to HWH. Might be a few dollars less plus the cost of shipping a couple pounds of steel cross country.

A lot of the stuff bolted to a coach is actually used in other industries rather than being exclusive to the RVs so find alternative supplies over the OEM is possible you just have to spend the time search and thinking outside the RV box.

[Jim]

Thanks for the info.

I have the tapered springs, but they are a little rusted. The rig only has 70K miles on it and I'm hoping the bug is from lack of consistent use.

For now, I'll limp along with it for a while until I can get to a place where I can get the ram rebuilt.

I do need to get that valve repaired soon though. Any idea where I can buy one, or what the part number might be?

[Dale_Traveling]

HWH has an information bulletin regarding retract time. You can review it by clocking HERE.

Could be the springs, could be the cylinder.

[dougrainer]

02. The jack springs, do they taper on both ends the last 2 inches? Or are they the same diameter top to bottom? If Tapered you have the current stronger springs. If they are the same diameter, you need to replace all 4 sets with the new stronger springs. This will NOT fix your problem but will make the jacks retract quicker. Besides the existing springs are 15 years old and are probably rusted and have lost some tensile strength. Your problem, regardless of what others will post is that Jack, the internal seals are bad and cause the jack to not retract smoothly and stick. You can either send it out to be rebuilt or buy a new one from HWH. The fact you can lever it up shows that it is the Internal seals that is the problem. Since the "T" handle on the solenoid is busted, you need to replace that solenoid as you may need to manually release in the future. The new solenoids have a spring loaded release instead of that "T" handle. The fact you added a Quart is a non issue. The system holds over 6 Qts and you only use at most 2 qts when all 4 jacks are fully extended. If the system was EMPTY, the jacks would still retract. Doug