Jacks Raising Slowly

[ricklord2001]

When I raise my jacks it seems like there's always one that will take forever to come up.(they are spring retracted). I lower it back down and spray with silicone spray and retract again and it comes right up.
Trouble is it doesn't last long I'll have to do it again after lowering them again. It's not always the same jack and kind off a pain to spray every time.
I'm not really knowledgeable on which spray to use and thought maybe someone could suggest a better spray/grease etc. That might last longer and become part of my regular maintenance schedule. Thanks

[dougrainer]

rafo wrote:
This was always on my checklist when pulling out (when i had an class A baggo) -- get under the rig and spray silicone on the slow jacks. very annoying.

I fixed it by finding stronger springs on the internet. it was 7 years ago so i dont remember what i bought. But i figured if the jack can push 5-10000 lbs or more i am sure it can fight a super strong spring. solved the jack problem completely.

either that or i guess you could replace the jack but i was never convinced that was a long term solution.

HWH changed the design and the strength of the Springs almost 10 years ago. ALL HWH springs have the same tensile strength since that change. You can identify which are OLD and which are NEW. The NEW have a tapered end to the hook. The old are the same diameter to the hook. The Springs, regardless of strength will NOT retract a completely defective inner seal cylinder. I have to use a floor jack to completely retract a seal that has completely failed. Using a pry bar or long steel lever will not get a defective cylinder all the way up. A NORMAL jack with NO springs attached, you can just use your hand to push the jack up on retraction. Doug

[rafo]

This was always on my checklist when pulling out (when i had an class A baggo) -- get under the rig and spray silicone on the slow jacks. very annoying.

I fixed it by finding stronger springs on the internet. it was 7 years ago so i dont remember what i bought. But i figured if the jack can push 5-10000 lbs or more i am sure it can fight a super strong spring. solved the jack problem completely.

either that or i guess you could replace the jack but i was never convinced that was a long term solution.

[stugpanzer]

I found that not all silicone lubricants are the same. When we bought our A back about 5 years ago, I had the same problem. I called the dealer and talked to their service manager. He told me to extend them fully then wipe them with a rag then use a very fine steel wool to get any other grime off then wipe with a clean rag. He then told me to use a silicone lubricant. I went to my local Ace Hardware store and bought CRC Industrial Food Grade Silicone.

My procedure has been to apply some silicone just before bringing them up and have had no issues up until last year when I ran out of my beloved CRC Industrial Food Grade Silicone!. I bought another brand on sale at Menards and thought no problem...silicone lube is all the same.

Well...when I used the new silicone, I started having problems raising the jacks. I did the thing my service manager told me to do but they were still very sluggish! So, off I went to my local Ace Hardware store and bought me a new can of CRC Silicone. I cleaned the jacks and lubed them and have not had any issues any more!

[bobcatcharlie]

I'm waiting for someone to invent a pad that fits on a long pole that will wrap around the cylinder. Could be used to wipe down or apply some fluid. Something so I don't have to lay on my back and crawl under the MH.

[Mississippi]

I wipe the cylinders down with Transynd ATF about once every six months whether the jacks need it or not and they have not given me any problems in over 7 years. If the seals are bad or the jack bent, replacement is the only solution, but for most HWH systems, this does not seem to be a major problem. One can bend a jack if you try hard enough.

[dougrainer]

Gjac wrote:

jsmart wrote:
Have a 2002 Itasca Sunrise 32V with the HWH jacks, noticed on our last long trip the front drivers jack wouldn't come up at all. Manually pushed it up with some effort, deployed it again, sprayed all the cylinders with wd40 and wiped clean. The jacks have not had a problem since. It sounds like (from the responses on this forum) I have a faulty inner seal that will need to be replaced at some point in time, anyone out there "nursed" their jacks along for awhile? We use our MH frequently and after the one issue with the drivers side jack, we haven't had any other issues since.

My jacks are HWH 200 series and are 18 years old. I have "nursed them along" with silicone spray for the last 5 years. Prior to that I would used wd-40 once a year just because someone told me to. When I first started to notice this problem the front drivers side jack would make a creaking noise when retracting. It would take longer to retract and would stick out about 4 inches and just stop. I could not move it by hand or a 2x4. What I noticed is if I fully extend the jack and spray the cylinder with silicone spray it would retract quickly by itself. These are older HWH kick down jacks and may not have the same tolerance seals as the newer ones. I can't find a cross section diagram showing where the upper seal is and don't know if the transmission fluid goes all the way to the lower seal or stops at the upper seal. Maybe Doug can answer this. So what I do now as soon as I hear the jacks starting to creak I will spray all the jacks. I usually do this once a year which I don't consider a lot of maintenance. If they were under warranty I would have HWH replace them as Doug said. For now spraying with silicone spray with jacks fully extended and then letting the silicone dry on the cylinders once a year works for me. Hope this helps someone.

Kick Down jacks have different parameters. You DO NEED to keep those clean and all linkages lubed with either WD40 or liquid wrench. Especially the Pivot bearings and pivot that swings the jack down to vertical. Usually the seals do not fail on the kick down cylinders, but the "Actuator" causes slow or NO retraction. The Actuator is mounted on the rear(facing rear) of the jack cylinder. Doug

[Gjac]

jsmart wrote:
Have a 2002 Itasca Sunrise 32V with the HWH jacks, noticed on our last long trip the front drivers jack wouldn't come up at all. Manually pushed it up with some effort, deployed it again, sprayed all the cylinders with wd40 and wiped clean. The jacks have not had a problem since. It sounds like (from the responses on this forum) I have a faulty inner seal that will need to be replaced at some point in time, anyone out there "nursed" their jacks along for awhile? We use our MH frequently and after the one issue with the drivers side jack, we haven't had any other issues since.

My jacks are HWH 200 series and are 18 years old. I have "nursed them along" with silicone spray for the last 5 years. Prior to that I would used wd-40 once a year just because someone told me to. When I first started to notice this problem the front drivers side jack would make a creaking noise when retracting. It would take longer to retract and would stick out about 4 inches and just stop. I could not move it by hand or a 2x4. What I noticed is if I fully extend the jack and spray the cylinder with silicone spray it would retract quickly by itself. These are older HWH kick down jacks and may not have the same tolerance seals as the newer ones. I can't find a cross section diagram showing where the upper seal is and don't know if the transmission fluid goes all the way to the lower seal or stops at the upper seal. Maybe Doug can answer this. So what I do now as soon as I hear the jacks starting to creak I will spray all the jacks. I usually do this once a year which I don't consider a lot of maintenance. If they were under warranty I would have HWH replace them as Doug said. For now spraying with silicone spray with jacks fully extended and then letting the silicone dry on the cylinders once a year works for me. Hope this helps someone.

[hipower]

If you have a hydraulic repair shop within reasonable distance it is cost effective to have jack cylinders rebuilt rather than replacing them. I can't see a rebuild exceeding $100 if you can remove and replace the jack yourself.

[cjalphonso]

Thanks Doug, just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. I may try doing what the others are doing for a while with the WD-40 but I know it needs to be replaced. I also stack blocks under this jack so even if it doesn't retract at all, I can still get home 🙂

[jsmart]

Have a 2002 Itasca Sunrise 32V with the HWH jacks, noticed on our last long trip the front drivers jack wouldn't come up at all. Manually pushed it up with some effort, deployed it again, sprayed all the cylinders with wd40 and wiped clean. The jacks have not had a problem since. It sounds like (from the responses on this forum) I have a faulty inner seal that will need to be replaced at some point in time, anyone out there "nursed" their jacks along for awhile? We use our MH frequently and after the one issue with the drivers side jack, we haven't had any other issues since.

[dougrainer]

cjalphonso wrote:
Doug what warranty are you speaking of, they would not cover my 2003 under any warranty and I had to by a new cylinder at $450. I'm about to have to replace another and any type of warranty would be great.

This problem even happens under the HWH 1 year warranty on NEW Jacks. When it happens, HWH does NOT say to clean/lube/ ANTHING but replace the defective Jack cylinder since it has a defective internal seal. People like to argue over this issue. The plain fact is---the CORRECT complete fix is a new cylinder. Doug

[cjalphonso]

Doug what warranty are you speaking of, they would not cover my 2003 under any warranty and I had to by a new cylinder at $450. I'm about to have to replace another and any type of warranty would be great.

[dougrainer]

Mooshaker wrote:
a couple of my HWH jacks would take 4-5 minutes to retract. I wiped the jack rods down with ATF. They now take 35-45 seconds to retract.
When they get slow again I will wipe down again.

4 to 5 minutes is within HWH specs for retract. NOT good, but within specs. As the OP stated, having to wipe down or clean occasionally is not fun to do. What you are doing is a work around for the real problem. BUT, it does save you a lot of money by not replacing the defective cylinders. Under HWH warranty, they would replace those cylinders that take that long to retract. The TEST for a bad seal is this. You extend all 4 jacks for 24 hours and then retract. Time how long it takes each jack to retract. ANY jack that tales longer than 5 minutes has a defective internal seal. Doug

[Mooshaker]

a couple of my HWH jacks would take 4-5 minutes to retract. I wiped the jack rods down with ATF. They now take 35-45 seconds to retract.
When they get slow again I will wipe down again.