HWH Leveling Jacks

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BusterBus

Active member
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Posts
32
I have a 2002 Allegro Bus with HWH 610 Series computer controlled leveling system.  We arrived at our campsite and everything looked reasonably level and solid.  I put the jacks down, went outside and saw that the right rear jack had pushed down into some soft sand.  The jack was extended very far out and the right rear tires appeared slightly off the ground.  Quickly retracted the jacks (worked fine), moved the bus, filled the hole, put some blocks under the tires and the jacks.  Went to level again, pressed the ?hyd? button twice as usual, system dumped the air, but the jacks would not extend and the travel light stayed on.  Tried to manually extend but nothing would happen, system stayed in travel mode.  I did notice that when I pressed the hyd button I could hear a slight clicking noise coming from under the lower left dash area and there is a HWH box under there.  Any ideas on the problem and I know, I know, I should have checked the site better and placed blocks at least under the jacks.  Thanks again for any solutions. 
 
My jacks (manual) get messed up if I "store" them then try to level the coach before the storing procedure times out.  It sounds like you may have done something similar.  Maybe if you stored them and waited until it finished it might reset.
 
Went to level again, pressed the ?hyd? button twice as usual, system dumped the air, but the jacks would not extend and the travel light stayed on.


There is no 'hyd' button to press on our HWH system (but ours is manual, not automatic).  What button are you referring to and why do you have to press it twice?


To dump the air on our system, we have to manually press the 'Dump' button and hold it in as long as it takes to dump the air.  The 'Store' button only has to be pressed only once to retract the jacks, and the system and the HWH control panel lights shut off automatically when the jacks are fully retracted.  Shutting the HWH system down manually (before it shuts off automatically after hitting the 'Store' button) can cause problems, mainly related to the jacks dropping slightly and lights coming on while driving down the road.



I have had to replace a 40 amp fuse in the HWH system a couple of times when the jacks wouldn't retract.  I think that is for the hydraulic pump.
 
On the HWH 610 series, pressing the "HYD" button once puts the system into hydraulic operation mode, pressing it again starts the air dumping and automatic leveling process.
 
The system could possible also be locking you out because of low voltage.  I have had that happen before after operating the jacks a couple of times due to the high amps they pull.  Is your low voltage light coming on, on the panel?  Sometimes its hard to see depending on exactly where your panel is located. 
 
On the HWH 610 series, pressing the "HYD" button once puts the system into hydraulic operation mode, pressing it again starts the air dumping and automatic leveling process.


OK, yours is the 610 series and ours is the 310 series.  I had never seen the 'HYD' button  on the HWH control panel before.  Do you have both the Service Manual and the Repair Manual for your system?  If not, you can get them here:  http://www.hwhcorp.com/service34.html
 
Attached (I hope, this my first attemp at attachements) is a pdf of the control panel in my motorhome.  The big red arrow points to the "HYD" button on my panel.
 

Attachments

  • HWHleveling.pdf
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I got confused once with mine and needed to turn them off, then back on. I have to have the key on for power, so I turn to acc position. When I pushed store , I either need to wait for it to get to travel mode or turn key off then on.
Good Luck
 
Not exactly on the same subject, but can someone explain to me if you need to "dump" all of the air our before you lower your jacks?  Our MH seems to dump the air out by itself, but I noticed that we have a button to "dump" the air and wondered when I would use that?  Your question made me go out and look at my system to see what my buttons said and I noticed the "dump" button.  Just hoping someone could shed some light on it for me.

Thanks much,
Mikie
 
Busterbus,

I have a 2003 Allegro Bus with the same HWH leveling jack system that you do.  Ours operates, just like yours, EXCEPT, I don't hit my hyd button twice like you, I tap it once.  The air begins to dump, then when the air is out, the jacks begin to go down. 

As mentioned if your batteries were low (which I doubt) it might make the jacks not extend.  However, what maybe happening is that the oil for the jacks may be the problem.  If you are low on hydraulic fluid it will make the jacks act irradic.  If you have been able to get them extended then retract them.  After they are retracted, check the reservoir for the hydraulic jack system to make sure it is full to the "fill line".  When HWH jacks are low on oil they act up.  You can not check the reservoir with the jacks down, oil is in the system and it will show in the reservoir as low.

Marsha~
 
4ducksrus,

Sometime you might want to lower the coach without extending the jacks.  I've never used the dump button; but always thought if I were someplace where we were tight to a roof, I could dump the air and creep out.

I recall that Foretravel motor homes used to have a "lower the coach" button, which would dump air to lower the coach.  Maybe that's the same thought.

Marsha~
 
4ducksrus said:
Not exactly on the same subject, but can someone explain to me if you need to "dump" all of the air our before you lower your jacks?  Our MH seems to dump the air out by itself, but I noticed that we have a button to "dump" the air and wondered when I would use that?  Your question made me go out and look at my system to see what my buttons said and I noticed the "dump" button.  Just hoping someone could shed some light on it for me.

Thanks much,
Mikie

When parked or stored for a period of time, it is recommended to release (dump) the air from the air bags. I usually bleed off the air until there is about 70 psi in my gauges. Mine sits for a week or two a lot.
 
It depends on the RV manufacturer recommendation.  We never dump our air.  Others do.  See if your manual has anything on the subject.

ArdraF
 
I just had a similar problem with a LCI leveling system.  Two things to check.  First that you did not blow a circuit breaker.  You may also have blown a solenoid. I would check to make sure the system is getting power first. 
Steve

BusterBus said:
I have a 2002 Allegro Bus with HWH 610 Series computer controlled leveling system.  We arrived at our campsite and everything looked reasonably level and solid.  I put the jacks down, went outside and saw that the right rear jack had pushed down into some soft sand.  The jack was extended very far out and the right rear tires appeared slightly off the ground.  Quickly retracted the jacks (worked fine), moved the bus, filled the hole, put some blocks under the tires and the jacks.  Went to level again, pressed the ?hyd? button twice as usual, system dumped the air, but the jacks would not extend and the travel light stayed on.  Tried to manually extend but nothing would happen, system stayed in travel mode.  I did notice that when I pressed the hyd button I could hear a slight clicking noise coming from under the lower left dash area and there is a HWH box under there.  Any ideas on the problem and I know, I know, I should have checked the site better and placed blocks at least under the jacks.  Thanks again for any solutions.
 
You might want to dump air without setting the jacks if you needed to lower the coach a few inches to get it into a garage or under an overhanging wire or branch. I have used mine just once - when faced with a very low overpass  [I squeaked under].
 
Hi.  I have the same clicking sound on mine and it does not operate.  What did you end up doing to fix the problem?
 
4ducksrus said:
Not exactly on the same subject, but can someone explain to me if you need to "dump" all of the air our before you lower your jacks?  Our MH seems to dump the air out by itself, but I noticed that we have a button to "dump" the air and wondered when I would use that?  Your question made me go out and look at my system to see what my buttons said and I noticed the "dump" button.  Just hoping someone could shed some light on it for me.

Thanks much,
Mikie
____

We like to dump the air if we are on a very leveled surface; the steps are then closer to the ground.
It also allows me to practice the manual technique to level the coach, which is not always as simple as it looks, since our jacks only work in pairs.
We also used it once in Ontario Canada to "crawl" under a tight bridge, with the help of a Provincial Trooper !!
 
Gary RV Roamer said:
You might want to dump air without setting the jacks if you needed to lower the coach a few inches to get it into a garage or under an overhanging wire or branch. I have used mine just once - when faced with a very low overpass  [I squeaked under].

Please say more... I just assumed that with the engine running that the air pressure would inflate the suspension, but, there must be a way to override this?
 
If you want to go a very short distance with the air bags down, then hold the air dump button down while moving forward. I did this once a long time ago with an HR on a Spartan chassis. But have have frequently used the "raise all" too temporarily raise the coach while going through a dip where otherwise I would drag the tow bar on the pavement.

ken
 
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