02 Journey Slide Creep

[Wizard46]

Before pulling the jack, one quick check. With the jack down, loosen the hydraulic line on the top of the jack, if it starts retracting then nothing wrong with the jack. If it still won't retract then probably the solenoid.
Prepare to catch a little oil when the line is loose.

 

[Top38]

Before pulling the jack, one quick check. With the jack down, loosen the hydraulic line on the top of the jack, if it starts retracting then nothing wrong with the jack. If it still won't retract then probably the solenoid.
Prepare to catch a little oil when the line is loose.

Not sure you have your last statement right,,, I agree if I loosen the line on top and it goes up there is an issue down stream but if it doesn't then I say its the jack itself. Also I have tried to see if it would retract by manually releasing the solenoid (T Handle type) and it did not move so IMO it has to be the jack or the line or the solenoid manual release don't work or any combo of these.

I can live with it for now, when I need the leveling I dump the air bags, place some wood under that jack and level the MH. When ready to leave I start the MH up, let the bags air up which releases the wood and gives me enough room to slide a jack under to get that leveling jack retracted. Small PIA but doable for now.

 

[zmotorsports]

On your slide creep is it both ends of the slide creeping out evenly or one end of the slide moreso than the other?  From my experience a retract valve will usually allow the pressures to equalize evenly and allow the slide to relax and extend both ends about the same.  IF you have one end of the slide creeping the cause is more than likely a hydraulic cylinder or more specifically the packing inside is leaking internally.  I've changed a couple of HWH hydraulic cylinders for this very reason, one on my coach and another on a friends.

Mike

 

[Top38]

They come out equally. One of the HWH trouble shooting articles state the check valve is a likely cause if they creep out about an inch. I also spoke quickly to Stuart's and he said it's likely the solenoids. But I think its unlikely that both went at the same time which would have to be the case as both slides are creeping but I guess its possible. When I get a chance I am going to check the check valve first before ordering the solenoids.

 

[zmotorsports]

It is possible both went about the same time,.  When I have seen that the tank usually has debris in it and it ends up getting stuck in the valve seats/pintles which allows them to bleed off, but it could also be the check valve not holding pressure.  I would inspect the fluid and if at all questionable I would clean the tank and refill.  It's kind of a PITA but only way to eliminate the possibilities of it happening again.

Mike

 

[Top38]

I will take a look at the fluid. FYI, no issue with the leveling jacks bleeding down when in use. One thing I noticed that happens now is after releasing the retract button I can hear what sounds like the hydraulic pump running backwards which would releasing the line pressure holding the slides in. As far as I can remember it did not do this when I did not have creep issues. Meaning as soon as I let off the retract button the pump stopped. So it seams that it has to be either the check valve or solenoids IMO.

 

[Top38]

Finally made some time to spend with this. Since both slides were creeping I figured the check valve was the best place to start. HVH did not do a great job locating it! They put it right next to one of the solenoids with no room to get a socket on it! A wrench was also NG, just no room.! So I modified a 5/8" socket and was able to get the plug out (1/8 of a turn at a time). Took the plunger/spring out and found that the spring had some how unwrapped itself and was blocking the check valve/plunger from sealing so it was not able to seat as it should. Coiled up the spring as best as I could and turned it around 180 and reinstalled the plunger/spring and cap plug. However before reinstalling the plug cap, I machined it down to 1/2" so a socket would fit in!!!! Now there is no pump run on after releasing the  retract switch for both slides so I know it's fixed! With the check valve not sealing, hydraulic pressure was back feeding in the system which allowed the slides to creep out when driving.

 

[John Canfield]

Ah-ha! You had the right idea of where to start, good job! Thanks for checking in with the fix  )