Hwh Jack noise

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Wrinkles

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Feb 5, 2019
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Mn
New problem 07 winn. 38t adv  when using auto deploy front driver side Jack  makes a knocking sound,  however when using manual deploy no noise. Anyone have ideas? tia

Edit by staff - changed message icon to topic solved
 
Took RV to Hwh the sound for whatever reason was from the springs. We had Lazy daze put all new tapered springs when we bought it, they were all thr wrong length, some were sloppy others were so short the Jack would not go all the way down. All works perfectly t now,what a great bunch of people at Hwh
 
Thanks for sharing.  Out of curiosity was the reason for the new springs to aid in their retracting?  I have older HWH jacks any my rear ones often don't retract.  I have to frequently wipe them down with silicone which works 80% of the time.  Even then it's sometimes necessary to use a 2x4 to push them back up. 

I am beginning to wonder if I should get new ones ...
 
thelazyl said:
Thanks for sharing.  Out of curiosity was the reason for the new springs to aid in their retracting?  I have older HWH jacks any my rear ones often don't retract.  I have to frequently wipe them down with silicone which works 80% of the time.  Even then it's sometimes necessary to use a 2x4 to push them back up. 

I am beginning to wonder if I should get new ones ...

You might need new springs, but before you buy new springs, I would fully extend the jacks, spray the seal where the rams go into the jacks liberally with WD-40 even allowing the WD-40 to run down the jack rams, then try to retract the jacks. If this helps, but jacks are not retracting in about two minutes or less, repeat the routine.

It has been my observation with my HWH jacks that the seal where the rams go into the jacks dries out, and causes excess drag.  I still have the original springs on my 2005 Winnebago and when I keep the seal lubricated, my jacks will retract in about two minutes.
 
PJ's suggestion to use WD-40 is exactly what I would recommend as well. I fought the same problem with one of my jacks for nearly a year. It either took forever to retract (more than half an hour) or it wouldn't fully retract. I doused it repeatedly with silicon spray, and often had to use a pry bar to "assist" it. I finally contacted HWH, and they said it wasn't considered "out of spec" until it took longer than 50 minutes to rully retract. (Yes, that's Five-Zero minutes!)

I thought that was utterly ridiculous, and I was just about to have that jack rebuilt, but decided to try spraying it down with WD-40 first. I didn't hold out much hope that it would work, because the silicon spray hadn't worked, but the WD-40 worked like a charm... and it continues to work to this day. Now I spray all the jack shafts with WD-40 about once a year, and I' never had a problem since.

Kev
 
Kevin Means said:
PJ's suggestion to use WD-40 is exactly what I would recommend as well. I fought the same problem with one of my jacks for nearly a year. It either took forever to retract (more than half an hour) or it wouldn't fully retract. I doused it repeatedly with silicon spray, and often had to use a pry bar to "assist" it. I finally contacted HWH, and they said it wasn't considered "out of spec" until it took longer than 50 minutes to rully retract. (Yes, that's Five-Zero minutes!)

I thought that was utterly ridiculous, and I was just about to have that jack rebuilt, but decided to try spraying it down with WD-40 first. I didn't hold out much hope that it would work, because the silicon spray hadn't worked, but the WD-40 worked like a charm... and it continues to work to this day. Now I spray all the jack shafts with WD-40 about once a year, and I' never had a problem since.

Kev

I, too, used to use silicone spray on my jacks but while at HWH three weeks ago, I asked about it and was told do not use silicone because it will gum up the seal. HWH suggests using WD-40 sprayed onto a rag and wipe the pistons down with the rag after using a different rag to wipe any dirt or sand off of them. They told me you can spray WD-40 onto the pistons if you want, but make sure you wipe off any excess before retracting the jacks.
 
John Stephens said:
I, too, used to use silicone spray on my jacks but while at HWH three weeks ago, I asked about it and was told do not use silicone because it will gum up the seal. HWH suggests using WD-40 sprayed onto a rag and wipe the pistons down with the rag after using a different rag to wipe any dirt or sand off of them. They told me you can spray WD-40 onto the pistons if you want, but make sure you wipe off any excess before retracting the jacks.

Did they give a reason for wiping off the excess?  I have never wiped off the excess, and have not seen any negative consequences.
 
Thank you for your recommendations.  I will try with WD-40 and focus on the seal.

I've used silicone spray and have had success getting the jacks to come all the way up.  Each time I have them down for an extended period of time, like when I am parked at home, I have to repeat the process else they will hang up again.  I'd like to find a longer term solution so I don't have to climb under my RV before each trip. 

Thanks again.

 
Isn't it funny how different products react differently to different spray solutions.  I for several years collected and restored antique and vintage sewing machines.  If you could see the residue of what WD40 did to those machines you would understand why collectors would bad mouth you incessantly.  In short, it leaves a residue that tends to gum up the inner workings of sewing machines. WD stands for Water Displacement and in the military we were told that was the only thing to use it for.  It was notorious for 'gumming up da woiks.'

Now I understand that HWH recommends WD40 highly but they do recommend that it be wiped down when used. That by itself probably eliminates a lot of the residue for which WD40 got a bad reputation.  I know that silicone works great for an instant repair but it is notorious for collecting dust and any vehicle that travels down highways and dusty roads is bound to come across a lot of that stuff.

So what will I now use on my one very slow acting HWH jack?  Why WD40 of course.

Bill
 
John Hilley said:
It's funny that for years HWH sold a silicon spray at their booth at the GNR and were adamantly opposed to WD40
Exactly, I even have it in my notes from a GNR seminar. I spray food grade silicone on the shafts and wipe it off. I was just cleaning a carburetor that I took off a lawn mower, put it in my ultrasonic cleaner which did a good job of getting most of the grime off. For a finale I soaked it in MEK solvent- bad idea. The rubber looking gasket for the bowl to carb housing started to disfigure. Fortunately I thought better of it several seconds later and removed the carb from the solvent. Apparently no harm done.  Lesson learned was to use the right product for the job and don?t assume.
 
While they were fixing my Jack's the right front was very slow so the tech said there was a  build up of silicone that was gumming up the seal he cleaned it with boeshield 90 and the Jack went right up. When all springs were correct it took care of the rest of the slow retraction
 
I live full time in my coach and tend to sit in one place all summer, and again all winter.  Each time we get ready to move, the day before leaving I usually go around the coach and wipe down the jacks with WD-40 and a rag. 
 
Old_Crow said:
I live full time in my coach and tend to sit in one place all summer, and again all winter.  Each time we get ready to move, the day before leaving I usually go around the coach and wipe down the jacks with WD-40 and a rag.
I do the same any time I sit longer than a month, or if I've been camped in a very dusty area with jacks down.
 
PJ Stough said:
Did they give a reason for wiping off the excess?  I have never wiped off the excess, and have not seen any negative consequences.

They told me that if you put anything on the jack pistons to help them retract, use the thinnest coat and the smallest amount you can because excess will eventually gum up the seals. They would prefer you to use nothing if possible because when you retract the jack, the piston will be coated with hydraulic fluid that is sitting inside the jack. They told me that the first thing you want to do with a slow jack, assuming your springs are adequate, is to get the piston up as much as possible inside the jack seal so it will be coated with fluid. Mind you, they also said that if you are having a problem with the jacks, the first thing you should do is wipe the dirt and sand off the piston before attempting to retract it. They don't want you using anything on the pistons on a regular basis; WD-40 should be used sparingly and only when absolutely needed.

John Hilley said:
It's funny that for years HWH sold a silicon spray at their booth at the GNR and were adamantly opposed to WD40

I told them that my owner's manual states to never use WD-40 and asked them when they changed their minds about it. They said a few years ago, they realized that WD-40 wasn't as bad as they thought, but they still will prefer using nothing if possible.
 
Coating the piston with the fluid in the jack will do nothing to soften the leading edge of the seal. I do believe that if it was easy to get the hydraulic fluid used in the system on the leading edge of the seal, it would also soften the seal.  The WD-40 is just more convenient.  I have been doing the WD-40 thing for 10 years, and have yet to see any negative effects.

One more benefit of faster jack retraction is that the shorter the period of time the solenoid is activated, the less heat it will make, and therefore, the solenoids will last longer.
 
If the seals on the rams are working properly, I don't see how hydraulic fluid could get to the outer seal.  Most leveling jacks are one way jacks.  Meaning they are powered down, and retracted by spring pressure.  This means that ideally,  the hydraulic fluid is confined above the piston wiper seal on the end of the ram and none of it gets to the seal between the ram and the end of the housing.

Yes, there are systems that are powered both up and down, and that would be a different discussion, because there is fluid on both sides of the piston then.

A couple of my rams were leaking externally when I first got my coach.  I had them rebuilt at an industrial hydraulic shop(around $800 for all 4)after the RV place told me parts weren't available for the rear jacks and I'd have to spend like $1200 apiece to replace the whole assemblies.
The hydraulic shop told me that one of the rear rams had nicks in the shaft that they filled in with epoxy to protect the external seal.  2 years later, despite the epoxy, the jacks don't leak, and stay in place for months at a time.
 
I, too, have wondered about any seal that would allow fluid to remain on the ram. All I know is that I have had many occasions over the years when my jacks didn't want to retract or would retract very slow, and when I got them half way up and then extended them the entire way, they would retract in proper time afterward. Maybe it has something to do with small amounts of dirt or sand on the rams that gets cleaned off the first time they are retracted.
 

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