Koodog
Well-known member
Hey folks,
Had a grand time in Quartzsite just after the rally. Sorry to have missed most of you, but there were a few stragglers left which I had the opportunity to meet.
During my time in the desert I came across some interesting findings on my HWH leveler/slide hydraulic system. After moving my MH to a better location I suddenly lost my hydraulics while dropping my jacks. I quickly ascertained that my pump motor was no longer running. So out came the manuals and after much searching I discovered nothing in the manuals gave me a breakdown of how the system was assembled. I called HWH for assistance and was promptly told someone would get back to me.
As my hood was now open it began to draw my neighbors from far and wide. If you want to meet folks simply open your hood. The RV community is such a resource for help. I was told I'd be lucky if in fact HWH would ever call me back. I did receive a call 6 hours later, just to inform me they needed all my contact info to put me into their system so a service tech could contact me.
Being the patient person I am.....NOT...I kept checking around the system to see if I could determine how the darn motor was connected to the pump. I finally noticed 2 screws on the motor end plate that is normally used to hold the end plates to the motor. Figuring it was already broke, I started to loosen these screws, and wallah the motor came off the pump shaft. They keenly used two plastics nuts to hold the end plates to the motor body and using long bolts these also held the motor to the manifold plate, thus allowing engagement to pump shaft. As this is a DC motor I knew that my brushes were probably worn out. So off came the end caps. As I had expected the commutator had worn a grove in the brushes , along with a piece of copper which caused no connection from the brushes to the rotor. Cleaning up these surfaces resulted in a running motor again. OH JOY I could now get my slides out, my jacks down and begin to enjoy my stay.
But WAIT! There's more. After reassembling the motor to the pump and giving her a go, I still did not have any hydraulics. The motor was running and definately making a high pitched whine. First thought.... I didn't fully engage the pump shaft, so off came the motor again. After ensuring the coupling was a good connect I gave it another go. Same thing. Out came the coffee drinking gloves and some serious head scratching. Being it is a DC motor and only had one post to hook power to, I did not believe rotation could be changed and therefore dropped that thought. Finally decided to try and call HWH again. Same thing there also. Was told someone would get back to me. This has now been an all day affair. Time for happy hour so I left it for the next day.
During the night came the "dream". First thing in the morning I tore the motor out again and rotated the end cap 45 degrees which allowed the bolts to line up in the next available holes. Reassembled and now had hydraulics! Being my slides were now out another crowd formed giving high 5's and wondering how in the world I got it to work. We had all discussed the possibility that the pump was running backwards, but just could not see how a DC motor could be reversed having only 1 post available. The trick was rotating the end cap 45 degrees which reversed motor rotation.
Now the kicker.... HWH called back 10 minutes after I had it fixed wanting to know how they could help. This was almost 2 days after my first call. I bit my tongue to remain calm and just related the story. After returning home I found a service report form from them in the mail stating problem was resolved upon call back. The good news was they got all my contact info correct.....the first time.
Hope this story helps the next poor sole who is at HWH's mercy.
Had a grand time in Quartzsite just after the rally. Sorry to have missed most of you, but there were a few stragglers left which I had the opportunity to meet.
During my time in the desert I came across some interesting findings on my HWH leveler/slide hydraulic system. After moving my MH to a better location I suddenly lost my hydraulics while dropping my jacks. I quickly ascertained that my pump motor was no longer running. So out came the manuals and after much searching I discovered nothing in the manuals gave me a breakdown of how the system was assembled. I called HWH for assistance and was promptly told someone would get back to me.
As my hood was now open it began to draw my neighbors from far and wide. If you want to meet folks simply open your hood. The RV community is such a resource for help. I was told I'd be lucky if in fact HWH would ever call me back. I did receive a call 6 hours later, just to inform me they needed all my contact info to put me into their system so a service tech could contact me.
Being the patient person I am.....NOT...I kept checking around the system to see if I could determine how the darn motor was connected to the pump. I finally noticed 2 screws on the motor end plate that is normally used to hold the end plates to the motor. Figuring it was already broke, I started to loosen these screws, and wallah the motor came off the pump shaft. They keenly used two plastics nuts to hold the end plates to the motor body and using long bolts these also held the motor to the manifold plate, thus allowing engagement to pump shaft. As this is a DC motor I knew that my brushes were probably worn out. So off came the end caps. As I had expected the commutator had worn a grove in the brushes , along with a piece of copper which caused no connection from the brushes to the rotor. Cleaning up these surfaces resulted in a running motor again. OH JOY I could now get my slides out, my jacks down and begin to enjoy my stay.
But WAIT! There's more. After reassembling the motor to the pump and giving her a go, I still did not have any hydraulics. The motor was running and definately making a high pitched whine. First thought.... I didn't fully engage the pump shaft, so off came the motor again. After ensuring the coupling was a good connect I gave it another go. Same thing. Out came the coffee drinking gloves and some serious head scratching. Being it is a DC motor and only had one post to hook power to, I did not believe rotation could be changed and therefore dropped that thought. Finally decided to try and call HWH again. Same thing there also. Was told someone would get back to me. This has now been an all day affair. Time for happy hour so I left it for the next day.
During the night came the "dream". First thing in the morning I tore the motor out again and rotated the end cap 45 degrees which allowed the bolts to line up in the next available holes. Reassembled and now had hydraulics! Being my slides were now out another crowd formed giving high 5's and wondering how in the world I got it to work. We had all discussed the possibility that the pump was running backwards, but just could not see how a DC motor could be reversed having only 1 post available. The trick was rotating the end cap 45 degrees which reversed motor rotation.
Now the kicker.... HWH called back 10 minutes after I had it fixed wanting to know how they could help. This was almost 2 days after my first call. I bit my tongue to remain calm and just related the story. After returning home I found a service report form from them in the mail stating problem was resolved upon call back. The good news was they got all my contact info correct.....the first time.
Hope this story helps the next poor sole who is at HWH's mercy.