Lazy MH jack

[Tom]

One of the jacks on our coach has decided to become "lazy" and doesn't retract without some help. It first happened at Lake Havasu when my friendly fifth wheel neighbor offered a 2x4 to give it some help. While at QZ I cleaned that jack and lubed it. It proceeded to work fine until last weekend when it became lazy again. I didn't have a 2x4 and resorted to using the lug wrench from the Burb. After a little encouragement, it proceeded to retract the the rest of the way.

Any suggestions for how to cure this?

TIA

 

[Bob Zambenini]

One of the jacks on our coach has decided to become "lazy" and doesn't retract without some help. It first happened at Lake Havasu when my friendly fifth wheel neighbor offered a 2x4 to give it some help. While at QZ I cleaned that jack and lubed it. It proceeded to work fine until last weekend when it became lazy again. I didn't have a 2x4 and resorted to using the lug wrench from the Burb. After a little encouragement, it proceeded to retract the the rest of the way.

Any suggestions for how to cure this?

TIA

Tom, seems that this is a common problem. I have this when I am in storage for a while. I have HWHs and I believe they say if them come up within something like 5 minutes they are within spec. I have found they don't really stick, they just take a long time. I have used the 2x4 also.

Sorry you can't use my solution as your are (1) not hearing impaired and (2) you have a co-pilot. I check that they are almost up, drive on, with buzzer going and my hearing aids off and music loud. After a few miles of jiggling around they are up!

Others go ahead and put them in stow long before they are ready to leave and while doing tank dumping, etc.

Seriously, many in our Newmar group have gone to stronger or heavy duty  springs. I was going to see if I might get that done at Pomona.

Bob

 

[Tom]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for those comments. What I can't understand is that this has only recently started happening. Previously, this jack would start retracting immediately, just the way the other two do.

BTW what was happening last weekend was that this jack would lift to approx 1" off the ground and then stop. I tried lowering and raising several times, but the only thing that would get it to retract was a little help. I read in an earlier topic that folks have reported the jacks needing to "warm up", but I can't see what folks do to warm up a jack. However, we did have some cool weather the weekend (in the 30's overnight).

I'll try your long wait method to see if it eventually retracts on its own. I don't usually think about the jacks until I'm almost ready to leave, but I'll just have to think about them a little sooner.

 

[jerryarlyne]

Tom,
Don't know what brand your jacks are but I have Power Gear jacks and they have a Zerk grease fitting mounted high up on the jack post and facing to the inside where it is hard to see.  My jacks did the same as yours until I discovered the fittings, Just a couple of shots of grease about twice a year keep mine working just fine. If you have HWH jacks, I'm not sure if they would have the fittings or not.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Jerry. I don't know which brand jacks I have, but I just checked the service booklet for my chassis and it shows a zerk fitting on each jack. I obviously missed them when I lubed the chassis  :-[

 

[caltex]

Tom, doesn't sound like you have HWH jacks since I don't think they have zerks. For those with HWH here is a thread on another forum didcussing the problem in detail.

http://irv2.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/2486094452/m/6431033151/r/7811053551#7811053551

 

[Tom]

Thanks Robert. I'll check what I have before our next trip. The chassis manual shows both HWH and zerks, but doesn't clarify if they're different jacks. I susoect there were two different brands used and the book is generic.

 

[Bob Zambenini]

Here is a data point. I have had increasingly slow HWH jacks for a long while, especially after being in storage a few weeks  and having them up to max.

They were  taking much longer to fully retract than the HWH spec of 5 minutes.

Today I crawled under and sprayed them with WD40 and wiped the cylinders down with a rag and sprayed them again.

Then all  4 went up in 2 minutes!!!!!!!!! Amazing!

I have always used WD40.  Some 15 years ago when I got first  rig,  this is what the president of HWH recommended, at an FMCA rally.

But now as I am getting 'slightly' older and don't like crawling around under, I must admit  I have been a little lax on this rig .

Bob

 

[Tom]

Thanks for that info Bob. I'll try some WD40 on my jacks.

 

[Karl]

Tom,

Question: Is the jack still in contact with the ground when it sticks or is there some air in between?

 

[Tom]

Is the jack still in contact with the ground when it sticks or is there some air in between?

Yes  ???  Sometimes it's still on the ground, but sometimes it comes up an inch.

FWIW one thing I did a few days ago was top up the reservoir using the recommended procedure - lower a jack by 6-8", listen to the boing, boing sound from the dash and top up the reservoir with Dexron III until the sound stops. Haven't tried the jacks since then, so I don't know if the one is still lazy.

 

[Karl]

I thought that some small movement of the coach from wind, weight shift, slides, whatever -  while jacked, might be causing lateral pressure on the piston, causing it to bind. Guess that's not the problem since you say it happens even when partially retracted. Back to the drawing board...... :-\ 

 

[John From Detroit]

I have a simular problem.... I've re-lubed and re-lubed and will talk to the manafacturer when I go there in a bit to have some other things fixed.

Actually... In the case of the jacks, which were installed by Workhorse, the manafacturere is rather close to where I live (Troy Michigan)