One leveling Jack retracts during use

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ARoyal98

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May 5, 2021
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Phoenix
Found this older thread, I’m new to RV and this forum but got myself a ‘98 class C with the HWH 225 series hydraulic leveling system. I’m having the exact issue described above. The kick down jacks come down fine and go up fine, but the drivers side front jack comes up after about 2 hours when it is supposed to be down. No visible fluid leaks at the jack.
From my research I’m figuring it’s the valve. I reached out to HWH and they said someone would be calling me back but haven’t heard from them yet.
My questions are, where do I find the valve, how hard is the job to remove and replace it or have it rebuilt? I’m willing to do the work, just not real sure where to start. Any help would be awesome!
 
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Find the hydraulic pump. The 3 or 4 valves should be right there. You will need to identify which valve is leaking. Then it's a simple matter or removing the hose, unplug the wires, and either unscrew or unbolt and replace with the new valve. Some of these valves will be either screwed into the block or bolted onto the block. If you find it, it's possibly a simple Oring that is leaking. For less than 10 dollars it might be worth taking the offending valve out and go to a good seal shop and try to match the Orings.
 
Don,
Thanks! Sounds simple enough. After unhooking hoses, do I need to bleed the air out of the system, or might this be one of these self bleeding systems I’ve read about?
 
Not necessarily ... tightening/closing the manual retract valve(s) may be the solution.
 
The 225 system doesn't have any valves by the pump. The valves are in the bottom of the stick and are operated by the levers. Do a google search for the system and you will find the info on that system. I have found that HWH is very good to work with, but you have to remember how many thousands of RVs they have to service. Make SURE you don't have a leak on the hose for that jack, or seals for the jack itself, it don't take much for it to retract. Just remember when you remove the hoses to get the valve assembly out, to mark them real good. Those hoses have to go back where they came off.
 
The only method to remove air from a HWH system is to fill reservoir to full mark, operate system, refill reservoir(jacks/slides retracted) if not at full mark. Repeat until no more fluid is required to stay at full mark. Only use either HWH oil or Dextron III unless your system states otherwise, do not use hydraulic jack oil! My particular HWH system calls in alternative type A ATF.
 
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Thanks for the input! My rig is in storage so I haven’t had a chance to tinker with it yet, but I’ll try going under the control joystick to locate the front left jack hose, disconnect it, and then remove the valve that is behind that. Not sure what to look for, but I’ll start with O-rings as was suggested by don. Then I’ll tighten it back up like Mel suggested, put the hose back on, run it up and down a few times, fill reservoir if needed, and test out the jack overnight to see how it holds. I’m hoping a new o-ring and a good tightening will do the trick. If not, then I know I’ll need a valve.
can those things be rebuilt, or should I just as well get a new one?
 
Hi guys! I got looking at where my hoses go to right in to the side of the joystick control box, and I’m not exactly sure how to open the thing up. I’ve attached some pictures below.
Do I take the top plate off and then unscrew the case at the base?
D91C2A50-C584-407E-9046-62DB520A0DD6.jpeg015A2629-43A1-4916-B1A4-F1CAF2040E73.jpegC225D997-D5B8-44F6-8440-D0771F29C512.jpeg
 
That system doesn't have separate valves . It's a valve block. Look for info on HWH 225 .
 
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It looks like only 4 screws and 3 knobs to get the face plate off. You can’t get in too much trouble by doing that. If you do get the valve out, any hydraulic shop should be able to rebuild it for you and probably won’t take very long or as mentioned, send it back to the manufacturer.
 
Charlie,
If it’s a valve block, can only one of the jacks come back up like that? I would assume that if a valve block was bad, then all 4 jacks would come up since they are all through the same valve block?
 
Charlie,
If it’s a valve block, can only one of the jacks come back up like that? I would assume that if a valve block was bad, then all 4 jacks would come up since they are all through the same valve block?
It's a block but has separate components. Do a google search for the valve so you know what you have. Call HWH and see if they will sell you any of the components. Are you positive you don't have a jack of hose leaking? I had a hose leaking a little bit on mine and in a few days the jack would fully retract.
 
Ok everyone, here is my update. I tested out the jacks again and they all held for more than overnight. None of them came up. However, when I was bringing them up and down, I noticed that both of the driver's side jacks were slightly slower than the other side to come down and go up.
Here's what I did. I found the pump and reservoir, checked fluid level and it was slightly low, so I added some dextron iii ATF to a full level. The air cap had a dipstick on it with 2 lines, and I filled it to the top line when the jacks were up and in the stored position.
Then, I also took off the cover plate where the joystick is and cleaned it out. It was filthy in there and had a quarter in there, hair, dead bugs. I took it all apart, took the center joystick off completely, cleaned off the contact plate, wiped the little contacts, and put everything back together.
Then, I turned the system back on to run the jacks up and down. Everything worked okay, I lowered the jacks, again, the drivers side came down a bit slower than the other side. Once I had the coach satisfactorily level for me, I was going to put the rest of the jacks down to stabilize the coach and suddenly the pump wouldn't run when I moved the joystick forward or backward.
I put the jacks back up, moved the joysticks to the store position, turned everything off, restarted it, and figured I'd try again to circulate some fluid through the system hoping it would help that drivers side a little bit. Again, no pump running when I move the joystick.
I checked the 10amp fuse at the pump and it looked great.
Not real sure where to go from here with it. Maybe check some voltages at the pump? I can't imagine that anything I did would have caused the pump to fail?
What are all of your thoughts?
 
remove the cover, and use a pencil eraser to clean the round circuit board under the bell on the joy stick.
while you are there, squirt a little wd-40 on the eight poppet valves.
they get a little build up on them and stick in one position.
my name is paul maddox. i work full time for hwh. i do not solicit part sales on this forum, and do not do service work,
my only purpose here is to help hwh customers fix their problems.
you need help, please feel free to call me. i can help. 602 549 3638
paul
 

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