Slide hoses bursting

[Doug Sage]

Twice in two years now I have had a slide hose actually break in two while driving. What is going on? The pump should not be working while driving. Can't the hoses stand the pressure change as the ambient temperature changes? Can you get replacement hoses that are rated for higher pressure? Can anyone enlighten me about this problem?

[bellsharbor]

HI Doug--Sorry to hear about your problem. Do you have an HWH system? I have never heard of the lines actually breaking in two. On my last Winnebago Journey I had both slides leak from defective lines from HWH. If they are HWH I would give them a call and see what they say. They are usually pretty helpful. Good luck and let us know what you find out. John

[Doug Sage]

Yes, I have an HWH system. I intend on calling them today since they were closed over the weekend. I am wondering if there is some type of pressure relief valve that handles increased pressure from temperature and/or altitude changes. That might explain what happened to me. I closed up the slides at 47* and 4,000' elevation and then drove to 7,000' elevation and the temperature increased to 95*. That is the only explanation that I can come up with.

[NO1RAINH20]

The only ones i have ever seen do anything like this were routed by winnebago to close to a heat source,have seen plenty that leak or seep fluid

[Paul T]

If you go to the HWH website they have numerous tutorials and educational information you may find interesting. Conceptually, the hoses are always under pressure. I found the info on their site very useful educationally in that it allowed me to have a relatively knowledgeable discussion with a local HWH trained master mechanic.

I do find your question about pressure changes with pressure altitude changes interesting in that the one hose, (coupling), on my unit that has failed did so while traversing the Rockies. I suspect it was just coincidental however and HWH would say that pressure altitude change had no input whatsoever to the hose failure problem.

[smlranger]

Certainly, the hoses from the manifold to the slides are under pressure. When the slides are closed, there would be pressure between the extend solenoid for that slide and the ram holding the slide in the closed position.

We had a hose fail and I replaced it with a heavier hose from a local auto parts store that makes up hydraulic hoses.

[Doug Sage]

I talked to both Winnebago and HWH today. The consensus is that there is no pop-off type of valve. The retract line is continuously under pressure when the slide is in. My rig is gas powered so you have the heat from the motor and exhaust as well as the road and ambient temperatures. Possibly this is enough to cause the hose to become over-pressures and burst. HWH is sending me a steel line for the front ram on both sides in the hope that it will be able to stand more pressure and prevent this from happening again.

[Paul T]

Doug - Are the steel lines from HWH you refer to being provided as a courtesy or are you paying for them? If they are different from the original equipment a lot of us would be very interested in more details. Also can you tell us which hose burst, (forward or aft) and on which slide (driver's side or pax side)?

[Doug Sage]

I am scheduled to have the new lines installed next Monday so I will know more then. I had the front hose on the passenger side blow in May 2009 and the front hose on the driver's side blew about a week ago. HWH is going to replace both lines with the steel tubing.

[Doug Sage]

Well, I have two new steel lines now. My problem was with the retract lines at the front which is closest to the transmission on my gas powered rig. HWH replaced the retract lines on both slides at the front with steel lines that span from the ram to outside of the frame. Then they used the regular type of line from outside the frame to the equalizer cylinder. The HWH person who did the work said that he has seen this problem quite a bit and it is related to heat from the Allison transmission. (I had just gone over 3 passes of 6,000 to 7,000 feet elevation when the line popped.) He said that the normal working pressure in the system is around 3,000 psi and the hoses are rated for 6,000 psi but with the heat the pressure exceeds this limit. I hope this is the end of my hydraulic problems. HWH is very responsive and I would recommend them to anyone!

[Doug Sage]

I just wanted to follow up with the final resolution to my problem. HWH has been outstanding in their service!! I cannot say enough good things about them and their roaming repair person, Paul Maddox. Paul came out three times to my RV park outside of Apache Junction, AZ. Ultimately he replaced the two retract lines and the two retract lines on the front of the slides which are on both sides of my motorhome. He also found two other lines that were leaking and replaced them. He found a leaking solenoid and replaced that. He found a leak where a solenoid went into the pump reservoir and tightened that also. All of this was done for free! Apparently this is only a problem with gas rigs because of the heat off the motor and transmission. Also, apparently this is more of a problem with Winnebago products because of the way they route the lines during assembly. HWH has been communicating with Winnebago about this problem. Anyway, HWH and Paul Maddox have been outstanding and I wnted to pass the word about their great service.

[GG1]

I had a 99 Adventurer that we purchased new after 6 months a hydraulic hose blew, there was white smoke all over the place the hose was routed near the exhaust manifold and trans which could have caused a fire, that caused the failure. Winnebago refused to admit they routed the hose improperly after a lot of complaining they fixed it under warranty. Kind of like a civil suit when the defendant pays up but does not admit any wrongdoing!!!!!!! Go figure

[Paul T]

I don’t know if this message will even post to an older link but wanted to see if Doug is still Full Timing and will send him a private message.
Just blew one of the hydraulic lines to my slides two days ago and am taking it in for evaluation at one of HWH’s “Master Mechanic” places tomorrow. I’ll post what I learn but hope they will have a chat with HWH factory folks and recommend some steel lines where others have had them installed.

[Airtool]

I replaced the lines on my previous Gas class A with heavy duty lines from Goodyear. They never went south again. The OEM type where like a heavy plastic, They did not like heat or cold.

Dick