Update on my HWH Levelers

[SeattlePirat]

Hey Pete, I'm constantly amazed at the statement about cleaning crud off the jack cylinder. In theory the outter seal should clean the jack as its retracted everytiime. I think its a lube issue. ON a different note, I want to thank you for the help you gave us when we had an air up failure on the road. You provided a workaround that let us go home and get it repaired then rather than on the road. An air ride coach wont go far when it doesnt air up.

[dwhit]

I've a 16 year old Damon...I spray the rams with WD-40 before every retraction. They suck-up immediately and flip 90 degrees. After sitting three months in FLORIDA, I sprayed them more often as they were down so long but didn't retract them...so when it was time to leave I sprayed 'em and they sucked-up right quick. Everything on an RV is maintenance. Perform the maintenance and you'll see a problem arising but prob'ly never have a sudden failure of RV systems...'cept the dreaded blowout...pretty much everything else gives ample warning.

[azpete]

while the straight down jacks dont require much care, cleaning the shaft does help retraction.
the kick down jacks are another matter. if you look at the pivot bolts on all the jacks, you can see thast they are just steel bolts. they do rust, in not cleaned and lubed.
at the top of the 9k, 12k, and 16k jacks, there is a roller bearing at the top left side of the mounting bracket. these also need to be cleaned and lubed, if they are rusty and will not turn.
if they do not turn as the jack is trying to retract, there is no retraction. you can drive off them and they will probably kick horizontal, but they will not retract. its a good part of cleaning your jacks if you check this bearing. i just made a 100 mile service call for just this problem.