Blown rear slide hydraulic hose again

[TerryM]

We just returned home from Phoenix last month. On the way North, we spent a couple of weeks at Lincoln City, Oregon. We had the first real rains since we bought the coach, and we had quite a leak flowing under the bath sink cabinet and getting the bedroom carpet very wet. When I got home to Yakima, I stopped by the WRV Service Center and asked if I could leave the coach there to open the slide and dry out the carpet. I also told them I was seeing some new hydraulic fluid on the radiator that concerned me. The next day I drove the coach to the Service Center and was taking advantage of the dump site when I heard the loud pop near the back of the coach and I turned to watch the rear slide move out about 8 inches...and the fluid pouring onto the ground. At least it waited until I was parked right in front of the Service Center to blow this time.

Of course, this happened on April 19th, and while the carpet is now dry, the coach still sits there waiting for new hoses. Today, I was told that they are waiting for HWH to send hoses, not only for me, but that they are waiting for hoses on the production line, too. You may remember that I had a fitting blow off the end of one of the hoses last November in Arizona.

We've been told that we'll get new hoses in time to join the NoWACA Rally in Walla Walla over Mother's Day. Hopefully they can find the water leak, too.

[TerryM]

We just returned home from Phoenix last month. On the way North, we spent a couple of weeks at Lincoln City, Oregon. We had the first real rains since we bought the coach, and we had quite a leak flowing under the bath sink cabinet and getting the bedroom carpet very wet. When I got home to Yakima, I stopped by the WRV Service Center and asked if I could leave the coach there to open the slide and dry out the carpet. I also told them I was seeing some new hydraulic fluid on the radiator that concerned me. The next day I drove the coach to the Service Center and was taking advantage of the dump site when I heard the loud pop near the back of the coach and I turned to watch the rear slide move out about 8 inches...and the fluid pouring onto the ground. At least it waited until I was parked right in front of the Service Center to blow this time.

Of course, this happened on April 19th, and while the carpet is now dry, the coach still sits there waiting for new hoses. Today, I was told that they are waiting for HWH to send hoses, not only for me, but that they are waiting for hoses on the production line, too. You may remember that I had a fitting blow off the end of one of the hoses last November in Arizona.

We've been told that we'll get new hoses in time to join the NoWACA Rally in Walla Walla over Mother's Day. Hopefully they can find the water leak, too.

[Gary M. Smith]

TerryM,
It's tough to stomach that someone at WRV / HWH has not been on top of all the thread entries about blown hydraulic hoses! It would seem that WRV and HWH would have a vested interest in pulling their best and brightest into this and engineering a final solution. This situation is deplorable!

[jerry davis]

Couldn't agree more as I am on my second set and worry about the slides every time I use them.

[OldForester]

TerryM,

At least you're lucky that it happened right in front of the service center. That's about as lucky as one can get with this issue; especially to also be near your home.

As you've probably read from parts of the thread on this subject, we are on our third set of hoses on the bedroom slide. We have actually become fairly competent at changing them in 2 1/2 to 3 hours or so.

Our last hoses from HWH have been on the coach since February and have about 5,000 miles and probably about 30 extensions/retractions on them.

According to the HWH-certified technician that changed our last two sets of hoses, the problem was with the hose fittings, not the heat from the radiator. Nonetheless, we fastened the hoses up to the bedroom floor and covered the fittings with WRV's recommended heat shield. This got them away from laying on the radiator. There are a few pictures in the photo gallery on this; here's two of them on the last installation on our coach:

http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showph...00&ppuser=1486

http://www.irv2.com/photopost/showph...ose&perpage=12

Our last two hoses from HWH had a different - colored fitting -- a bright silver color -- and the technician who did our work thinks they might have made a change in the fitting.

Anyway, I agree with the other comments -- I worry about the slides every time I move them, but so far have had good success with the last set and this installation. This is an issue in which we really need to get some confidence because it is extremely upsetting to have these leaks and lose a number of days or weeks of travel or ability to move the coach because of the inoperative slide. I think we all have learned there's pressure on the cylinders to keep the slides in as well as to move them out, so if a hose blows going down the road, there's a good chance the slide will move out as it did for you.

On the water under the bedroom slide, I learned that if it's heavily raining, it's a good idea on our double slide coaches to tip the left side down a little bit with the HWH leveling system, so that rain runs away from the coach on the bottom of the slide instead of into it.

We will be at NoWaCa rally as well, hope to see you there, and see how things are going with the coach and if you learned anything new from this hose replacement.

[EngineerMike]

Its been a while, beginning of December IIRC, that we were southbound on I-5 by Tracy and watched a northbound Alpiner with his/her bedroom slide out. I just figured someone was using the wardrobe but maybe they had hose issues.

Reminds me of the certified HWH technician from Ensenada. He had two sons. He named them HoseA and HoseB.

[jerry davis]

You've been in Mexico way to long Mike. I'm surprised the border patrol let you back to the US side!

[TerryM]

They squeezed me in and got the rear slide working. The work order says they replaced the rear slide hoses, but didn't specify if a hose blew or a fitting came off. I'll make an appointment to get the other items fixed....I'll just have to stay on the dry side of the mountains for a while to keep the water out. SWMBO has a smile on her face again.

I noticed the HWH rep's coach at the factory as I was pulling out, and I suspect that there were other coaches waiting for hoses, too.

OldForester, it looks like I'll see you at NoWACA in Walla Walla. The weather forecast looks great.

[dshogman]

For those who are having this problem, it looks like it's only with 2006 coaches. Is that correct. Just got a 2005 and would like to cross it off my worry list.

[jerry davis]

We had to have the hoses replaced on our 05 but it could be considered somewhat of an 06 because we have the larger rear slide that was added in 06.

[rockcj]

when I had mine (05) i had it replaced as well. Faulty design. Saddleback service guy actually modified it to not happen again. Don't remember the specifics...

David

[dan&donna]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gary M. Smith:
TerryM,
It's tough to stomach that someone at WRV / HWH has not been on top of all the thread entries about blown hydraulic hoses! It would seem that WRV and HWH would have a vested interest in pulling their best and brightest into this and engineering a final solution. This situation is deplorable! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Oregon Coyote]

In fairness to WRV, it is doubtful they have hydraulic hose design engineers on board. Like other components in their coaches they primarily rely on their supplier to get it right. I suspect they are even more frustrated at these failures than those owners that experience the problem; because, as anyone reading this forum knows, WRV is the frontline target of everyone's ire. (And they sure don't need to read this forum to know that there is a problem.)

Norm

[dgerstel]

Norm,
I think WRV does have engineers from all feilds. And I think you are right, all the coach manufactures use the design engineers from HWH to help in designing their HWH slide systems. As anyone in many business' know there can always be problems in new designs. As you know I am at WRV right now picking up my new coach. On my first day here I saw the HWH guy hauling in a load of new hoses. I think HWH has had a problem in getting it just right and then in meeting the demand for the new updated parts.

Dale