HWH Hydraulic Line Failure

[Bill Z.]

I have a 2005 34' Alpine and have experienced five failures in the HWH hydraulic lines in or near the bedroom side. Four have been in the BR slide and one at the rear leveling jack on that same side. The last two failures in the BR slide failed in spite of the heat shield fix. Guaranty RV in Eugene, OR says they are unable to install new fittings on these hoses and want $400/hose to replace each of the four BR hoses. Since I previously changed two of the BR hoses myself, with WRV replacements, I have no problem changing them myself.

Does anyone know if WRV was installing the fittings on the hoses, or buying pre-made ones from HWH?

Also, where can I purchase some quality hoses that can withstand the heat that exists below the BR slide?

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Z. Also, where can I purchase some quality hoses that can withstand the heat that exists below the BR slide?

There are vendors out there that make any kind of hose you want. Bring a sample of the hose, length and both ends. Call around to your parts distribution houses, NAPA, Carquest and others. If they don't do hoses, they most likely will know who can.

[two sailors]

The only hoses I had luck with were the ones from HWH. I had some made by a shop
that had the equipment and seemed to know what they were doing but failed.
HWH was helpful and reasonable $. No leaks for a couple of years.

[Old Rv'er]

Two Sailors is right. Call HWH and see what they say, and get the hoses from them, as you will have some kind of parts warranty. Let us know what happens.

Two sailors when were you in, where stationed?

[OldForester]

Bill Z,

If you do a search for hydraulic hose failures on this forum you will find a whole evening's worth of reading and advice on wardrobe slide hydraulic failures; we had 4 sets of them and have mentioned our experience numerous times, as have others. All of our hoses came from HWH, all were rerouted from the heat and the 3rd set failed after cycling 2x a day for a week without the engine being turned on, e.b., absolutely no heat. HWH finally sent a set with different fittings and they have worked fine for over two years now. So I'm not convinced heat is a problem.

But as Old Rv'er said, keep going back to HWH if you can change them yourself, and they will take care of it.

[Jim A]

I just suffered my second HWH hose fitting failure on the bedroom slide after they were rerouted, in about 2 years. The first set lasted about 4 years when routed over the radiator heat.

Based on the data, it is obvious to me that excessive heat makes the HWH hoses better and last longer. Data doesn't lie!!!

In spite of this evidence, I had the repair shop replace the HWH hoses with hoses from a local source that they deal with. From what I have seen, they CAN"T be any worse. Time will tell.

[Old Rv'er]

Ok - I am confused some (which is not hard once you consider my brain) however, it seems to me it's mostly the 36 foot units with this issue. What is different about those rigs versus the 38's & 40's. WRV ran the hoses I think the same way in all of them if I'm not correct? Someone put me in my place please.

[takepride]

Monty:

The issue with shorter coaches is that they all used the same size hoses, so WRV had to loop or route a bit differently in order to "use up" the extra footage.

[Old Scout]

Actually--40s dont have the wardrobe slide[vanity yes, but wardrobe no], the bed slide hoses [single cylinder]enter the subfloor well away from the radiator area. Being a 40 owner, I have no direct knowledge of this issue but the most interesting comment Ive seen on this issue is the owner who had new hoses put on and with not having had the engine running, the new hoses burst. Isolated as this was, it does make you wonder if the design of the dual cylinder/equalized hydraulics on the wardrobe slide is part of the problem--just wondering out-loud????

PS --I recently relpaced the hoses [leaking at connections] to the bed slide and it was amazing how deteriorated the outside jacks of these hoses had become [after 7 years]--engine heat????

[JohnLori]

I have a 40 footer and I've had to replace one jack hose and eight(!) slide hoses. Obviously, from all different areas of the coach, and all due to bubbling and leaking fittings. Something is wrong with that picture, but at least HWH was helpful in making up new ones.

These were in the storage bay, away from any heat source:

[Wayne R]

John did you replace the LH rear jack hose? Mine has been leaking since new. HWH replaced the jack 3 times still leaks from the top. I have avoided replacing the hose since it is so hard to access.

[JohnLori]

Hi Wayne,

Yes, it was the LH rear jack hose that I had to replace, and it cost a bit because it is so long and difficult to access. I first went through replacing fittings on the jack (pressure switch) and hose (end fittings) before finally stopping the leaking with the new hose. The old hose had bubbles along much of its length and was weeping fluid near the top of the jack.

It has been a year now since it was replaced and it's still dry. (Where's the smilie for "keeping my fingers crossed", "knocking on wood",.....)

Altogether, I've spent around $2000 on the HWH hydraulics--including the $.50 diode on the circuit board.

In all fairness, three of the hydraulic lines I had to replace were not HWH, so what can the problem be--the fluid? It looked like some of the end fittings were not installed properly, but how can the bubbling be explained? Furthermore, I have owned other motorhomes with HWH systems and never had a problem with it.

[Wayne R]

John, thanks for the reply. I figured it was probably the hose. HWH even put a new fitting on the hose the last time they changed the jack. I will bite the bullet and change the hose over the winter. I am hoping while I have the LH rear wheels off I can remove the mud flap and gain a little more room to squeeze my robust body in there.

[Old Rv'er]

A suggestion would be to roll the rear end of the motorhome up on some good sized wooden blocks; 4”H X 12”W X 15-20"L should be enough. You can take some 1/4" plywood and face the bottom and top of those so they don’t crack when you put all that weight on them. Cut them on one end at a good long tapered angle so the coach can climb up onto them. Put a block of wood at the end as a stop so you don’t roll off the other side if you don’t have a co-pilot backing you up. Then while you are working under it the height and mass clearance would be there for you, the coach would be up, and even if the air bags depleted, you would not be crushed.

John mentioned the fittings; I think I would also change those in addition to the hose, to remedy that as also a possible leaking problem. Now I have not had any leaks except for the hyd actuator on one smart bed, and that was caused by an installation error when the assembler of the smartbed, used Channel Locks to hold the polished shaft while he tightened the nut on the end to the smartbed. I am sure this fellow is a brain trust unto himself. I have not checked the hoses, which I should to see if mine are bubbling. They did not show any of that when I was dealing with the leak mentioned above, and looked very good. Knock on wood as well.

Camping world sells HWH hydraulic fluid by the quart, so lay in about a gallon of it for the loss once the old hose comes off and the new hose goes on to be safe. I keep a couple of quarts in my fluids I carry on the road.

And I am going to make an assumption here, that WRV made up some of the hoses and HWH also made up some of the hoses, is that correct? Or did HWH ship the hoses with each hydraulic jack and slide system? I have heard, but have not been able to confirm, that HWH had a “lot” (numerical sequence of items not a quantity in this case) of bad hoses in the 03-05 range which some made it into our coaches I would imagine.