Leaking left front jack and "jacks down" indicator beeping

[98FPA]

I wouldn't change your hoses unless they are leaking. The thing with hydraulic hoses is that the bend radius for a 3/8" hose is around 5" (?), these on my MH were pretty close to that if not sharper. Because of this, the hoses became more "stressed" at the fitting and finally gave out; but it's been over 15 years too. I removed the hose fitting from the cylinder and caught what little fluid in a milk carton. I then remove all clamps holding the hose so I could lower the hose to ground level. What I did then, to make the hose more manageable to work, with I cut it in two with my my dremel tool that has a small (1-1/4") cutoff wheel. Once I cut through the hose it drained what remaining fluid that was in the hose, I had a oil drain pan that I used to catch this fluid. After drain the hose I only got about an 1" of fluid in a quart milk jug. I really don't think there was any pressure on the hose as it didn't squirt out like there was. Removing the front portion of the hose was easy, the rear portion was a lot tougher as it was placed along the top side of the rail frame where there were wire looms etc. running too. I'll run my hoses a different route where I put them back in, as Fleetwood said "keep them away from the exhaust". If you are going to remove your cylinder remove the hose from it prior to removing the cylinder. I know that when I replaced my cylinders that I did not bleed any of the lines, I just ran the cylinders up and down and keep checking the fluid level. I did this about 8-10 times and all seemed good. I also think I read somewhere on the forum that they did not need to be bleed. Also anytime you add fluid make sure your jacks are retracked.

Tips are removing the cylinders: If you have room for impact wrench, it will be close to a piece of cake. I had three bolts that I removed in minutes, the other three I had to use an 18" breaker bar to break these free. I used a 3/4" impact socket (more durable) than a regular socket - just about rounded the heads just enough to cause to real heartburn! I used my floorjack, raised it up to the footpad to hold the cylinder in place while removing all bolts, I used the same method to put the cylinder back in place. There just really is not a lot of room working on these, it's doable though! Hey, I'm 69 and weigh about 150 lbs. dripping wet and I was able to "git-r-done!" Feel free to send a PM if you need any more info.

Good luck.

[chucksel]

Originally Posted by 98FPA

I wouldn't change your hoses unless they are leaking. The thing with hydraulic hoses is that the bend radius for a 3/8" hose is around 5" (?), these on my MH were pretty close to that if not sharper. Because of this, the hoses became more "stressed" at the fitting and finally gave out; but it's been over 15 years too. I removed the hose fitting from the cylinder and caught what little fluid in a milk carton. I then remove all clamps holding the hose so I could lower the hose to ground level. What I did then, to make the hose more manageable to work, with I cut it in two with my my dremel tool that has a small (1-1/4") cutoff wheel. Once I cut through the hose it drained what remaining fluid that was in the hose, I had a oil drain pan that I used to catch this fluid. After drain the hose I only got about an 1" of fluid in a quart milk jug. I really don't think there was any pressure on the hose as it didn't squirt out like there was. Removing the front portion of the hose was easy, the rear portion was a lot tougher as it was placed along the top side of the rail frame where there were wire looms etc. running too. I'll run my hoses a different route where I put them back in, as Fleetwood said "keep them away from the exhaust". If you are going to remove your cylinder remove the hose from it prior to removing the cylinder. I know that when I replaced my cylinders that I did not bleed any of the lines, I just ran the cylinders up and down and keep checking the fluid level. I did this about 8-10 times and all seemed good. I also think I read somewhere on the forum that they did not need to be bleed. Also anytime you add fluid make sure your jacks are retracked. Tips are removing the cylinders: If you have room for impact wrench, it will be close to a piece of cake. I had three bolts that I removed in minutes, the other three I had to use an 18" breaker bar to break these free. I used a 3/4" impact socket (more durable) than a regular socket - just about rounded the heads just enough to cause to real heartburn! I used my floorjack, raised it up to the footpad to hold the cylinder in place while removing all bolts, I used the same method to put the cylinder back in place. There just really is not a lot of room working on these, it's doable though! Hey, I'm 69 and weigh about 150 lbs. dripping wet and I was able to "git-r-done!" Feel free to send a PM if you need any more info. Good luck.

Thanks for the info!