Community Forums

mj25 · 05-05-2019, 07:05 PM

Driver's side front jack will not retract on its own. The other 3 will retract, but are very slow. When I opened looked at the solenoids after 30 minutes of trying to get them retracted, they seemed to be smoking a bit. I was able to use a 2x2 and finally forced it all the way up, but would love to figure out what is really going on with my jacks. Any ideas will help. Thank you.

Randy125 · 05-05-2019, 08:52 PM

When mine started retracting slowly, I replaced all the springs and have not had any issues since.

Skip426 · 05-05-2019, 08:58 PM

Info from the manufacturer on cleaning ( helped mine ) and checking the springs .

Pandion · 05-06-2019, 04:58 AM

My left rear jack has been hanging up with a few inches to go recently, so I did the WD40 cleaning from the maintenance sheet that Skip426 posted. I didn’t time it, but the LR not only didn’t hang, it retracted more quickly than the RR, which I had also cleaned with WD 40. Pleasantly surprised it worked so well.

vettenuts · 05-06-2019, 05:18 AM

You may have damaged your solenoids by leaving them on that long, especially if they were smoking. The prior owner of my coach did something similar due to one lazy jack and had to replace all four solenoids.

You should be able to hit the Store button with the key in the Acc position and the jacks will retract and the system will shut down in two minutes to protect the solenoids. If they don’t retract you have other issues. Dirt is a common issue and can result in slow retraction. Weak springs or the old style springs can be another cause.

First, you need to figure out if your solenoids are toast. Then I would clean the shafts and spray the seals real good to break loose any accumulated gunk. I would do both of these and then move to the springs.

reosw · 06-19-2019, 10:40 AM

According to the HWH troubleshooting manual, the auto retract will stay energized for 30 minutes prior to auto shutdown, so it appear the solenoids are designed for continuous, rather than intermittent duty. I have a slow retracting LR, and at the 30 min point (it still was not fully retracted) the solenoid was warm to the touch, but not hot, or smoking by any measure.

reosw · 06-19-2019, 10:45 AM

Mine is not a spring issue....all replaced about 5 years ago on my 03 Mountain Aire. Something else going on given pry bar is not working with LR, stops about 4" from being fully retracted. Oddly, auto retract with start the process, so solenoids are working, but once coach weight is off the jack, it will retract about another 4 inches then stop.

**Spdracr39** · 06-19-2019, 10:55 AM

Swap the solenoid with another position that works properly. If the trouble follows it then the solenoid is the issue if not it is the valve or the jack.

mj25 · 06-20-2019, 04:01 AM

Had jack replaced. Fingers crossed that they found issue. Repair shop said that the way these hwh jacks were installed at angle puts pressure on rod. Think it is bent. Told me to use 6x6 blocks to limit how far jack goes down. We’ll see. Thanks