Power Gear Jack replacement

[bdpreece]

Less than a week after purchasing Our new Holiday Rambler 40PDQ the rear passenger side jack failed to the point where it blew the seal and poured out at lest 2 quarts of fluid onto the street. When fully extended the shaft has a vertical line of dips in it about 4 inches long. I returned to the purchasing dealer and they supposedly ordered a new jack for me under warranty. It is going on two weeks now and since I had heard nothing I called the dealer. The story I got was that Power Gear only deals with them by fax and that they had sent in the warranty request via fax but had not received any answer. Is this normal procedure? Have any of you out there had to replace a Power Gear jack and if so how long did it take to get parts. Naturally we are itching to use the new coach but we want to get this taken care of before we go anywhere.

[Vegasdan]

Power Gear will not talk to a consumer and only works with RV repairmen or dealerships. They can take their sweet time getting parts or whatever. Sorry to say you're stuck until the replacement arrives.

[adj]

Maybe Power Gear needs a jolt of reality from the BBB. File a complaint with the BBB.

[Gotta_P]

I have my rig in the shop for a Power Gear jack leak as well (Rear Driver's side). I have heard the same story about Power Gear only dealing via fax. One Service Center I visited said they think Power Gear only has one employee and all they do is handle warrantee claims! Not sure how you stay in business with this type of operation...

[az bound]

Power gear jacks are rebuildable. Any good hydraulic shop should have replacement seals. I have done several rebuilds, not that hard to do. Worst part is removing and installing.

[Not a Clue]

We had one replaced under warranty...I think it took about two to four weeks to get the jack. I even got Fleetwood involved, before they finally shipped the jack. This was ordered through the dealer, but I went directly to Fleetwood to get help with the problem with shipping.

[bdpreece]

Quote:

Originally Posted by az bound Power gear jacks are rebuildable. Any good hydraulic shop should have replacement seals. I have done several rebuilds, not that hard to do. Worst part is removing and installing.

If it was just a seal I could see rebuilding but the shaft is trashed with about 4 inches of dips in a straight line at the top of the shaft. That is what ripped the seal.

[Vegasdan]

The best insurance for your powergear jacks is to put boards under the jack feet. Do no allow the feet to sink into the ground. If you do, immediantly clean them off before you retract. If you retract with dirt ontop of the foot, you will push dirt into the seal and then you will have leaks. My rear jacks had dirt inside of the seals from the previous owners. $350 later and new seals I'm wiser for it.

[bdpreece]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vegasdan The best insurance for your powergear jacks is to put boards under the jack feet. Do no allow the feet to sink into the ground. If you do, immediantly clean them off before you retract. If you retract with dirt ontop of the foot, you will push dirt into the seal and then you will have leaks. My rear jacks had dirt inside of the seals from the previous owners. $350 later and new seals I'm wiser for it.

Now that is something worth knowing. Here in the NW with all the rain jacks sink in the mud all the time. Guess I need to be more careful. On our first trip with this coach I sunk 4 leveling blocks stacked on top of each other in the mud before we finally stabilized.

[Mile Hi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by az bound Power gear jacks are rebuildable. Any good hydraulic shop should have replacement seals. I have done several rebuilds, not that hard to do. Worst part is removing and installing.

Hello AZ Bound...I have the same problem with my RV (2000 Fleetwood Pace Arrow Vision). The front passenger side jack began leaking on my last trip. It seems like new seals are all this is needed. I don't know enough about hydraulic systems to even attempt to take the jack off the RV myself. Is it reasonable to expect a hydraulic shop to take the jack off the rig (for a fee) and replace it when rebuilt?

[JimM68]

You don't need to know anything about hydraulics to take the jack off.
Retract the jacks.
Undo the hose (plastic bag and diuct tape or rubber band will grab any residual oil, not much will leak out)
Unbolt the jack (4 big bolts and nuts) and take it to somewhere that can fix it. Many truck repair shops can, anyplace that repairs forklifts can, and any place that deals with agricultural machinery.

city = forklift
rural = farm tractor

Be nice. It's a lil different and out of thier comfort zone. they can do it, you just have to make them want to. The seals are universal, they can get those through thier regular suppliers.

Bad shaft is another story. You'll need powergear and/or fleetwood for that.

You might try ebay.

Last summer, I needed a new pump. After getting a quote of $1500 and 4-6 weeks from my dealer for just the pump (no valves or solenoids or anything) I went to ebay.
Scored a complete brand new unit (whole thing, reservior, vavles and pump, just swapped on my level switch and solenoids) for $750.
Bet you can find a rear cylinder on ebay with a lil luck.
The powergear manuals and parts lists (readily available on powergears and many others websites) lifts dimensions and part numbers for all the different size jacks. Measure yours, match em up with a part number, and go shopping on ebay.

[az bound]

Mile Hi; Jim gave the same advice I would have. Most hydraulic shops will be able to help you. 4 bolts, one hose and one elelectrical connection. Just be careful its heavy.

[captpar]

Sure can , I took my leaking power gear jack off and took it to a forllift repair shop, jack was back and installed in less then 3 hours at a cost of $150.00.

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Quote:

Power Gear will not talk to a consumer and only works with RV repairmen or dealerships. They can take their sweet time getting parts or whatever

I think it's time as many of us as possible to complain to PowerGear that we'll not purchase a rig if it has PowerGear jacks under it. There email for consumers is: info@powergearus.com