Kwikee Level Best 3000 Jack Issues

[Astontibs]

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
Looking for advice on:
Rebuilding jack cylinders
Bleeding jack cylinders (EDIT: I have received the procedure)
Below is the long story.

34' 2007 Itasca Sunovo with a Kwikee Level best 3000 leveling system. The jacks are hydraulic up and hydraulic down Lippert part number 359278.
I have a few issues, some existing some brand new. I had an issue with the Jacks Down light coming on while driving which I believe is from a leaking right rear cylinder. The right rear cylinder has visible ATF on the foot pad.
So this prompts my first question, I know I either need to replace or rebuild the cylinder. I got prices from $1000-$1300 to buy a cylinder but I was hoping to rebuild it. Lippert says it cannot be rebuilt. Has anyone ever had success rebuilding these or getting them rebuilt?
The next issue which is new. After verifying I had enough fluid in the reservoir, I fully extended and retracted all the jacks to try to purge any air that may be exasperating the jacks dropping problem. After doing that I was going to try to reset the auto level sensor by leveling the coach and resetting the sensor. What I found is now I can't get the right rear jack to touch the ground when I try to raise the right side of the coach. It will travel to the ground if i try to raise the rear of the coach. Either way, I could't get the jacks to raise the right side of the coach. Thinking maybe I somehow got air in the right rear, I am looking for a way to bleed the right rear jack. I am also looking for any insight or ideas why the system is acting weird now.

[RPagington]

Alan, did you ever find out the problem? I am having the same issue but left front on a 2006 Sightseer. I took it in to a repair shop and they tell me it needs a new pump assembly to the tune of $2800 for the part and $3800 total for the repair. I declined and have been looking for a used one but no luck so far.

[onebrit]

Originally Posted by Astontibs

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
Looking for advice on:
Rebuilding jack cylinders
Bleeding jack cylinders (EDIT: I have received the procedure)
Below is the long story.

34' 2007 Itasca Sunovo with a Kwikee Level best 3000 leveling system. The jacks are hydraulic up and hydraulic down Lippert part number 359278.
I have a few issues, some existing some brand new. I had an issue with the Jacks Down light coming on while driving which I believe is from a leaking right rear cylinder. The right rear cylinder has visible ATF on the foot pad.
So this prompts my first question, I know I either need to replace or rebuild the cylinder. I got prices from $1000-$1300 to buy a cylinder but I was hoping to rebuild it. Lippert says it cannot be rebuilt. Has anyone ever had success rebuilding these or getting them rebuilt?
The next issue which is new. After verifying I had enough fluid in the reservoir, I fully extended and retracted all the jacks to try to purge any air that may be exasperating the jacks dropping problem. After doing that I was going to try to reset the auto level sensor by leveling the coach and resetting the sensor. What I found is now I can't get the right rear jack to touch the ground when I try to raise the right side of the coach. It will travel to the ground if i try to raise the rear of the coach. Either way, I could't get the jacks to raise the right side of the coach. Thinking maybe I somehow got air in the right rear, I am looking for a way to bleed the right rear jack. I am also looking for any insight or ideas why the system is acting weird now.

Alan
I have a 2007 Winnebago that has had that alarm issue from new, I am a service tech of many years and found no leaking at any of my jacks however I'm a little crazy and decided to attach a Velcro's pad on the jacks up button so I can feel for that button and push while driving and all has been fine up to now. Mine usually does it when I hit a heavy pot hole or something, even when I've checked my jacks once the alarm goes off it has barely moved from its fully up position so I'm not to worried about it on my coach. But would definitely suggest you check out fully as it sounds like your doing I don't have any levelling issues just that occasional alarm.
Good Luck
Onebrit

[winno]

Have replace all 4 levelers this past year. There is 4 bolts that mounts then to the frame, plus the switch wiring that will need to be unplug at the top of the leveler, when you get it down un screw switch from top remove the HYD fittings and remove foot pad install all on new leveler. I received them from the Winnebago itself they were around $800.00 ea. I did see were someone cut the top off and replaced the o rings on the piston then had to have it weld up, heat is not good on o rings.

[Astontibs]

Originally Posted by RPagington

Alan, did you ever find out the problem? I am having the same issue but left front on a 2006 Sightseer. I took it in to a repair shop and they tell me it needs a new pump assembly to the tune of $2800 for the part and $3800 total for the repair. I declined and have been looking for a used one but no luck so far.

I spoke with Lippert Technologies and we agreed that it sounds like debris in the system causing the valves to hang up. I plan to perform a flush and fill of the hydraulic system, but I will also be removing each valve, inspecting it and cleaning it up. I hope this resolves the problem. my local RV shop said they could do the flush and fill for about $500 but I don't know if that would include removing the valves. I will let everyone know how that goes for me.

In your case, will any of the jacks lift up the coach? If they do, you can rule out the pump as the problem.

[Astontibs]

Well I did the flush and fill last Saturday. I removed each cartridge valve and inspected and cleaned them. On two of the valves there was so much debris that the screen on the valve was deformed, probably from the hydraulic fluid trying to get through and pressure build up. Once i saw the debris, which was metallic, I knew i may be in trouble. Well I put everything back together, poured in new fluid and now the jacks won't lift the coach and they struggle to go back to the retracted position. I have to believe now that the pump destroyed itself and won't make pressure anymore. I have found used units for $2000 and I can get a new one from Lippert for about $2600 (with a 10% discount they have going right now). I was ready to buy the new one when I called a hydraulic shop about flushing my hoses so I can get rid of all the debris. While we were talking about that I asked him if had ever rebuilt a pump from an RV leveling system and he said they are probably very similar to the typical pumps he works on. Well I am going to remove the unit after this weekends camping trip and give it a shot. It has to be a lot cheaper than $2600.

[RPagington]

Thank you for the reply, I replaced one of the valves hoping that would fix it but no change. Looking at the 2 valves I removed, the screens are covered in black debris so I am guessing the whole system is full of it. It looks like either a seal on one of the jacks is coming apart, I do have a leaking jack or the lines are deteriorating. At this point I think it would be easier just to remove the whole system and put a new system in. That would be cheaper than replacing one of the jacks and the pump assembly. Guess I should not complain I did get 14 years out of the system.

Ralph

[ronmanfredi]

I found this company that will rebuild your cylinders for $350 each plus shipping. They are an OEM manufacturer of most cylinders including the welded type. Worked great on my 2004 Itasca. https://www.customcylindersintinc.com/

[Dive in]

X2 for Custom Cylinders, they re-built two of mine this summer for $375 each plus shipping both ways. Its pricey but still cheaper than buying new ones.

[Astontibs]

Thank you for the information on the cylinders.
Unfortunately, that is the least of my worries right now. I removed the pump/manifold unit from the motorhome 3 weeks ago and partially disassembled it to inspect everything. Finding nothing obviously wrong , i brought it to a local hydraulics shop. They disassembled the the pump and inspected the rest of the unit and found nothing wrong, in fact they stated that the hydraulics looked brand new inside. Then they bench tested it and found that the pump was generating 1850 psi per the manufacturers literature. I do have to state that they only checked the pump in the retract position. They did not shift the main directional valve to check the extend pressure. Either way, this does show that the pump is capable of making full pressure with no flow.
This past weekend, I flushed all of the hoses going to the jacks with compressed air. Then I used the compressed air to verify that all the jacks moved up and down easily using the air. This also helped flush the rest of the fluid out of the jacks so I knew I was working with all new fluid now. Next I reinstalled the pump/manifold unit and retested it. I found that the jacks all extended and retracted the way they are supposed to, until they hit the ground. When the fronts hit the ground, the pump changes pitch slightly but the RV does not lift. When the rears hit the ground the pump changes pitch and the rear lifts very slowly.
To verify it wasn't the jacks leaking internally, I lifted the RV using a hydraulic bottle jack and then extended the jacks until they hit the ground. Then, I released the hydraulic bottle jack and the jacks held the RV up. I did this in both the front and the back and every jack help up just fine.
My theory now is that the directional control valve is leaking internally and not allowing the pump to build full pressure in the extend position. It is making enough pressure to lift the rear very slowly but not the front. I did pull the directional control valve and flushed it with compressed air and verified that the spool does shift with the solenoid and reinstalled it with the same symptoms.
My next step is to take it back to the hydraulic shop and have them see how much pressure I am getting in extend position. I am hoping it is just a failing O-ring but we shall see.

[Astontibs]

PSA for others who have the Kwikee Level Best 3000 system. The solenoid operated control valves on the pump manifold are Deltrol Hydraulics parts. I tracked down the part number for the 4 way 2 position control valve and it is DSV-080-4CON-C14 and I purchased one for $42.38 with shipping from a local Deltrol distributor.

[onebrit]

Alan
Sure sounds like you have all bases covered at this point, hope the replacement solenoid valve solves your problem. I'm sure a lot of people including myself will be interested to know if that 4 way valve solves the problem.
Good Luck
Onebrit

[Astontibs]

Good news bad news:
Bad news: the directional control valve did not fix the problem
Good news: I figured out what it is and it all makes sense now.

The internal seals in my right front jack failed. That explains the debris in the system when this whole mess started. I finally figured it out whne I realized I could rasie the rear of the RV and I could raise the left side of the RV but I couldn't raise the front or the right side. TO make absolutely sure, I used my hydraulic bottle jack to raise the right front and dropped that jack. I let the bottle jack go and the front of the RV stayed in the air because the valves in the manifold were keeping the fluid from escaping. Then when I tried to raise the front, the front actually dropped. This tells me that the fluid that is trying raise the RV is escaping through the blown internal seals in the right front jack and going right back to the tank. It has been a long road troubleshooting this issue, but I am certain this is the case. I thank the earlier posters who turned me on to Custom Cylinders Inc. I just spoke with them and they said they could rebuild the jack for about $300. I have one camping trip left for the season and then I will pull that jack and ship it to them for repair.

[DryCreek]

Originally Posted by Astontibs

Good news bad news:
I thank the earlier posters who turned me on to Custom Cylinders Inc. I just spoke with them and they said they could rebuild the jack for about $300. I have one camping trip left for the season and then I will pull that jack and ship it to them for repair.

Did you have an update for the Custom Cylinders rebuild yet?

All four of ours are spewing fluid like crazy now that it's cooled off.

What a mess.