Community Forums

Buddy and Beverly · 05-14-2006, 01:31 PM

Hello,

Have been reading with interest all the posts regarding the hydraulic problem. Holday Kamper supposedly has ours fixed (don't know whether they "made" the heat shield or got a part). Hopefully, we will soon see how it is working. Unfortunately, I believe ours was the first "replacing the hydraulic lines" they had done, so I hope they did okay. They had help from WRV and HWH by phone.

Our SmarTire system is still giving problems, which is why the MH is still at the shop. We plan to pick it up Tues. regardless and take it on a week's trip to check things out. A factory rep. from Silver Leaf is coming to Camping World the end of the month to take a look at ours and another coach and give some guidance.

To those of you who had your hydraulics replaced a year or so ago, I assume they are okay now and haven't given any more trouble.

Beverly and Buddy

Buddy and Beverly · 05-14-2006, 01:40 PM

Lundy,

What other "major" problems have you had, so maybe I can be prepared? We also had a Tradewinds (35' '03 model) for four months and traded it for the Alpine in Feb. We didn't have the T long enough to have problems, but it didn't handle well in wind. That is why we got rid of it.

So far, we are still very satisfied with our Alpine and hope this is just "getting the bugs" out. Our other problems seemed serious to us, but turned out to be minor (no heat, refrig. quit working, etc.--due to loose wiring in the relay switch to the surge guard).

I am sure it's not appropriate to talk about your Tradewinds on this site, but I would appreciate your comments to my email address at bbiggs@bellsouth.net.

Beverly and Buddy

Buddy and Beverly · 05-14-2006, 01:42 PM

Audrey and John,

I'm happy that you got your MH fixed in a timely manner. MH Specialists seem like a good dealer. Trust all is well at this time. I just hope they did a correct job on ours. I'm a little uneasy knowing they had never done one before.

Beverly

raci17 · 05-15-2006, 06:38 AM

Does anybody know if the air exchanger gets hotter than the radiator? My damaged hyd. lines are laying right on top of it. The area that the lines cross over the top of the radiator show no signs of damage, only where they are laying on top of the exchanger is where they are blistered and leaking.

EngineerMike · 05-15-2006, 09:12 AM

Raci-
There are several "radiators" in what I call the radiator stack-
engine coolant radiator,
tranny lube cooler,
turbo boost intercooler,
and probably the chassis air conditioner radiator.
Air in the intercooler could be ambient + 300 degrees when the boost is 30psi, but that's the actual compressed air, not the ext.temp of the intercooler surface. Ext.temp would be less as the gradient between cooling air & the intercooler contents is steep, & the drop will be fast, and probably no more than the engine & tranny cooler temps that would be in the 200-250 degree vicinity, hopefully trending toward the lower end of the range.
Of course for those w/a heavy foot, boost will be higher longer, and the intercooler heat will be higher longer as well, perhaps near the ambient + 300 while attempting to outrun local law enforcement officials.

lundy · 05-17-2006, 06:22 PM

I got my slide fixed. Apparantly it was not a heat problem as much as a sub-standard hyraulic fitting that blew. I discussed the problems discussed in the forum and asked about the heat problem. They are working on the shield and did install some sort of shield on mine per my request. I guess HWH is inspecting the lines that have gone bad to determine a more reasonable and permanent fix.

jerry davis · 06-21-2006, 03:04 PM

As I was backing my coach into my backyard this morning mu wardrobe slide began to extend on it's own and a massive amount of hydrolic oil poured out from around the radiator area.

Obviously we have experienced the problem with the origional hoses. WRV is sending us the supposedly new and improved virsions which have re-engineered ends. Apparently the old ones act as a heat sink which is causing the failure. They also said there would be a heat shield with the hoses.

Now my real problem is how to get the slide back in as it is out 4" more in the back than in the front. I have released the valves but the thing won't budge. Any suggestions?

Jerry Davis
05-06 36'FDDS

jerry davis · 06-24-2006, 01:50 PM

After removing the radiator grill and looking at the wardrobe slide hoses that lay on top of the radiator I strongly recommend that anyone who has a coach like ours (05-06 36')inspect their slide hydralic hoses. Our coach has only 9500 miles on it and one of the hydralic hoses came completely apart and the others showed signs of bubbling.

Jerry Davis
05 36'FDDS

Dave Fernandez · 06-24-2006, 02:48 PM

Hello Jerry:

I was told that by the techs at Acacia RV (HWH Service Dealer) that when a slide does not come out evenly you should first open the solenoids and than from the inside you push out the side that did not come out until it is even. Then get a few friends to push the slide back into place and close the solenoids.

I was told that is how it was done when a MH is brought into the shop for repair. They said that they almost always lie on their backs and use their feet to push the slide out until it is even.

Ted III · 06-30-2006, 07:02 AM

After all the conversation and problems with the hoses for the rear bedroom slide I decided to look through our radiator grill and realized that we did not have the shield kit. Spoke with WRV and they aired it out to me the next day. As of yesterday I removed the grill and I have never seen hoses that have bubbled like these. The hoses are give or take 1/4" OD and 2 hoses had bubbles coming out at least 1/2". I can't imagine why they did not burst. WRV is sending our dealer new hoses and they are to be installed on the 13th of July. Thanks for this forum because all of the slides, jacks, etc. work great and I would have never bothered to look. By the way the area to work on these hoses is downright horrible.
Thanks for all the info.

EngineerMike · 06-30-2006, 08:26 AM

Ted- How much trouble was removal of the radiator panel on the 05? I don't see any of the rivets discussed earlier in this thread, but do see self-tapping screws & such. Not sure how many fasteners to look for. Mike

jerry davis · 06-30-2006, 01:41 PM

Mike- on my 06 36' the radiator grill simply swings out and comes off after removing three bolts on the bottom of the grill. The whole grill swings up just like the basement doors. Once it is horizontal it pops right off. Recommend using two people as it is a bit unwieldly.

Jerry Davis
05 36'FDDS

Ted III · 06-30-2006, 05:11 PM

Mike, Jerry is right on the money. I don't know where the pop rivets are either. They must have been on the older models. It is three bolts & nuts and it is not just the grill it is that whole rear panel. Grille actually stays in the panel. It is a nothing to do Mike. You won't have any trouble, but the hoses are anything but neat, at least in my case. Jerry is correct it is fairly large so it is much easier with two people.

EngineerMike · 07-03-2006, 03:15 PM

Ted & Jerry- Thanks, I'll have it undone for SWMBO to assist when she gets home this evening. My hoses are neat, tho I don't know in what kinda shape; I observed them doing a headstand into the engine comparment under the bed, but couldn't reach them w/out winding up wedged between engine & frame. I didn't have my cell phone w/me to call SWMBO to come & lift me out by the feet, so I abandoned the exploration via that route. I'll post what I find.