Community Forums

BarbandBob · 10-02-2017, 03:48 PM

Looking for an alternate supplier of jack seal kits for power gear

chuckftboy · 10-02-2017, 07:29 PM

When I rebuilt mine, I purchased the seals from Camping World.

Waiter21 · 10-03-2017, 06:37 AM

Not sure how old yours is... On my 1999, I bought the o-rings and scrapers at the local industrial seal company, Zatkoff Seals (they sell o-rings) About $10 for all the seals and o-rings I needed for one cylinder..

Some of the early jack cylinders use unique parts that are not readily available. When I rebuild mine, I had to make the top piston guide ($30), and installed new o-rings.

Here are three articles, Two of them related to the cylinder re-build, and one for the pump bearing replacement. A lot of photos.

Power Gear 500384 hydraulic jack teardown – 1999 Southwind 35S

Power Gear 500384 hydraulic jack re-assembly – 1999 Southwind 35S

Leveler pump sounds like a food blender full of marbles – 1999 Southwind 35S

On the newer style cylinders, They use standard o-rings, scrapers, and guides, All are available at any industrial o-ring place.. Probably cost about $10-$15 for an entire set.

..

BarbandBob · 10-03-2017, 09:07 AM

Have 2010 Bounder. Thanks for the infomation

Snuffy2 · 10-09-2017, 06:11 AM

I want to thank you for the info on the power gear cylinder repair. I have a 1999 southwind with the same problem. I will be removing both front cylinders today to see about repairing them. I downloaded the info you posted and it looks to be just what I need. As a side note , I just moved from Lambertville in 2013 so Zatkoff is a name I know

Waiter21 · 10-09-2017, 08:18 AM

Quote:

I will be removing both front cylinders today to see about repairing

Good luck.. If you have a lathe, you should be able to make the top guide. I used PTFE. Delrin would also work..

chboone · 10-09-2017, 08:32 AM

This may be of interest also. Lots of pictures, I like pictures. The links from Waiter very good log of detail.

Snuffy2 · 10-13-2017, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waiter21

Good luck.. If you have a lathe, you should be able to make the top guide. I used PTFE. Delrin would also work..

Good morning, The information you gave was very welcomed and helpful. I removed the cylinders and rebuilt them. I made a couple of modifications to the original "pistons". Both of the cylinders had blown through the "pistons", they were stuck in the cylinder. I made two new washers from stainless steel(that just happened to be the only 2" stock I had) 2" o.d. X 3/16" thick. I also added .125" to the overall piston height(from 1" to 1.125") the top of the piston is now.375" thick . Instead of drilling two 1/4" holes ,I used a ball end mill to cut 4 grooves on the outside to allow oil to return when the jacks were retracted. When I disassembled the packing glands I found the guide bushings we in bad shape and the "poly-pack" seals were bad causing the cylinders to leak down while under pressure. the guide bushing material needed to be replaced. With replacing all the "soft" parts and the material used to fabricate the pistons , I have $100.00 invested in the job. The material I used is a Delrin clone and seems to work fine. I took the coach in to the barn (cement floor) leveled the coach and after 24 hours "no leak down"
I can not imagine any one engineering a hydraulic cylinder the way Lippert did. I for any reason the cylinder were to "bottom" out the piston would blow through the 1/4" end of the cap causing the cylinder to over extend beyond the Poly-Pack seal thus losing hydraulic oil. The piston serves two purposes. The primary purpose is a guide for the cylinder shaft and the secondary purpose is a "stroke" limiter to keep the cylinder from over stroking. The two modifications I made cost only 3/8" stroke and should last for a very long time. Again thank you for your help and information......Snuffy2

Waiter21 · 10-13-2017, 09:35 AM

EXCELLENT ---- With the mods to the piston (guide) it'll outlive you and me...

That piece of plastic (top piston/guide) is the only thing that keeps the shaft from blowing out of the cylinder. Beefing it up a little and adding the larger washer will prevent this from happening by distributing the downward forces through the washer rather than the plastic..

The thick steel washer I used on mine costs me about 1/8 inch of travel. not a big deal.

If I was re-doing the plastic piece again, I'd probably do it more like you did yours. I basically copied the original, but I think the mods you made wou;ld allow better transfer of the downward forces, and allow the cylinder to breath a little better when it moves fluid past the piston/guide.

The nice thing, you just saved yourself a boatload of money...

FOLLOWUP - Is your pump OK. Mine was making horrible sounds from the bad front bearing on the motor.

Snuffy2 · 10-16-2017, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waiter21

EXCELLENT ---- With the mods to the piston (guide) it'll outlive you and me...

That piece of plastic (top piston/guide) is the only thing that keeps the shaft from blowing out of the cylinder. Beefing it up a little and adding the larger washer will prevent this from happening by distributing the downward forces through the washer rather than the plastic..

The thick steel washer I used on mine costs me about 1/8 inch of travel. not a big deal.

If I was re-doing the plastic piece again, I'd probably do it more like you did yours. I basically copied the original, but I think the mods you made wou;ld allow better transfer of the downward forces, and allow the cylinder to breath a little better when it moves fluid past the piston/guide.

The nice thing, you just saved yourself a boatload of money...

FOLLOWUP - Is your pump OK. Mine was making horrible sounds from the bad front bearing on the motor.

Good morning.. My pump does sound pretty loud when extending the jacks and my next project is to pull the pump assy. to check the bearings. In case anyone wants the part numbers from Zatkoff I will include them in this message . There was only one "O" ring on mine (Zatkoff #2-226 NI470-70 $1.07ea.) Back up ring # 8-226 N1444-90 $1.51 ea. Poly pack #187011625 P4615 $11.78 ea. End seal (rod scraper) RWD-01625 P4615A90SH $9.01ea. , Wear strip 28" long .0625" thick X 1" wide (WR01000-0062 T22 in.) cost for the wear strip is $ 1.00 per inch. You will need to cut it at 40 degrees on each end to fit the packing gland. The wear strip is 60% bronze/PTFE . My total Zatkoff invoice was $74.73 for enough parts to rebuild both front cylinders. Thank you...Snuffy2

whozleft · 10-20-2017, 01:59 PM

So once the jacks are rebuilt what is the process for bleeding the air out of the system?

Snuffy2 · 10-21-2017, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whozleft

So once the jacks are rebuilt what is the process for bleeding the air out of the system?

Good morning, Since the hydraulic oil will not compress and the air in the jacks will and they will bleed themselves after about 3 cycles of operation. All I did with mine is extend the jacks a couple of times and they work fine. I leveled my coach on a concrete floor in my shop, I then let is sit for 24 hours. I checked with an indicator to monitor any movement (there was none). I hope this information was helpful.....Snuffy2

Waiter21 · 10-21-2017, 06:34 AM

Quote:

So once the jacks are rebuilt what is the process for bleeding the air out of the system?

Fill the reservoir.

Extend all the jacks as far as they will go. Let it sit for a minute or two. This allows air inside the jacks to propagate to the top of the cylinder.

Retract all the jacks.

Verify, top off the fluid level in the reservoir.

Repeat this one or two more times.

Schick · 05-06-2019, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snuffy2

Good morning, The information you gave was very welcomed and helpful. I removed the cylinders and rebuilt them. I made a couple of modifications to the original "pistons". Both of the cylinders had blown through the "pistons", they were stuck in the cylinder. I made two new washers from stainless steel(that just happened to be the only 2" stock I had) 2" o.d. X 3/16" thick. I also added .125" to the overall piston height(from 1" to 1.125") the top of the piston is now.375" thick . Instead of drilling two 1/4" holes ,I used a ball end mill to cut 4 grooves on the outside to allow oil to return when the jacks were retracted. When I disassembled the packing glands I found the guide bushings we in bad shape and the "poly-pack" seals were bad causing the cylinders to leak down while under pressure. the guide bushing material needed to be replaced. With replacing all the "soft" parts and the material used to fabricate the pistons , I have $100.00 invested in the job. The material I used is a Delrin clone and seems to work fine. I took the coach in to the barn (cement floor) leveled the coach and after 24 hours "no leak down"
I can not imagine any one engineering a hydraulic cylinder the way Lippert did. I for any reason the cylinder were to "bottom" out the piston would blow through the 1/4" end of the cap causing the cylinder to over extend beyond the Poly-Pack seal thus losing hydraulic oil. The piston serves two purposes. The primary purpose is a guide for the cylinder shaft and the secondary purpose is a "stroke" limiter to keep the cylinder from over stroking. The two modifications I made cost only 3/8" stroke and should last for a very long time. Again thank you for your help and information......Snuffy2

I'm in the middle of the same project (ready to buy parts), and I'm curious how your levelers (and Delrin piston guide) are holding up and if you'd do anything differently in hindsight?