Community Forums

shaneotr · 08-23-2013, 12:26 PM

I have a 2004 36' Winnebago Brave workhorse chassis gas with HWH series 325 leveling jacks. Our right front jack will not extend. We found the blown fuse, replaced it, it blew again, replaced the solenoid with one from HWH..another new fuse and it still will not extend. It had been working just fine and then poof. We haven't moved the coach out of our driveway since this happened. We thought the leveling motor ran too long and burned up the solenoid, but now we have no idea what's going on. Any suggestions? I'm ready to chuck the whole RV'ing thing and just stay home...this is costing a fortune with no results. Be aware that all the jacks were working great, then the right rear wouldn't retract..it was the "O" ring in the jack and it's now repaired and working...but the right front stopped extending while we were diagnoising the left rear! Stuart and HWH are closed for the weekend...our coach has been sitting in the driveway for months because of the levelers and our pockets are empty. Is there another set of fuses somewhere? We've read the manual front to back, what are we missing? Thanks, Frustrated

greystroke · 08-23-2013, 12:52 PM

Welcome to the forum. If I had to run to an RV repair center for every repair I would have got rid of my MH a long time ago. In that regard I have an older 210 system. Lots of study. Lots of searching on the forum. A front wheel blowout took the whole system out with wiring cut in multiple places and harnesses gone. But with forum help and study I repaired it myself. HwH was outstanding in their phone support. The best I have seen.

Hopefully the experts will come along that know something about your system. If your on a limited budget like I am you better learn how to make repairs yourself.

My jacks sometimes stick when at home. I keep a 2x4 around to lift them. After they are exercised and on the road I have very little problems with sticking.

Good luck. Wish I could help more.

ItascaRVer · 08-23-2013, 01:00 PM

Welcome, have you tried the www.hwhcorp.com website for their troubleshooting guide? I have used it several times for minor problems.

Wayne

akeyzoo · 08-23-2013, 01:47 PM

I am with greystroke. You either RV and have lots of know-how or RV and have really deep pockets. At some point one of the myriad of systems will fail, how you fix it is up to you ;-)

Chris

rssnape · 08-24-2013, 05:52 AM

I would not think that the pump running would have any effect on the solenoid. Use the HWH trouble shooting guide from their website. It should eliminate most of the possibilities. Are you sure that the other solenoid was bad?

94-Newmar · 08-24-2013, 06:21 AM

Which solenoid are you referring to? One of the directional solenoids for the jacks (mounted to the fluid manifold) or the main solenoid which controls motor rotation?

"007" · 08-24-2013, 04:41 PM

Welcome to irv2.
Let's start by asking with all your jacks retracted have you checked the fluid level in the fluid tank for jacks and fluid is between the two lines on the bell vent shaft.
All the white wires on your solenoids go to a ground bolt to your chassis frame on a cross member directly below front bumper favoring the driver side.
All these wires need to be removed spade rings cleaned reconnect with di-electric grease to help protect and use a star washer under nut to keep tight and bolt checked to see if its loose the frame cross piece.
Everything on that bolt is probably corroded from road salts or road grime.
You need to check the mounting bolts to chassis frame for the tank and motor that's your returning ground back to your battery system. You may have a good 12v's but you also need a good clean ground back to your battery.
In must cases its to your chassis battery.
If you will check out these items then we can talk jack problems.

gemini5362 · 08-25-2013, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 94-Newmar

Which solenoid are you referring to? One of the directional solenoids for the jacks (mounted to the fluid manifold) or the main solenoid which controls motor rotation?

OK. this is a great question. I wished I had asked it first. If it is a solenoid for the jacks. Disconnect it and see if the other jacks extend. If the other jacks extend then you have hydraulic fluid going out under pressure and the problem is in the front jack only. I do not know enough to know what he means by motor rotation. I am assuming he will explain more. I assume that the motor is 12 volts and it only runs one direction. If the jack was working then stopped bacause of a solenoid then you replaced the solenoid the jack should still work. The problem will probably be in the part you replaced. Either put in wrong or even a new part that was bad. First thing is to make sure you are getting voltage to the solenoid. A meter across the connectors will show that. If the voltage is 12 volts at the connection then take the connectors off and read resistance across the solenoid I do not know the value but it should read something. If a very small amount like one or two ohms or more should be ok. If it is reading open then bad solenoid. I have replaced parts that were thousands of dollars on military equipment and had them be bad so it happens. if voltage when you push the button and solenoid coil not open then start looking at mechanical troubleshooting. Hook everything back up and have someone push the button for that jack. You should be able to have your finger on the solenoid and feel it click. If it dont move then get jumper wires and go from the connectors to the solenoid connections have someone push the button and check at the solenoid connections to see if they are getting 12 volts. If you have 12 volts at the solenoid connections ( on the solenoid itself) and you are not feeling it click you can try one more check to make sure. take the hydraulic line loose for that jack and have someone push the button. ( I would have had you do this first but it is kind of messy ) if No hydraulic fluid comes out then time to replace the solenoid. I have not replaced one of these solenoids yet. Did you replace the whole solenoid or just the coil ?

If whole solenoid then you might be able to take your old solenoid and the new coil and put them together to make one working one. Of course if new then that is a call HWH and tell them to send you another one and wait for it if you have time.

Let me know what you find I am curious.

I am assuming that you turned the valve the other way and that did not help.

shaneotr · 08-26-2013, 08:33 AM

Thanks for all the info Gemini5362 and others. I am referring to the directional solenoid connected to the jack and yep all the other jacks work, including the rear right side jack which does extend when the extend right side button is pushed on the control panel. Will be double checking the grounds (thank you for the suggestions) but in checking the lights on the control panel, since the red light comes on for the front right jack but not the yellow, according to the HWH bible, we now need a new control box. We called HWH but they said it will be another several weeks for a call back and the authorized sevice center in Goshen isn't open on Friday. Why would anyone need service on Friday! So, in lieu of going out and kicking the tires and damaging my foot, I am covering up the coach and letting it set until I can become rational again. Labor Day weekend is fast approaching and we'll be losing our deposit at our campground of choice, but at least we'll be safe from the holiday traffic since we'll be at home. Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. Will let you know how we fare when I crawl back under and try again to get the jacks working. For now, it's time to tackle another project and cool off.

greystroke · 08-26-2013, 09:51 AM

Hope to see you back on this post. I do know how you feel. Almost every problem I've had has been on friday afternoon. Even the the tire shops close early. When I lost my jack system due to my front blowout, I wanted to cry. I wanted my fifth wheel back. I didn't look at it for a month. Then after I studied hard so I could talk intelligently to HWH. In about 15 minutes parts were on order. So keep your chin up, settle down and then fix it. I actually enjoyed working on it.

Good luck. Wish I could help you. Too bad your not close to me.

siggyd · 08-26-2013, 10:28 AM

I would UN-Plug the solenoid in question and then try to "lower" that jack.
If the fuse still blows,you may have a short in the wiring or already in the control box output.(relay?)
Siggy

gemini5362 · 08-26-2013, 10:34 PM

[QUOTE=shaneotr;1701391]

Thanks for all the info Gemini5362 and others. I am referring to the directional solenoid connected to the jack and yep all the other jacks work, including the rear right side jack which does extend when the extend right side button is pushed on the control panel. Will be double checking the grounds (thank you for the suggestions) but in checking the lights on the control panel, since the red light comes on for the front right jack but not the yellow, according to the HWH bible, we now need a new control box. We called HWH but they said it will be another several weeks for a call back and the authorized sevice center in Goshen isn't open on Friday. Why would anyone need service on Friday! So, in lieu of going out and kicking the tires and damaging my foot, I am covering up the coach and letting it set until I can become rational again. Labor Day weekend is fast approaching and we'll be losing our deposit at our campground of choice, but at least we'll be safe from the holiday traffic since we'll be at home. Thanks for all of your help and suggestions. Will let you know how we fare when I crawl back under and try again to get the jacks working. For now, it's time to tackle another project and cool off.[/QUOT

Interesting post. the red light come on but not the yellow. When you level the coach the jacks on the side with the yellow light extend until the light goes out. Then all the other jacks extend until they touch the ground then stop to give added stability. So the system thinks that the front jack only needs to extend until it hits the ground. Which would mean that it is somehow monitoring the jacks that it sends down until they just touch the ground ( probably looking at pressure on that jack. when it reaches ground and starts to lift coach pressure goes up) The red light is on because you said the jack did not go all the way up last time so the switch that tells it that the jack is in place says no it isnt. We do not know how level the coach is sitting. if the side that needs to be leveled is not the front or the right the yellow light would not be on so your control board could be working correctly. open the return on the solenoid as per the troubleshooting what to do if jack does not retract. Then put a car jack under it and see if you can get it to go all the way up. If you cannot do that loosen the hose to the jack and then you should be able to get it all the way up. With the jack all the way up see if the red light goes out. If it does you may not have a control board problem

. I know you are not working on it right now I have been there where I was so disgusted I did not want to tinker. When you do work on it after all the other suggestions try swapping the wires from the right jack to the left jack solenoid. see if that controls the left jack.

I wish I could be more specific. I am just quoting general hydraulic issues. My motorhome is a three hour drive away. My wife and I are camping out in OK to be near her daughter before she deploys. I had to come home this week to work on a rental house. I will be back at my unit next week. If you want to send me an email with your phone number I will be happy to call you and then I can look at my system while I talk to you.