Community Forums

DC0046 · 03-27-2017, 06:35 PM

I have a 2014 Winnebago of 31KE. The RV is kept inside and only has 13,000 miles on it. The leveling system has always been quirky, but quit me two days ago. All four jacks went down, but would not retract. I was able to manually retract them by bleeding the valves and then using a socket and ratchet on the end of the motor. I am getting good power to the solenoid on the motor and then good power to the motor, but absolutely no motor engagement. The error message on the operation panel on the dash only says error and take it to a service center. Had a mobile RV guy come to my camp site and he also diagnosed it as a bad motor. I have read hundreds of posts on this forum regarding the problems with Lippert jacks! The cheapest I have been able to find the motor was $669!!!! How crazy is that. I am interested in any input anyone might have on this problem. Also, has anyone ever had one of these motors rebuilt?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Bigd9 · 03-27-2017, 06:51 PM

Have you thought about going to a Starter/Alternator repair shop and see if they would rebuild it? Can you get model number from the electric motor and see if that model is on the internet somewhere?

desertvette · 03-27-2017, 09:18 PM

The motor died on my Lippert system. I pulled the motor out and took it apart, found the plastic brush holder had deformed and was not letting the brushes move. Went to a local starter/alternator repair shop and got a new brush assembly for about $25. Problem solved! Good luck with your repair.

G Schulz · 03-28-2017, 07:55 AM

What normally happens is the seal on the hydraulic pump leaks and then the hydraulic fluid seeps into the motor and shorts it out. Replacing the motor may temporarily fix the problem but you want to make sure you don't have a oil leak. If you do the pump seal needs to be changed as well. The seal can be purchased locally for under $10.00 it's just the labour to do it as the entire assembly has to be removed to replace it. I replaced mine three years ago and still no leaks.

DC0046 · 03-28-2017, 04:43 PM

Pulled the motor today. No hydraulic fluid issues but it had been full of water. Took it to a generator/altenator place today for a rebuild. Gaskets were bad so having a gasket place make some new ones. Hopefully it will get out of this for $100 or less. Stay tuned for more. Thanks for all the replies.

Oh yea, called Lippert this morning and told them about the motor. Their response was one year from time of purchase warranty and $777 for a new motor...."oh well." They have rapidly become the only game in town for the RV industry. Told the tech about the hundreds of problems with their leveling systems I read about on this forum and response was, "that's the internet." They don't give a $#|!

DC0046 · 03-29-2017, 05:54 PM

Got the pump motor back today. Had a couple gaskets made for the end caps before putting it back together. Also used silicone around end cap seams. Reinstalled it and everything seems to work great. Total cost was $110 rather than the $669 to $895 quote for just the pump, not including taxes. Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. I feel like I made at least $600 by having the pump rebuilt at an alternator shop and saved even more by not hiring it done.